DEI or diversity, equity, and inclusion are not just buzzwords. They’re sound business practices, the right thing to do. By prioritizing DEI in the workplace, you’re not “on trend”, you’re creating a safe environment for all of your employees. 

If you’re reading this, you likely already know some of the practical business benefits to DEI in your workplace. DEI programs: 

• increase sales revenue
• increase your customer base
• improves performance
• broadens talent attraction
• improves workplace culture

However, recognizing the benefits does not necessarily translate to knowing how to implement these programs. If you’re looking for DEI best practices that you can implement in your workplace, read on. 

5 DEI Best Practices  

1. Audit your current DEI efforts: you don’t know where to go if you don’t know where you’re starting from. 
2. Educate your team: don’t assume that everyone knows what to do. Sometimes the sensitive nature of DEI subjects can make folks hesitant to ask questions. In this instance, it’s alright to assume your team doesn’t know anything about DEI to ensure everyone is educated on the topic. 
3. Confront unconscious bias: unconscious bias are attitudes that we hold subconsciously that affects the way we think and feel about the people around us. Everyone has unconscious bias but it can negatively impact diversity and inclusion practices in the workplace, especially in recruiting, hiring, and promotion practices. Acknowledging unconscious bias in our team and in ourselves is one of the first steps in implementing DEI best practices. 
4. Treat everyone fairly: this probably seems like a no-brainer but it goes hand in hand with confronting unconscious bias. Once we confront our biases and realize that we might hold different people to different standards, the next step is to stop, and start treating all fairly. 
5. Audit DEI efforts with analytics: show your workplace that DEI efforts work by auditing its effectiveness. Look at conversion rates of resumes that passed the screening process and compare them with demographic data on your workforce. Identify underrepresented groups in the hiring process or unpaid employees on your team. Refine those identified areas (by confronting unconscious biases) and continue tracking to measure your workplace’s improvement. 

These DEI best practices are just a starting point and DEI in your workplace will look different depending on the workplace culture of your organization. 

Find More DEI Resources and Tools