Who are you forgetting in your DEI initiatives?

Long story short: Who are you forgetting in your DEI initiatives?

February 25, 2022 11:28 AM

Are your DEI initiatives going deep enough?

As workplaces become more diverse and employers put more effort into advancing their inclusion goals, workplace benefits and programs need to keep up. In this week’s top stories, underserved groups including plus-size workers, women who have taken career breaks and people of color can all stand to benefit from an employer reviewing their DEI policies and programs to ensure all employees are well-served.

To do this, employers can turn to these groups directly for feedback. Tapping into employee resource groups can reveal what is most needed, be it better healthcare coverage, more flexible work policies or other workplace accommodations. Coral Health, a new startup led by CEO Hewett Chiu, is capitalizing on this employee insight to provide better health resources for diverse groups. At energy company Schneider Electric, they’re asking their female employees what they need to succeed with a new “returnship” pilot program.

And this week’s episode of our new podcast, Perk Up! tackles how remote work is making service platform Thumbtack a more diverse place, despite being fully virtual. Check out the latest edition and find all of the episodes here.

Skin deep: How DEI initiatives may be excluding plus-size workers

Individuals clinically catergorized as overweight or obese made up 42.4% of the U.S. population in 2020, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half of that demographic are active contributors to the workforce, according to CareerBuilder, though the corporate landscape is often unaccommodating for workers of a certain size.

“Plus-size is one of the last populations that has been seen or heard out there [in the workforce],” Kara Richardson Whitely, extended sizing advocate, consultant and author, tells associate editor Paola Peralta. “So when it comes to employers connecting with that audience, they’re missing out on a pool of talent that may not feel welcomed.”

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Skin deep: How DEI initiatives may be excluding plus-size workers

How to boost benefits enrollment among Black and Hispanic employees

Financial advisers and employers seeking to boost enrollment in retirement plans and benefits among Black and Hispanic workers must first change how they engage with them. Employers and advisers working with them can tap into vast potential from the gains in business that come from a workplace that recruits, retains and promotes the best talent.

In order to help lift the concerningly low levels of financial literacy and significant wealth disparities among historically excluded groups, though, employers should drop the traditional approach to workplace financial education, said adviser Lawrence Smith of Dallas-based ELS Vision Wealth Management, at a webinar held by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

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How to boost benefits enrollment among Black and Hispanic employees

Getting women back to work: This company offers a return to work program after a career hiatus

Since the start of the pandemic, nearly two million women have left the workforce. Overall, women have much higher attrition rates than their male counterparts: women leave their careers at nearly three times the rate of men, according to data from the Network for Executive Women. But while women may be putting their professional lives on pause, that doesn’t mean those skills stay dormant, Amy deCastro, vice president of HR at Schneider Electric, an energy technology company, tells executive editor Alyssa Place.

Her company has a variety of flexible work policies and programs designed to provide “on-ramps” for women and any employee looking to return to work after time away. Their most recent initiative is a returnship pilot program, which provides skills training and mentorship opportunities for women who have been out of the workforce for an extensive career break.

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Getting women back to work: This company offers a return to work program after a career hiatus

Why employee resource groups may be the key to more inclusive cultures and benefits utilization

To create DEI programs that can lead to lasting change, leadership should gather as much feedback and input through a company’s grassroots organizations. Employee resource groups (ERGS), also referred to as affinity groups, are voluntary organizations that aim to create support and safe spaces for various communities within a company, whether women, people of color or LGBTQ employees, among others.

“It’s a step toward building a sustainable strategy that really embeds DEI into the DNA of an organization, so it’s not an afterthought, but the way we do business,” Markita Jack, head of DEI at software company Iterable, says to editor-in-chief Stephanie Schomer. “And between leadership and ERG leaders and members, there needs to be alignment on scope, responsibility, impact and desired outcome.”

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Why employee resource groups may be the key to more inclusive cultures and benefits utilization