Diversity Equity and Inclusion Presentation

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity, equity, and inclusion
(DEI) are critical features in the workplace since they ensure that all people
realize common goals. Diversity involves people having vast differences or
backgrounds within the same workplace. Equity involves having fair programs and
policies and providing an equal chance of outcomes for all employees. Inclusion
involves the employees having a sense of belonging to a firm irrespective of
their background. Presently, DEI has become an integral feature of most
workplaces in efforts to address past discriminations against some marginalized
groups.

The Gender Gap in Leadership,
Wages, and Employment

While gender gaps have significantly
reduced over past decades, they remain pronounced as womens involvement
improves relative to men. Women’s participation has been attributed to
increased democracy across the globe resulting in effective policies favoring
their empowerment and formal education. Despite the progress made, there is a
profound gender gap in leadership, wages, and employment. The gender gap is
more pronounced in developing economies than in developed economies. Regarding
employment, women’s involvement in informal employment exceeds men despite
being more educated than men (Macis, 2017). According to Macis (2017), the
number of women in non-farm employment between 1995 and 1995 was 42%, while the
figure rose to 46% from 2010 to 2014 in
the developed economies. The same observation was observed in developing
economies. However, these observations still show employment gaps as more men
continue being employed, yet women are more educated than men in the developed
economies (Macis, 2017). Much more needs to be done to realize DEI in the
workplace.

Gender wage gaps remained pronounced
despite women’s income economies acquiring similar or higher education skills
than men. These are sentiments shared by Byrd and Scott (2018), who observed
that in most workplaces, diversity remains an issue, and men earn higher wages
than men even when performing a similar task. According to Macis (2017), women
earn about 20% less than men. However, the global variations vary depending on
the degree of democracy. Hence, in economies where women are empowered and
enjoy their fundamental rights and freedoms, the wage disparity is likely lower
than in aristocratic economies. Although women have successfully closed the
educational gaps and participation in national development in some economies,
the level of to men remains a dream in the pipeline. That
demands policymakers to embrace better policies to close gender wages parity
since women have proven to perform better or the same in some sectors of the
economy.

Regarding the level of
representation in the women in leadership roles, women’s participation has
significantly improved. That has been attributed to their potential to close
the educational gap, as evidenced through their tertiary education enrolment
(Macis, 2017). As women participate in the labor and capital markets, they
remain underrepresented in leaders positions worldwide. A close evaluation of
the political leaders held by women worldwide shows that men dominate them.
Women are denied leadership positions through structural barriers in some
economies characterized by dictatorship and monarchies. Nonetheless,
monarchies, such as Saudi-Arabia, empower women in diverse wages. For instance,
presently, women in Saudi Arabia are allowed to drive the automobile (Hubbard,
2017). Regardless of these observations, women have displayed similar
leadership potential as men since there served as prime ministers or presidents
in 16 economies by 2015, with 12.5% being in developed economies and 8% from low-income and
(Macis, 2017). Women’s presentation in the management positions in local and
global firms also indicates being underrepresented. The proportion of women in
CEO positions of publicly traded firms accounts for 4.8%, as revealed by data
collected by International Labor Organization (Macis, 2017). Therefore, the
underrepresentation needs to be addressed through better policies.

Seven
Types of Discriminatory Practices in the Workplace

According
to Grissom (2018), workplace diversity and inclusion have been dragged by
discriminatory practices within the workplace. Despite many governments putting
several legislations to enhance equity between men and men in the workplace,
much has not been realized. Consequently, discrimination practices against
women and other vulnerable community members continue to be pronounced. Below
are seven types of discriminatory practices in the workplace that limit
fostering a DEI environment. The first is bias in the recruitment process. In
the workplace, the hiring process may advance discrimination of some vulnerable
members through the information they present (Becker et al., 2019). The bias
arises in the hiring due to information on birthplace, race, ethnicity, and
image. For instance, the image of being disabled may result in discrimination
during the hiring. Hence, such factors may have a more significant influence on
the recruitment process than the qualifications.

The second is through promotions.
Discrimination in the workplace is promoted when an individual is denied
promotion despite being qualified. Despite that denial of promotion being
against employment, some organizations illegally practice it. In some
instances, the aggravated employee may sue the employer for damages. The third
is through job reassignment. There are some instances where one may be
genuinely reassigned a task. However, there are other times when the employee
may find it is unlawful and may take legal actions resulting in compensation
for damages lest the employer convinces the labor court the decision was
aligned with the interest of the business. The fourth source of discrimination
is termination. Discrimination also takes place through firing, which sometimes
is practiced unfairly. An employee who considers being fired unjustly can sue the
employer for unlawful termination. Nonetheless, employment termination can
occur amicable upon an employee withdrawing from a job or upon the end of the
employment contract.

Compensation is the sixth type of
discrimination. Compensation can result in discrimination whereby employees
perform equal and similar tasks but be compensated differently (Halley et al.,
2018). That is referred to as pay discrimination, and its content rather than
job titles define the equality of the job. The seventh type of discriminatory
practice is retaliation. Retaliation is a form of discrimination whereby the
managers result in giving an employee a retaliatory action upon taking part in issues
pertaining to legal rights. Lastly, the seventh type of discriminatory practice
is the diverse forms of harassment. Various forms of harassment can entail
discrimination at the workplace. The most profound of harassment is sexual
harassment that can occur to both males and females. The forms of sexual
harassment may be oral, written, or physical. Sexual harassment can also take
place online. Harassment is common in most workplaces. Other disrespectful
behaviors against a person can be defined as being similar to harassment, and
the victim can take legal action against the organization or the perpetrators.

Discrimination is a major issue that
limits a firm’s performance and can result in monetary costs. In most firms,
there are policies defined by the human resource managers that dictate actions
to take if one becomes a victim of discrimination. These policies are aligned
to employment standards within an economy. Regardless, implementing these
policies is not successful in most cases since the management does not intend
to create a negative public image. As a result, they end up being resulted
internally.

Best
Practices to Improve Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The
importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion cannot be ignored in the 21st
century since it allows everyone to contribute to global development in the
best way possible. While progress in achieving DEI has been made over time,
much more needs to be done at the workplace where specific populations remain
marginalized or discriminated against. The best approach to improving DEI is by
being aware of unconscious bias. Unconscious bias entails stereotyping against
certain groups without one acknowledging it and is mainly founded on some
beliefs (Marcelin et al., 2019). Leaders in the workplace should build
awareness about unconscious bias by requiring all employees and workers to
assess and analyze their assumptions and personal bias. Through comprehending unconscious
bias, one can make informed decisions more consciously. As a result, people
will embrace DEI by replacing the biases.

Another strategy to enhance DEI
within the workplace is encouraging bias management. Cultural humility is a
critical factor that can facilitate the DEI environment. Humility involves
acknowledging others as equals in a humble way without giving much input about
the existing cultural differences (Grissom, 2018). Management of bias will
involve employees being trained about the importance of the DEI environment in
the 21st century. The learning and management of bias at the workplace can be
leveraged through technological applications. Through technology, the
management can share critical information about bias, the importance of the
DEI, and improve workplace relations. Through the internal training, people
will act they have bias and learn how to manage it.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion at
the workplace can be promoted through advancing equal pay for all the employees
performing a similar role irrespective of their background differences (Byrd
& Scott, 2018). Promoting pay equity requires employees to come up with
analytic data techniques that can identify the employees being underpaid by
identifying the wage gaps. Employee analytics can aid the management team in
identifying areas of pay gaps in all departments while assessing the underlying
causes and issues. Pay equity within organizations can significantly impact the
performance of people of color, disabled, and women. Therefore, organizations
should pay critical attention to promoting pay equity since it can enhance the
productivity of victims of pay discrimination.

A DEI environment can be enhanced
within the workplace through a strategic training program for the employees to
comprehend cultural differences and their effect on performance and personal
relations. The training program can incorporate multicultural communication,
especially when addressing conflicts. Diversity training is an essential
feature of global firms that acknowledge the primary to of w DEI work
environment. Hence, firms should be ready to use internal and external
resources to ensure all employees are trained and value the diversity of all
the workers. Some firms acknowledge the importance of diversity, resulting in
its incorporation into the organizational values.

Diversity in the workplace can be
enhanced by recognizing the importance of DEI. In so doing, critical
infrastructure should be put in place to ensure all employees understand DEI
concepts and embrace them. Through that, the firm shall be deemed to excel
since diversity earns a firm a competitive advantage.

Conclusion

The achievement of DEI in the 21st century has made some
progress compared to the past years. This is done by empowering marginalized
groups through educational programs and making the workplace more inclusive.
Marginalized groups, such as women, are making great strides towards achieving
equality statuses as men. However, they are gender gaps in employment, pay, and
leadership positions. Nonetheless, some types of discrimination in the
workplace have been identified and need to be managed through the strategies
defined to improve DEI in the workplace. This is because DEI matters in all
organizations irrespective of their size.

References

Becker, S. O.,
Fernandes, A., & Weichselbaumer, D. (2019). Discrimination in hiring based
on potential and realized fertility: Evidence from a large-scale field
experiment.Labour Economics,59, 139-152.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2019.04.009

Byrd, M. Y., &
Scott, C. L. (2018). Diversity in the Workforce:Current Issues and Emerging Trends(2nd ed.). Routledge.

Grissom, A. R. (2018).
The Alert Collector: Workplace Diversity and Inclusion.Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(4), 243.
https://doi.org/10.5860/rusq.57.4.6700

Halley, M. C., Rustagi,
A. S., Torres, J. S., Linos, E., Plaut, V., Mangurian, C. … & Linos, E.
(2018). Physician mothers experience of workplace discrimination: a qualitative
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Hubbard, B. (2017). Saudi
Arabia Agrees to Let Women Drive.The New
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Macis, M. (2017).
Gender differences in wages and leadership.World
of Labor.
https://wol.iza.org/uploads/articles/323/pdfs/gender-differences-in-wages-and-leadership.pdf

Marcelin, J. R., Siraj,
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Phillips, B. N., Deiches, J., Morrison, B., Chan, F., &
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