| | OCTOBER 2024MANAGEHRMAGAZINE.COM8By Heather Mack, Human Resources Manager, Amer SportsI n this day and age, everyone should be familiar with the concept of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); if you haven't, then you've been living under a rock; after all, this concept has been around since the 1960s, following the introduction of affirmative action and new employment legislation around employment equity. So, one would think that after almost 65 years, we'd have a handle on how to implement, support, and promote DEI in our organizations, but that simply isn't the case.What exactly is DEI, and why do we find it so difficult to do it right? Let's break it down and look at each term individually. Diversity means your organization employs individuals from various cultures, backgrounds, religions, ages, genders, etc. Equity in the workplace is the idea that all employees are provided with fair and equal opportunities based on their individual needs­ this can include salary, benefits, work projects, scope of responsibility, promotions, professional development, etc. And finally, inclusion means that everyone in the diverse mix feels involved, valued, respected, and fairly treated.As a human resources professional, I understand the benefits of DEI and how it can improve the workplace. It's been proven that organizations that embrace DEI culture experience several benefits, such as having a larger labor pool to recruit from, improving corporate brand and reputation, stimulating creativity and innovation, improving engagement and retention, and increasing productivity. These are all wonderful things, don't you think? Shouldn't we all want to reap the benefits that diversity, equity and inclusion can bring to our businesses? Unfortunately, despite knowing these benefits, a lot of organizations struggle to implement DEI initiatives, or if they do, they don't do it well. I could go on and on about the positive impacts that a comprehensive and authentic DEI program can have on the success of an organization, but instead of seeing this from a business perspective, I want to focus instead on the human aspect and the perspective of the job seeker and existing employees. I am the proud mother of a young adult that identifies as non-binary and bi-sexual, and nothing drove home the importance of DEI in the workplace more than when my youngest child was searching for work after graduating from university. Looking for work during the height of the pandemic was challenging for most job seekers, and for those who don't conform to conservative societal norms, it can be even more challenging as biases can lead to roadblocks to employment and engagement.As a job seeker, it's almost impossible to know whether an organization values and promotes a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion within their organization unless they've made considerable effort to publicize it through their advertising campaigns, website design and content, and recruitment processes. Even then, just because they market themselves as valuing these things and have corporate policies and programs that promote them doesn't mean that they actively walk the walk, so to speak. So, a job seeker really isn't going to know an organization's culture until they are embedded in it.After searching for a couple of months, my youngest finally landed a part-time position at a well-known retail store. While not their dream job, they were happy to have finally landed a job during Covid. However, it was during the onboarding process that they got their first indication that the retailer may DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION: A PERSPECTIVEHeather MackIn MyOpinion
< Page 7 | Page 9 >