Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are terms that describe the values of fairness in society. When these three principles are upheld in a group, people feel respected and needed. They are then able to become productive members of that particular group.
The apparent advantages of DEI in a group can translate to productivity at the workplace. However, people don’t always know what DEI can mean in the workplace. They require DEI training that instills knowledge of the benefits of a fair working environment.
So if you’re an employee or employer and wish to discover the importance of DEI training in the workplace, continue reading to learn more.
What is DEI Training?
If you’re a leader in a work environment where there is unfairness, DEI training will help resolve this. Different organizations will have different DEI training, which covers a short or a long time. The training may also be subject to the nature of the organization.
The best person to handle the training is a DEI specialist or professional. They will mainly cover the following areas.
- Identifying unconscious biases
- Being sensitive to different religions
- Managing microaggressions
- Effective communication skills in the workplace
- How to respond to discrimination and racism
- Understanding demographics and their importance in the workplace
DEI training aims at increasing the awareness of all concerned parties at the workplace. When managers and workers know about diversity, equity and inclusivity, they relate well. The result of good relations in a work environment is increased productivity.
Benefits of DEI Training
Any business person with a considerable workforce will tell you there’s a great significance in DEI training for their organizations. Let’s look at the benefits of this form of instruction.
Increased Awareness and Understanding
One reason people may act without sensitivity in the workplace is a lack of knowledge. The DEI training does a good job of ensuring that the training professionals pass on crucial knowledge.
The training has the effect of opening up people’s minds so that they start seeing DEI issues from another perspective.
The good thing is that it may bring realization to both the leaders and their subordinates, improving their working relations.
Improved Communication and Collaboration
Effective communication is what keeps a company going with its day-to-day activities. Information flows in the hierarchical structure of the company. For example, a manager issues a policy order, and a worker communicates the success or challenge of implementing it.
DEI training makes this form of corporate communication easier. Here is how the training may make communication easier:
- Workers become mindful of what they say to each other
- Leaders provide a platform for everyone to voice their opinions
Generally, the training creates a positive work culture through effective communication. Ultimately collaboration on projects is faster, which increases a company’s productivity.
Reduction in Unconscious Bias
Unconscious biases at the workplace are serious because it makes people act in a desensitized way in all their interactions. For example, a manager may fail to recruit high-performing candidates because of gender or sexual orientation biases.
DEI training makes the staff aware of these biases, which they may not know they have. The training then shows them how to handle biased notions better. Alternatively, the training may offer healthier notions of diversity, equity, and inclusive behaviors.
Types of DEI Training
DEI training is subject to the needs of the organization. A DEI specialist will take into consideration the deficiencies of the workplace before formulating a training strategy. They then incorporate this strategy with the nature of the business of the organization.
Most organizations will often require the following forms of DEI training.
Cultural Competency Training
In today’s world, most workplaces have an inclusive culture with staff from different cultural backgrounds. To foster a diversity awareness, cultural competency training is key. The personnel learns to appreciate other people’s racial and ethnic backgrounds.
They learn the richness of diverse team ideas it brings to the workplace, encouraging innovative thinking.
Anti-racism Training
Minority discrimination has a tendency to find its way to a workplace environment in the form of racism. DEI training includes providing education about systemic racism in a company.
Workers learn how to identify the sources and act on them before they develop into racism. It also teaches staff to handle cases of racism in the workplace in a proper way.
Gender Sensitivity Training
DEI training also covers the contested issue of gender. Most workplaces often have many genders, so covering this issue is important.
A DEI trainer will teach employees how to properly use pronouns when referring to colleagues at work. The trainer will also teach managers and leaders the dangers of favoring one gender over the other at work.
Other gender issues to touch on with DEI training include cultivating an LGBTQ-friendly environment and dead naming.
Disability Inclusion Training
According to the US Department of Labor, the Americans with disability act defends people from unfair hiring practices. It means that most organizations in the US have provisions for hiring people with disability. If they don’t, disability inclusion training is a great place to start.
It involves teaching leaders and their subordinates about the importance of including individuals abled differently in the workplace. The training covers their employment, makes provisions to accommodate their inefficiencies and eliminates myths around disability.
How to Implement Effective DEI Training
Executing a DEI training requires one to follow a series of steps. Following the steps ensures success in its implementation.
Assessing the Needs of Your Organization
The first step is to identify the DEI problems that your organization is facing. For example, your organization may be doing okay in terms of disability inclusion but lacking in racial diversity values.
Assessing the needs could include using methods like gathering employee feedback and reviewing the policies in place.
Evaluation helps to set up a training program that addresses the inefficiencies in your organization.
Identifying Appropriate Trainers or Facilitators
Choose a specialist who has plenty of expertise in the DEI field. They should be able to develop training courses for diverse teams. Other compliance training qualities the trainer should have include the following:
- Plenty of experience
- Can adjust the training to fit the company’s diversity initiatives
- Has a proven track record of successfully implementing inclusive workplace DEI training programs
Developing a Comprehensive Training Program
After identification of a DEI trainer, collaborate with them to build a training program. The training should be comprehensive to cover all material adequately but also easy to understand.
You can also plan the program to involve all the workers at once or only small sections and departments like the human resource department. Both methods have their advantages, and they are dependent on the company culture.
Generally, the DEI ongoing training program should involve creating the content and appropriate teaching techniques.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Diversity Training
After implementing a DEI training program, it’s important to measure the outcome of the training. Measuring effectiveness helps to identify areas of DEI that are performing well and areas that still need improvement.
The metrics for measurement mainly involve checking on aspects like ethnically diverse employees, turnover rate and worker engagement. Other metrics include employee interview feedback.
Common Challenges with DEI Training
Implementing a diverse workforce, equity, and an inclusive environment is a long process and doesn’t happen overnight. Challenges are bound to happen, making the process even slower or preventing DEI’s proper training.
Here are common challenges you are likely to face with a DEI training:
Resistance to Change
There are many reasons why staff in an organization may fear change. Common reasons include the following:
- The perception that the change isn’t aligned with the organizational culture
- Fear of losing inclusive leadership and inclusion initiatives
- Dislike for the nature of the change. For example, a person may not be willing to compromise on LGBTQ values
Lack of Understanding or Awareness
Lack of awareness happens when an inclusion training program is ineffective. Poorly executed online training programs could cause deficiencies in understanding the three concepts of DEI. The result is a never changing toxic work environment with a poor working culture.
Difficulty Measuring Effectiveness
After inclusion training programs, you may not know whether it was successful or not until after several weeks or months. The changes are usually gradual, so if you’re looking to measure the results, it may be challenging.
There are two ways you could do this. One way is using quantitative metrics to measure concepts like turnover rate. The other way is qualitative metrics, where metrics to measure may include changes in employee engagement.
Both methods have the challenge of requiring expert analysis. Some data, like qualitative metrics, also present a challenge of correctly interpreting them. For example, how to accurately tell if an employee engagement has changed.
Despite its challenges, workplace diversity training still offers many benefits for organizations that implement them. Leaders and subordinates all learn how to induce a culture of fairness and inclusivity at the workplace. The result is a highly productive work environment.
To achieve DEI, organizations can focus a bit of their budget and resources on training their staff. It seems like a small price to pay for a better work environment.
