Top HR trends in EDI

Society is becoming more diverse, and companies that don’t keep up risk being left behind. There’s nothing wrong with being male and pale, but if that’s how most of your staff look, you also risk being stale. While being more inclusive of women, LGBTIQA+ people, different ethnicities, disabled people and neurodiverse people is simply what decent humans do, it does also make cold, hard business sense to have a diverse workforce develop diverse ideas and reach a diverse customer base.

We caught up with some human resources leaders to discuss the latest developments in equality, diversity and inclusion in workplaces.

• Focus on diversity

“Recent research by McKinsey suggests that equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) remains a priority in organisations,” says Sinéad Heneghan, CEO of the Irish Institute for Training and Development (IITD), a non-profit professional for people in HR training and development.

“Two of five companies globally are expanding investment in EDI even as they make budget cuts elsewhere.”

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Because Gen Z and millennials have gone to school and college in a more diverse world, and are themselves more diverse than previous generations, they expect to see diversity in their workplace, says Mary Connaughton, director of CIPD Ireland (Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), a registered charity with a focus on championing better work and working lives. Companies that don’t do this risk losing out when it comes to hiring and retaining the best talent, says Connaughton.

“People expect to see themselves reflected in their workplace and for the organisational culture to allow people to feel safe to be themselves.,” she says. “Candidates can find out about companies more than ever before, including through sites like Glassdoor.ie or because companies that are diverse will be keen to promote them.”

Giles Barnett, AIB group wellbeing officer, says that AIB has always focused on its award-winning graduate programme as a key source of starter talent.

“But this year we have also focused on expanding our apprenticeship programme as part of our strategy to build a diverse talent pipeline,” says Barnett. “We recently welcomed 25 apprentices to AIB and our recruitment strategy has brought diverse views and opinions into the organisation. Diversity of thought is key to encouraging innovation.”

AIB was recently awarded gold accreditation by the Irish Centre for Diversity and Inclusion.

• Making work from home work

More women than men, and more disabled people than able-bodied people, redesigned their work patterns during Covid, and they are more likely to have caring responsibilities.

“This has given rise to concerns about their visibility if they are working in a virtual environment,” Heneghan says. “This in turn raised concerns which existed long before the pandemic relating to perceived performance levels and the impact of promotional opportunities.”

This presents a challenge to HR professionals, and they can’t assume a one-size-fits all solution, says Heneghan.

Erika O’Leary is head of legal and regulatory affairs and company secretary at Laya Healthcare, which recently produced its Workplace Wellbeing Index.

“Over the past year, company and HR leaders say there have been challenges in maintaining company culture, while 60 per cent [of people] who reported poor mental health felt lonely or isolated,” O’Leary says. “People do want flexibility, but working from home can make you a bit less connected. This means companies have to reimagine their culture and support wellbeing.”

• Diversity training

AIB is among the many companies that has rolled out diversity and inclusion to all staff, including inclusive leadership training.

“The aim is to help create a working environment where inclusion is a universal experience and where each of our colleagues can feel safe to be themselves,” says Barnett.

• Employee groups

Larger firms, particularly the bigger tech firms, have long since had employee networks and support groups based on nationality, sexuality and gender identity, disability or neurodiversity, to name a few.

AIB, for instance, has active inclusion networks, or employee resource groups, with a trained advocacy network through the organisation, which they call “engagement advocates.”

Laya, meanwhile, has an equality, diversity and inclusion council where employees can raise issues and explore topics that affect them and the organisation.

But Dr Ciarán McFadden-Young, an associate professor of human resource management and organisational behaviour at Napier University and a consultant on diversity training, sounds a note of caution.

“These networks are good for socialising and support, pressing for change and helping to build understanding around, for instance, heteronormativity and assumptions that people make about everyone being straight. However, there can be problems if these are not employee-led and grassroots movements but instead seen as part of a HR function that treats everyone within, for instance, the BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) or LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) networks as the same, when they may be very different.”

• More nuance

It isn’t always obvious when someone is different: disabilities take many, sometimes hidden, forms; LGBTQIA+ people aren’t always “out” and somebody could be shaped by their ethnicity without that ethnicity being immediately clear, such as if they are a member of the Travelling community (if you think you “can always tell”, you have a lot to learn).

“Our focus in 2023 will be to encourage people to voluntarily share personal information, where they feel comfortable to do so, to assist us in understanding the diversity profile of our workforce and ensure we support our colleagues to be the best version of themselves and reach their full potential,” says Barnett.

• Creating space

O’Leary says that, while there can be challenges for smaller companies, it’s ultimately all about listening to employees and creating space for them to talk, rather than make it into a tick-box exercise.

”Companies should be measuring and testing sentiment across their team, benchmarking this against international norms,” says O’Leary. “There needs to be open communication and for employees to feel this engagement is meaningful.”