Canadian HR Reporter

October 2021 CAN

Canadian HR Reporter is the national journal of human resource management. It features the latest workplace news, HR best practices, employment law commentary and tools and tips for employers to get the most out of their workforce.

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www.hrreporter.com 51 C O L U M N S I N S I G H T While the challenges of the pandemic have been top of mind for many employers this past year, the issue of diversity, equity and inclusion has also moved to the forefront for many successful organizations, says Perrine Farque SINCE the events of 2020 related to social justice and equality, most employers around the world have been incorporating diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as a priority and as part of their organization strategy. Although the last few years have brought to the surface the need to prioritize DEI within organ- izations, the rapid changes in society have changed the way employers address diversity in the workplace. Most companies had to rethink their approach to diversity and inclusion. Here's a look at the top diversity, equity and inclusion trends that have emerged in the workplace in 2021. Hiring diversity professionals: Diversity and inclusion-related job openings may have declined significantly following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they rebounded 55 per cent as racial justice took centre stage with George Floyd's murder in May 2020, according to a 2020 Glassdoor study. Another interesting trend is that job openings for DEI executive and leadership roles such as chief diversity officer, head of diversity & inclusion and vice president of diversity and inclusion have more than doubled since June 2020, increasing 2.6 times. Companies are now hiring diversity professionals who have expertise in this complex field as a strategy to make diversity and inclusion part of the company culture. They bring the necessary skills, experience and independent approach required to transform corporate culture into an inclusive and collaborative workplace. Supporting diverse gender identity and gender expression: The year 2021 has celebrated diverse gender identities and gender expressions like never before, raising awareness about gender identity and expression in the public eye. Many employers have shared guides to understanding gender identity and pronouns, including media organization NPR, which published A Guide to Gender Identity Terms. "Pronouns are basically how we identify ourselves apart from our name. It's how someone refers to you in conversation," says Mary Emily O'Hara, a communications officer at GLAAD, in the guide. "And when you're speaking to people, it's a really simple way to affirm their identity." The language is finally evolving to represent the actual diversity of experience that exists, says psychology professor Phillip Hammack, in publishing his latest paper in March 2021 in the Journal of Adolescent Research, shedding light on the social factors that can either hinder or support expression of diversity in sexual and gender identity among teens and young adults. "On the one hand, teens seem much more liberated and have a much more expansive vocabulary than previous generations, but you also still have these unresolved issues around things like masculinity. So that was the real shock to me." Increasing transparency in goals: More companies believe that transparency in goals and progress is key to delivering successful diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives. In 2020, PwC shared detailed data on the diversity of its U.S. employees. Starbucks also implemented a transparent approach, declaring that it was "setting and tracking annual inclusion and diversity goals of achieving BIPOC representation of at least 30 per cent at all corporate levels and at least 40 per cent of all retail and manufacturing roles by 2025." The company even decided to connect the building of inclusive and diverse teams to its executive compensation program. Many more employers also started to compensate leadership teams for achieving their workforce diversity targets, including Nike, McDonald's and Amex. Diversifying senior leadership: Traditionally, executive leadership has consisted of primarily white men. Only over the past few years has this expanded into men of colour and women. But senior leadership continues to exclude women of colour, people with disabilities and more under-represented groups. Organizations such as Nasdaq are proposing requirements that "would require all companies to publicly disclose consistent, transparent diversity statistics regarding their board of directors." A 2019 Gartner survey revealed that 88 per cent of DEI leaders perceive bias in their organization's promotions or succession processes. A further 78 per cent of DEI leaders believe that their recruiting and performance management systems are biased. To tackle bias within their succession processes in 2021, forward-thinking organizations are changing how they define their model of who has the potential to be a successor. One strategy commonly used is to presume that every employee is eligible for promotion and to discuss why an employee is not ready, rather than presuming they are not and pushing for advancement. Inclusion awareness: Manager coaching, development and awareness is a key focus area to make this year's hybrid model successful, to enable better collaboration and connection with people in hybrid work to build and sustain a culture of inclusion and belonging where trust is at the centre of everything they do. For those companies that are still unsure about the role of inclusion in their success, Deloitte revealed that millennials are 83 per cent more likely to be engaged at work at inclusive companies. Forward-thinking employers invest in inclusion awareness because they understand that it will help attract and retain top talent, which is key to success. Diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace is rapidly becoming a must-have and no longer a nice-to-have. Diversity is a necessity for any organization that wants to be successful in 2021 and beyond. . CHRR Perrine Farque is a diversity and inclu- sion speaker based in London, U. K. She c a n b e r e a c h e d a t w w w . l i n k e d i n . c o m / i n /p e r r i n e f a r q u e , h t t p s : / / t w i t t e r. c o m / Iminspiredhuman or www.youtube.com/ channel/UCmYKgD9mNq80PJshb8PZjsg. 5 TRENDS IN DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION To tackle bias within their succession processes in 2021, forward-thinking organizations are changing how they define their model of who has the potential to be a successor.

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