Most organisational policy and practices are based on the principle of equality – equal access for everyone. While equality is a great starting point, it is agnostic about context, historical influences and existing power structures, and assumes that there are no barriers for anyone.

If you want to see the dial move on diversity, equity and inclusion, it is essential that you factor equity in the design of your people processes and practices. This ensures not only that everyone has access, but that any pre-existing barriers are removed for those employees who need it. We can support you to do this, by conducting an ‘equity review’ across your organisation, to identify areas where inequity is playing out. We do this by partnering with you to collect qualitative and quantitative data, that helps to map your current state and identify the needs, priorities and barriers to access that your employees may be experiencing.

Once we understand your current state, we work with you to co-design your people practices to include equitable interventions that ensure that any barriers are removed and that your operational practices are truly inclusive. We do this by following the principles of human-centred design, which means that we have the right voices in the room to help us design and tailor the approach for your organisation.

Every organisation strives to create a sense of ‘belonging’ for their people – grounded in being valued, able to contribute, being seen and heard and feeling like you fit in. For a lucky few, this is a reality. But for some of your workers, that sense of connection is missing. This feeling of disconnectedness could be because they represent a minority ethnic or gender group in the organisation, and therefore feel like they’re in the ‘out-group’. Sometimes it’s the product of unconscious bias, resulting from the way they work, their location or function etc.

Whatever the reasons, it is important to take time to hear from all your employees, about what will create a sense of belonging for them. This is where Co-design for Belonging comes in. Co-design for Belonging creates a process that taps into deeper insights and allows you to:

1.Identify the hotspots, where a sense of belonging could be improved
2.Target specific areas to address
3.Co-design solutions with your employees to foster a sense of belonging, in such a way that everyone is on board and takes accountability for the changes.

With Co-design for Belonging, we bring a fresh approach to understanding the needs of your people, while putting them front and centre to help uncover the solutions. The result is a set of strategies that are targeted in the right area, address the priority needs and create accountability across the board for creating positive change.

Understanding your current state is essential when building a cohesive and sustainable diversity, equity and inclusion strategy. We partner with you to collect qualitative and quantitative data from your employees to understand current needs and priorities and benchmark your organisation against your industry, customer base and competitors. These insights form the foundation for your diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and objectives.

Successful diversity, equity and inclusion strategies are leader led, underpinned by a great policy framework and supported by achievable goals and a robust governance model. These are the foundational building blocks that underpin a tailored and sustainable diversity, equity and inclusion strategy, without which, you won’t get off the ground.

Policy is important, because it sets expectations and drives behaviour. It isn’t enough to have a standalone diversity, equity and inclusion policy – it’s important that all your people policies, reflect your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and drive practices to promote equity and inclusion. We partner with you to review and update your current policies and design new policies to support your journey.

Any successful strategy needs to be underpinned by a robust governance model and diversity, equity and inclusion is no different. We work within your existing organisational structures to create a governance framework for diversity, equity and inclusion that supports the plan, ensures the right resources are in place, and holds the right people accountable for progress. This ensures that all the time and effort you put into your plan produces the outcomes you are looking for.

The importance of regular feedback from your employees, cannot be exaggerated. A sound diversity, equity and inclusion strategy reflects the needs of your people and their priority areas. Checking in at least annually to understand the ‘felt experience’ is the key to maintaining employee engagement and commitment. We deploy annual surveys for our clients, across multiple geographies and languages to ensure that their DEIB efforts are on track and on point.

We have a range of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging training programs including Unconscious Bias Awareness, Cultural Intelligence (CQ), Inclusive Leadership and many more. Our training is designed to be transformational and equip business leaders and their people to apply their learning across the organisation.

Cultural Intelligence is a social intelligence we are not born with, but can learn. It starts with understanding our own cultural values and how they drive behaviours. Diversitas is accredited by the CQ Institute in the USA to administer and interpret a range of psychometric assessments which are academically validated measures of CQ. We support your employees and teams to understand their cultural competency and equip them to interact, negotiate, communicate effectively across cultures and borders.

Diversity offers significant benefits, but it can come with challenges. Misunderstandings, cultural conflict, time-wasting and low productivity are all hallmarks of multi-cultural teams that are struggling to come to a common ground. We provide individual and team coaching to equip your people to interact, communicate and build trust across cultural boundaries.

What messages are you sending to your market – your customers, existing and prospective employees and suppliers regarding your commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion? How well does it reflect the experience of employees inside your organisation?

We partner with our clients to review their diversity, equity and inclusion communications and branding and help them design an impactful and authentic DE&I communication framework, that accurately reflects their commitment and progress in the diversity, equity and inclusion space and positions them for future growth.

Diversitas has partnered with Vibe to create a digital diversity, equity and inclusion communication platform designed to raise the awareness of DE&I in all its dimensions in the workplace, and to ensure that your workforce stays informed and continues to grow awareness and build capability in DE&I wherever they work.