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Four Ways To Integrate DEI Into Your Culture Early On

Forbes Human Resources Council

Ursula Mead is the CEO and co-founder of InHerSight, a platform that is connecting millions of women to supportive companies.

There’s an old saying that gets passed among startup founders that goes something like this: “Work, sleep, family, fitness or friends—you can only pick three.” The idea is that founders are so busy, their time and resources so precious, that there’s simply no way to have what many would consider a normal, balanced life. Of course, there’s some truth to it. I’ve come to believe that “ruthless prioritization” is one of the most valuable skills I bring to my own venture as a CEO and product leader.

Early-stage companies, just like their founders, often face similar time and resource constraints to the people running them. Unfortunately, one of the imperatives dropped, pushed off or deprioritized far too often is diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), and the longer companies wait to take up this mantle, the harder it is to achieve at any stage with any number of resources.

But while Fortune 500 companies might be spending billions on DEI, the path toward building better workplaces is much more accessible and cost-effective than it appears. Here are four ways early-stage companies can integrate DEI into their growing organizations—just like the giants do.

1. Include DEI in your company’s guiding concepts, like your core values.

Foundational resources like core values are meant to guide every aspect of your business—hiring goals, vendor partnerships, product decisions, customer service and so much more. Even, and especially, company culture.

I know firsthand how daunting it can be to write your core values for the first time, which is why this important task often gets pushed aside. But the truth is, core values are as important to these business initiatives as they are to building a culture of inclusion.

Core values both impact your company’s brand and its ability to attract and retain top talent. Findings from SHRM show that "94% of people managers agree a positive workplace culture creates a resilient team of employees." And when the work culture isn’t positive? Employees start planning their exit strategy.

Your employee handbook is another great place to start setting the stage for an inclusive culture. Too many companies focus on compliance and forget about making their handbooks an extension of their culture. Fun, engaging employee handbooks can be such a useful tool in orienting employees to how you think and talk about your organization. Tap a small diverse committee of employees who “get” the company’s tone and culture to help craft the handbook. Someone with writing chops helps, too.

2. Choose benefits that reflect the culture you want to have.

Once values are set, the more tangible work begins: creating policies and providing benefits that reflect the culture you want to have. If DEI is at the heart of that mission, consider how different demographics, like working parents, women, LGBTQ+ employees and employees of color, might be better supported if you offer benefits like paid time off, paid parental leave, mental health support and inclusive health care.

Remember, too, that employees’ needs are fluid and change to reflect internal factors like where they are in their lives and careers as well as external factors like what’s happening in the world. For example, there has been an increased demand for mental health support from women employees through the pandemic. There’s a growing demand for transparency and visibility into a company’s support for DEI in light of Black Lives Matter and the country’s racial equity awakening.

There are unexpected upsides to prioritizing these kinds of DEI-centered offerings, too. Not only do they make employees happier, which improves retention, but they also improve everyone’s employee experience, regardless of identity, because they keep employee well-being central to the company’s business goals. A rising tide lifts all boats.

3. Practice accountability when hiring—even if it makes hiring more challenging.

Hiring for “culture fit” has become controversial among DEI-focused organizations (often “fitting in” is code for hiring someone just like you), but values alignment, sometimes known as “values fit” or “culture add,” remains crucial to building a team that supports a company’s long-term DEI journey. That means centering your hiring around a search for people who bring needed skill sets to your company as well as something extra—a new perspective, a different background, a needed voice that has yet to be represented and aligns with your company’s mission and vision.

This kind of strategic hiring takes extra time at first; you have to broaden your networks and address your biases. But companies that downplay values when hiring pay the price.

Good questions that break free of the culture fit model push interviewees to share more about themselves and how they navigate the world and workplace. “Tell me about a time when persistence paid off for you,” or “What is most important to you outside of work?” and other values-based questions invite more meaningful conversations and connections.

4. Tap into easy ways to get feedback from employees.

Employee resource groups, town hall meetings and Slack channels are examples of less formal and more accessible channels for early-stage companies to get feedback from their employees and create an open culture. Quite simply, they allow you to hold space for your employees to share their unique experiences without the additional resource overhead that a formal survey platform or partner might bring with it.

Another effective option for companies of all sizes is one-to-ones—when managers, an employee’s direct line of support, have the opportunity to make their direct reports feel heard simply by listening to and validating their experiences. Take that feedback, and make change with it.

When you make the decision to use diversity and inclusion as a mindset rather than another action on your to-do list, you’ll find that business-critical work like establishing core values, choosing employee benefits and creating feedback channels take on new power. This power elevates and underlines what matters most in the pursuit of everything: a culture that supports the experiences of all employees.


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