This February 20th 2024 is World Day of Social Justice, designated by the United Nations to promote: sustainable development, gender equality, social and economic equality, and equal access to justice for all.
While we often think of social justice as something that governments and policymakers are responsible for enacting, the reality is that all of us as organisations have a responsibility, too.
Cultivating an equitable, diverse and inclusive culture within your own company is not only the right thing to do morally – it also makes prudent business sense. Organisations that prioritise equality, diversity and inclusion (ED&I) are better positioned to attract top talent, drive innovation, and meet the needs of a diverse customer base. Remember, culture outperforms strategy every time!
However, rhetoric alone is not enough to reach the goal – company leaders must be proactive in analysing where bias exists within their organisations and implementing meaningful change.
Promoting equality and diversity
As a first step on the path towards social justice, companies should ensure their hiring, compensation, professional development and promotion practices are fair and equitable.
Analyse the demographic makeup of your workforce, specifically among leadership ranks, and identify any areas where particular groups are underrepresented.
Develop focused strategies to increase diversity, be it targeted university recruitment programmes or management training opportunities for high-potential employees from underrepresented backgrounds.
Getting a wider range of voices in your business will push your creativity further!
Building an inclusive culture
Equally importantly, inclusion entails developing a workplace culture where employees feel valued, respected and able to thrive regardless of gender, race, age, ability or other aspects of personal identity.
Offer implicit bias and diversity awareness training to help managers recognise gaps between intent and impact. Employee resource groups can provide communities of support and advisement around issues faced by marginalised groups. One of our clients, for instance, set up an N.O.T. squad – Nothing Off the Table – where they can talk about anything and everything.
Conversely, zero-tolerance policies should be enacted to protect employees from harassment and unfair treatment stemming from personal attributes, dismantling systemic barriers.
Whilst every company hopes their employees won’t experience bullying or harassment of any kind, employees must have an easy way to talk to somebody about these things.
Gaining employee perspectives
Regular inclusion-focused pulse surveys give employees a way to safely share their experiences and areas where company culture falls short of stated values.
This protects anonymity while identifying patterns signifying deeper issues. Advanced tools like Wotter’s live ED&I survey can crunch this data in real time.
Using Wotter’s ED&I survey also allows you to filter all your other employee engagement data by personal characteristics – for example, gender, race and religion.
This allows you to spot the concerns of the traditionally marginalised groups versus those more widely shared across your company. Knowing how these people feel within your organisation helps you to make meaningful changes, promoting a culture of respect.
The path to fairness starts from within, assessing your organisation’s alignment with values of equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice. More than text on a wall, these principles must manifest through every element of your workplace culture.
Making these changes takes time, but it doesn’t need to be hard. Regular feedback from all the demographics in your business acts as a guiding path towards complete social justice. And every difference you make within your organisation has a ripple effect throughout the wider community.
