This document outlines five steps for developing an effective diversity and inclusion strategy: 1) Assess your current situation by evaluating data, policies, and processes; 2) Establish clear goals and metrics to measure progress; 3) Build a business case by highlighting tangible benefits like increased innovation, engagement, and revenue; 4) Implement the plan through education, proactive measures, and removing bias; 5) Continuously track success and refine the strategy. Taking these steps will help organizations reap rewards like attracting top talent and achieving sustainable growth.

1. Understanding your Diversity and Inclusion Journey
It’s well-reported – the topic of diversity and inclusion (D&I) has become a focal point
for major organisations across the globe. Many firms are springing into action,
openly discussing their successes and shortcomings, posting internal diversity stats
and setting admirable benchmarks for hiring and mobility ratios.
But is this enough to really instigate meaningful change? While this sort of
acknowledgement and transparency should certainly be applauded, it’s important
that businesses recognise them as first steps down a long and challenging road to
equality in the workplace. Moreover, without a solid strategy in place at the onset,
long-term, sustainable success is simply unattainable.
Step 1: Assess Your Current Situation
First things first – you need to assess your current situation. This means evaluating
your existing data, decision making processes and policies. Which areas are
currently working for well? Which could stand some improvement?
Identifying where you are in the overall D&I “Journey” will enable you to craft a
comprehensive and impactful strategy that’s aligned with your current situation.
Moreover, an initial audit provides a baseline from which to measure your progress –
something that will undoubtedly prove useful when attempting to make the case for
increasing D&I commitment and investment in the future.

2. This infographic from Capita outlines the four stages of an evolving D&I strategy:
Step 2: Establish an End Goal
If you set out on a journey without a final destination in mind, chances are you’ll
simply end up aiming for the stars and only hitting the sky! In order to avoid potential
derailment, be sure to:
Start by establishing a firm (and realistic) D&I targets
Implement a measurable set of KPIs and benchmarks to help you get there
Identify all the relevant metrics for success and the necessary technologies and
data-gathering systems to help keep you pointed in the right direction
With this kind of clear framework in place from the outset, you’ll be able to leverage
measurable objectives and results in order to obtain continued support from senior
stakeholders and the organisation at large.
Step 3: Build Your Business Case
So you’ve established a baseline and a clear path to D&I success, but now comes
the challenge of making the case for investment. While everyone can likely get
behind the moral arguments surrounding equality in the workplace, far fewer are
aware of the tangible business benefits. Here are of couple of hard facts to help you
set the record straight:

3. Innovation/Collaboration
Employees operating in an inclusive, “speak up” environment are 3.5 times more
likely to contribute and reach their full innovative potential. 86% of millennials feel
that differences of opinion are crucial for collaboration and innovation.
Diverse and inclusive teams demonstrate:
12% more discretionary effort
19% more intent to stay
57% more collaboration
42% greater team commitment
Engagement
83% of millennials are more likely to actively engage with an organisation they feel
fosters an inclusive culture.
Properly engaged employees demonstrate:
37% lower rate of absenteeism
21% higher rate of productivity
22% higher rate of profitability
Revenue
85% of CEOs who have embraced a formal D&I strategy feel that it’s improved their
bottom line
For approximately every 1% increase in the rate of gender diversity and cultural
diversity within an organisation, there is a 3% and 9% rise in sales, respectively
Companies with diverse top leadership teams outperformed their less-diverse
competitors by 56%, and achieved 53% higher returns on equity.
By establishing that D&I has a clear and measurable ROI, you’ll be able to effectively
demonstrate that the long-term financial risks of not taking action far outweigh the
temporary cost-savings gained by inaction.

4. Step 4: Implement Your Plan
When it comes to D&I strategies, there’s no such thing as a set-it-and-forget-it
approach. Once you’ve rolled out your plan, that’s when the real work begins. Dan
Robertson, D&I director at ENEI, offers some top-level advice on how to do this:
Educate Your Team: real change is only attainable if the entire company is on
board. This means educating your team not only about the strategy at hand, but also
about the importance of diversity and setting an inclusive culture. Host group
discussions and leadership training programmes; distribute relevant blog posts,
magazine articles, video lectures, etc.; ensure that the company’s messaging and
policies are consistent across all internal and external channels and service lines.
Be Proactive: when striving to address specific problem areas, don’t shy away from
“Positive Action Measures.” Positive Action is an impactful (and legal) way to
address cultural and gender under-representation in key areas of the organisation.
Are you actively targeting minorities for specific roles in your recruitment strategy?
What about career advancement programmes for women within your company?
Initiatives like these help balance out your workforce and ensure cultural and
intellectual diversity within the organisation. They should be aligned with your D&I
KPIs – and they shouldn’t be the only approach your company is taking!
Remove Bias from Your People Processes: today, most organisations have
formal equality policies in place to keep discrimination out of the workplace – the
problem is, how do you prevent someone from exhibiting bias when they don’t even
realise they’re doing it? By relying on data analytics and technology rather than gut
instincts and human intuition, organisations can better identify and control
unconscious biases in order to keep them from skewing important decisions, such as
hires, promotions and terminations.
Track Your Success: again effectively, monitoring and evaluating your outcomes is
vital to defining the success of your D&I strategy. By keeping track of your KPIs and
benchmarks, you can measure your progress from your initial baseline, altering and
optimising your approach along the way.

5. Step 5: Reap the Rewards
As companies have begun to see the wide range of returns on their equality
initiatives, both tangible and intangible, it’s become clear that success has become
intrinsically linked to D&I. Today’s brightest young minds want to work for companies
that are as innovative and forward-thinking as they are. As such, D&I has been firmly
established as a baseline expectation for top talent and an accepted prerequisite for
sustainable growth and success.
While taking action may seem like an overwhelming prospect, there are tons of
fantastic resources and D&I torch-bearers out there to inspire and inform your own
initiative. Remember, there’s no one “right way” when it comes to bolstering diversity
and equality – don’t be afraid to go against the grain and ruffle some feathers in the
process. Trust us, the payoff will be more than worth it.
We believe that everyone should have an equal chance to realise their full potential.
That’s why we created End Workplace Bias. Our mission is to foster diversity and
help bring an end to discrimination in the workplace. We will be showcasing the
people and organisations who are leading the way on equality, diversity and
inclusion and help tell your stories, both good and bad, to help bring about
meaningful change.
Let's start a global conversation so we can make #DiversityWork and help
#EndWorkplaceBias visit us @ www.EndWorkPlaceBias.com
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Want to find out more about how we could help your company eradicate, bias,
subjectivity and inconsistencies from your recruitment process? Please do feel free
to call me or email me directly at tom@launchpadrecruits.com and +44(0)7976 843
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