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DEI efforts have experienced pushback recently, with funding and support for diversity, equity, and inclusion declining in the U.S.
McKinsey & Company’s annual “Women in the Workplace” report painted a fragile picture of women’s progress in corporate America, especially in light of the growing cultural backlash against DEI efforts. In a Harvard Business Review (HBR) article reflecting on the results of the survey, now in its 10th year, author and inclusion strategist Ruchika T. Malhotra shared some ways for organizations who want to move the needle forward — not backwards — on their DEI efforts can continue to work on creating a more inclusive, less biased workplace.
Ruchika T. Malhotra
“As it turns out,” Malhotra wrote, “many of the tactics experts and scholars have been recommending to company leaders for years have been paying off and yielding progress for women in the workplace.” Here are some of the recommendations Malhotra highlighted from the report:
- Reduce bias in hiring — “Hiring processes are riddled with bias — think screening out resumes with names that are recognizably non-Anglo Saxon or hiring for ‘culture fit,’” Malhotra wrote. Some interventions have proven to successfully erase such biases from the hiring process, such as removing names and other gender- and racially identifiable information from resumes so that women and people of color are not immediately weeded out. Other methods that work: “Bringing consistency to the interview process by using standardized questions for candidates and ensuring there’s gender and racial diversity in the candidate pool,” Malhotra said.
- Reduce bias in performance evaluations — “Men often get more actionable feedback at work than women do, and without standardized performance evaluations, it’s easy for managers to fall prey to gender and racial biases when making promotion decisions,” Malhotra wrote. The performance review cycle can not only hurt women’s career opportunities, but stifle employee retention. “When managers making performance evaluation and promotion decisions are made aware of how biases show up in performance evaluations, there’s some evidence to suggest they’ll consider them,” Malhotra said.
- Create allyship opportunities for men — Men still hold most leadership positions, and so it is crucial for them to take a role in advancing their women colleagues, Malhotra said. “Organizations should consider sponsoring allyship groups in the same way they sponsor other ERGs,” she wrote. “These allyship groups often provide camaraderie and a structured way for men and other allies to participate.”
- Provide benefits that support parents, caregivers, and employees with health issues — Extended parental leave, backup childcare, and increased flexibility in working hours have helped a wide number of employees in the past decade, Malhotra said. “Employer benefits are linked to higher rates of happiness and better employee retention,” she wrote. These more human-centered policies are often especially helpful to women in the workplace, she noted, because women are frequently tasked with caregiver roles.
“It’s especially concerning to see company commitments lessening on gender and racial equity precisely when we need them most,” Malhotra wrote, although she said she’s heartened to see progressive leaders and organizations moving forward toward a more equitable future of work. “But we truly need everyone to be involved,” she said, “particularly as we know progress is still slow for women of color.”
Casey Gale is managing editor of Convene.