The Importance of DEI Amongst Employees

Building a Better Workplace

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives continue to shine throughout the corporate world and show off a bright future for similar policies. Despite their “boogeyman” status in certain political spheres, most employees report high levels of satisfaction with these initiatives in generating a more appealing workplace culture. However, DEI can be poorly implemented, leading to resentment fermenting against company changes, so it is always important to keep in mind that it will ultimately be the support of your employees that ensures if these policies sink or swim.

Employee Support

While company development is always important, it is equally important to keep in mind the happiness and satisfaction of your employees when determining the best course of action for your company. With this in mind, employees have, time and time again, shown broad support for exploring diversity initiatives in the workplace. A Pew Research poll published in 2023 showed that 56% of employees viewed DEI policies in a positive light, with only 16% responding negatively to said policies. The remaining 28% polled had no strong opinion. These numbers are reflective of both employees who have worked at jobs with strong DEI initiatives and employees of companies who have yet to tackle their company’s cultural barriers. Why this distinction matters is because we can see the approval rating for DEI policies increase as they are implemented. When asked if DEI-related policies for hiring, pay increases, and promotions had any impact on their workplace, 72% employees responded that these initiatives positively affected their work environment, with only 3% of employees surveyed reporting a negative experience.

Why this matters should be obvious. Workers who are satisfied with their current office culture are much less likely to start touching up that resume and are much more likely to become engaged with their work. The Kapor Center, a collection of organizations devoted to promoting equity in the tech center, report that the highest cause of workplace turnover is feeling disconnected from a company’s culture, and that quitting due to low engagement accounts for a total of $16 billion dollars in losses for the tech sector every year. With numbers like these, you can’t afford not to invest in DEI.

What Makes DEI Fail?

It is important to recognize that any policy implemented poorly or haphazardly is one that is bound to fail, and DEI is no different. The most common complaint about poor DEI policies is that they act merely as hurdles to the way the business usually functions, and that the company’s culture remains the same, only now there are a few more boxes to check. This is emblematic of a DEI policy that has merely been stapled onto the side of an existing workflow, and is bound to fail and be removed at the nearest sign of financial instability. Of course, that is not the only way. The most stable cultural policies are the ones that start at the top and filter down naturally through all elements of the company, ensuring that all limbs of an organization are working in sync to build a more equitable workplace. There are many ways to organize this type of initiative, but we at 7C Lingo recommend using a Cultural Intelligence strategy as the baseline for improving your company’s culture.

What is Cultural Intelligence?

Cultural Intelligence, also referred to as Cultural Quotient or CQ, is a strategy for evaluating the current culture of a workplace, bringing attention to certain gaps in understanding, and developing a plan for filling those gaps. Many companies have gone through Cultural Intelligence training in anticipation of breaking into international markets, but CQ is also utilized to construct DEI initiatives on the home front as well. This is because these evaluations include gauging a company’s motivations, strategy, and behavior when interacting with different cultures, which can then be used not only to tackle diverse cultures across the globe, but within their workplace as well. These plans can then work to give those in leadership roles not only the skills, but the drive to implement more sustainable diversity policies within the workplace. For more information on building a better workplace through Cultural Intelligence, you can read all about it here.