Building a Diversity and Inclusion Program in the Workplace
Option #1: Building a Diversity and Inclusion Program Paper
Organizations must begin a diversity journey by understanding the current talent in their workforce, including breakdowns by gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, and more. Just having diversity is not enough. To reap the benefits from increased diversity, organizations need to work toward inclusion.Leaders looking to increase diversity in their organizations are often asked to "make the case" for why it is necessary. During this course, it has been highlighted that diversity and inclusion in the workplace can lead to increased revenue, reduced costs, more significant innovation, and increased employee engagement, productivity, and commitment.
The first step for senior leaders interested in building a diversity and inclusion program is to create a specific business case on how diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and belonging will improve the organization. Write a business case for your organization.
(My organization: The Spruill Company is a family-owned company located in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This location was chosen as it is an up-and-coming area in North Carolina that has potential for business and economic growth. While the founder, Katisha Spruill is originally from North Carolina it was important to have the business headquartered in North Carolina.
The purpose of The Spruill Company is to serve as a resource to entrepreneurs and business owners by providing start-up services, accounting and tax services, legal formation, and even financial support. By way of assessment The Spruill Company reviews applications submitted by entrepreneurs and business owners to determine which businesses are best suited for The Spruill Company to partner with. Having obtained a reputation in the business community The Spruill Company is a respected business known to deliver on its promise. It is the reputation that drives business and is allowing it to thrive even with minimal marketing.
The role I have within the organization is the founder and President. While there are many motivations I have for the creation of The Spruill Company, one stands out, the desire to create a meaningful business that provides services to entrepreneurs and business owners. One could say there are plenty of businesses that do this, and that is true, however, there is only one The Spruill Company. We are a business founded to keep businesses functioning as optimal as possible and assisting new entrepreneurs in creating and developing new business.)
Include both internal and external subject matter.
Internal topics should address the following:
Recruiting
Hiring
Promoting
Recognition
Employee Benefits
Internal topics should address the following:
Customers
Vendors
Business partners
Your well-crafted 8-10 page paper must include a cover page, an abstract, and a reference page. These do not count towards your required number of pages. The paper must be in APA format (approximately 2400 – 3000 words, not including Title or References pages). At a minimum, include 10 academic references from CSU Global Library. Make sure to adhere to the CSU Global Guide to Writing and APA Formatting (Links to an external site.). Review the grading rubric for this assignment, to understand exactly how you will be graded. Contact your instructor if you have questions.
Building a Diversity and Inclusion Program Paper
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Abstract
To understand the value of diversity and inclusion in business organizations, it is vital to address both internal and external business interests. This paper argues that it is crucial to consider various processes and practices that influence organizational success in the long run to obtain ideal benefits of diversity and inclusion in the company. Internal and external business environment factors influence the effective implementation of diversity and inclusion programs. These include diversity and inclusive practices related to recruitment, hiring, promotion, recognition, workforce benefits, customers, business partners, and vendors. The report recognizes that having diversity is not enough. Companies, including The Spruill Company, need to consider the factors mentioned above and how creating an inclusivity program around them creates sustainable benefits for the organization in the long term.
Building a Diversity and Inclusion Program Paper
Introduction
It is vital to take the internal environment as the starting point, especially when approaching diversity and inclusion through business case evaluation. An inclusive business climate and diverse workforce create value for the organization and contribute to attaining the company objectives. The second crucial argument behind the need for diversity and inclusion in the workplace is corporate social responsibility, where the firm considers the interests of external stakeholders. As the founder and President of The Spruill Company, I have ensured that we are all responsible for creating workplaces and communities where every person feels a sense of inclusion and belonging. We are committed to harnessing the best of the company – our people, innovation, creativity, and business – to create sustainable change inside as well as outside The Spruill Company. This paper makes a case for upholding diversity and inclusion in internal (i.e., recruitment, hiring, promotion, recognition, and employee benefits decisions) and external processes, including dealing with business partners, vendors, and customers.
Inclusive Hiring and Recruitment
In the competition for global human resources, diversity and inclusion programs are explicitly designed as hiring, recruitment, and retention tools, helping diversify the talent pool an organization can recruit from while also building an employment brand that is viewed as more inclusive. In order to attract the best talent, The Spruill Company has to be reflective of the human resources in the target market. Diversity and inclusion in hiring and recruitment processes create an impetus for organizational effectiveness. We have made diversity a central part of the company’s operations and endeavors. In this way, The Spruill Company addresses and conceptualizes diversity as a source of corporate capability and success in the long term. The company can attract, develop, retain, and manage a diverse workforce to enhance employee and organizational development at the same time (Chaudhry et al., 2021). Diversity in recruitment and hiring processes creates recognition and mutual respect for the worker as well as the company (Cletus et al., 2018). According to Chernyak-Hai and Rabenu (2018), social exchange theory (SET) holds that social relationships are anchored on trust that goodwill gestures will be effectively reciprocated even during hiring and recruitment. Regarding SET, valuing employees’ contributions and participation in the recruitment processes motivates them to be more productive and behave well once they are hired, which leads to innovation.
The Spruill Company conceptualizes inclusivity at the workplace as the extent to which workers view themselves as being central to organizational processes. In this vein, the management understands inclusion perceptions at the workplace, particularly concerning how it impacts commitment to the company, job satisfaction, as well as employees’ psychological well-being. Fairness in hiring and recruitment processes in the company cultivates cordial relationships between supervisors and employees. This culminates in productivity improvements and better workforce conduct, which results in customer satisfaction (Chaudhry et al., 2021). On the other side, The Spruill Company management recognizes that unfair recruitment and hiring processes can have harmful implications for the organization in the long run. Therefore, the company understands that job-related parameters are increasingly influenced by staff experiences concerning fairness in recruitment and hiring as well as job satisfaction.
Accordingly, The Spruill Company treats job-seekers fairly. The management understands that fair treatment in hiring and recruitment makes the employees an integral part of the company. Research indicates that maintaining relationships with other individuals emanates from the desire for a sense of belonging as well as the need to meet one’s psychological needs (Machin & Jeffries, 2017). When the recruitment and hiring process makes people feel rejected or ignored by other individuals or a group at the workplace, it undermines their self-esteem and sense of belongingness. Inclusive hiring and recruitment unify and meets individuals’ social needs and are significantly linked to achievement. It cultivates profound connections as well as social acceptance. Moreover, the company recognizes that some companies make people feel isolated and insecure during their hiring and recruitment processes (Chaudhry et al., 2021). Therefore, The Spruill Company seeks to tap unique perspectives and talent in their recruitment and hiring processes and thus create a diverse and inclusive climate.
Inclusive Recognition Practices
The Spruill Company conceptualizes employee recognition as a transformative force required to design and maintain an inclusive culture. Who and what is recognized (either informally or formally) represents what the company values in its culture, which directly influences who and what thrives. The company recognition system is modern and well-designed to cultivate and sustain an organizational culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion. Given that most employee recognition structures are an employee of the month, annual reviews, or nominated awards, the management recognizes its capacity to hold the company back. In this way, The Spruill Company avoids programs that recognize non-inclusive behaviors or reward a selected group of workers because they potentially suppress diversity perspectives and lead to high turnover rates (Cletus et al., 2018). The company’s recognition program is modernized, and it helps cultivate a sense of belonging, develops a culture of shared values, and celebrates diverse perspectives and contributions (Ciavolino, 2021). More specifically, the company employs 360-degree recognition, implying that every employee can recognize anyone else in the workplace. The recognition program is also insightful, data-driven, timely, and highly interactive to ensure no employee is left out.
According to Schawbel (2021), companies that integrate diversity and inclusion into recognition programs enjoy many benefits. For example, three times as many workers are highly engaged, two times as many workers feel a strong sense of belonging and inclusion, 3.5 times as many human resource (HR) leaders say their organization is likely to realize its diversity and inclusion objectives, and two times as many HR leaders and workers said their firm finally outperformed its industry rivals over the previous three years (Schawbel, 2021). Despite these benefits mentioned above, only 17 percent of workers and 32 percent of HR leaders noted that their organization had a recognition program based on diversity and inclusivity perspectives (Schawbel, 2021). Therefore, The Spruill Company leverages this market gap to create a highly diverse and inclusive recognition program to enhance its competitive advantage and sustainability.
Inclusive Employee Promotion Practices
The Spruill Company maintains inclusive employee promotion practices. It is possible to unleash the power of a diverse and inclusive workplace by moving employees of diverse backgrounds up the career ladder. The leadership recognizes that including minority candidates within the finalist pool (regardless of the candidate pool size) up for a company position increases the probability of a historically underrepresented or minority person getting promoted. Another feasible strategy is to create a more diverse and inclusive promotion ...