Genuinely inclusive workplaces offer more than just lip service and pages of policy documents, they create highly inclusive cultures of belonging, with strong leadership, constant revision of goals, and an equal and fair environment for everyone.
This month marks Pride Month, a globally recognized time to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and other (LGBTQI+) community. So, during Pride Month, we want to reflect on the state of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, not just in organizations across the world, but also in our own.
We know that organizations need to continuously work on their diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging metrics and efforts, and work to proactively eliminate bias from hiring and mobility processes, rather than relying on their intentions that don’t take into account unconscious bias or the voices of the community.
But what are some of the key areas we’re focusing on at Reejig?
Removing barriers to advancement
From your recruitment strategies to promotions and career pathway planning, how inclusive are your hiring and mobility processes?
While 74% of LGBTQI+ respondents to a Diversity Council of Australia surveysaid it was important to be able to be out at work, only 32% were out to everyone with whom they work.
But the process can be complex and repetitive. 50% of LGBTQI+ respondents in McKinsey research reported having to come out at work at least once a week. 37% of survey respondents also reported feeling uncomfortable at least once in the past month with coming out at work.
One survey respondent said that an inclusive culture can help with this fatigue. “Being someplace where I can just be out, know it’s OK, and take that noise out of the system, I do think has helped me focus,” they said.
Eliminating bias from the hiring and employment process
Building a truly inclusive culture comes down to eliminating bias from the hiring and employment process. Without ethical Artificial Intelligence (AI), unconscious bias can still sneak into decision-making processes when teams don’t leave enough information and have to go with their gut.
Bringing AI on can only further cement bias into its learning, so it’s crucial to work with ethical, audited, and tested AI to get hiring decisions right.
This is where Reejig has committed, from the very beginning, to building Ethical Talent AI that eliminates subconscious bias and allows you to have complete visibility over the diversity within your own organization.
It was important for us that our AI removes the unconscious bias that can occur within any organization and promote good, equal, and fair decision-making for all workforces. Something that our CEO & Co-Founder, Siobhan Savage, feels strongly on.
“Every decision Reejig makes is based on someone’s skills and potential, not their personal characteristics like race, religion, national orgin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender ability. We made sure we built guardrails around our AI to ensure we’re not baking bias into our decisions, and regularly audit our AI to feel confident that we’re nudging you to make good and fair decisions — something we call Inclusive Intelligence. And we’re only getting started… Big data has the power to be a voice of fairness to ensure a business is primed and nudged to build and maintain a balanced workforce DNA.”
Siobhan Savage, CEO & Co-Founder, Reejig
THE IMPACT
According to the Diversity Council of Australia’s Inclusion @ Work Index workers in inclusive teams are:
10 times more likely to be very satisfied
4 times less likely to leave their job in the next 12 months
10 times more likely to be innovative; and
6 times more likely to provide excellent customer service
If LGBTQI+ inclusive cultures drive team performance, it’s a no-brainer to start proactively building an inclusive workforce from day one. This comes down to sourcing, hiring, and managing talent inclusively — something we’ve sought to help organizations achieve from Day 1. We created our Ethical Talent AI , and had it independently audited, eliminate bias from your talent data. It’s also compliant with global regulations on equal opportunity, anti-discrimination, and human rights, meaning all recommendations are based solely on skills and potential — not personal characteristics. Then, it comes down to measuring and managing your diversity, equity, inclusiveness, and belonging in your workforce, something that has been equally important to us when creating our workforce intelligence platform. Reejig delivers clear reporting on diversity metrics; helping you understand, track, and report on how you’re performing against internal targets, as well as supporting you to confidently manage obstacles within your business.
Reejig’s commitment to driving inclusivity in every organization and our own
Reejig believes in understanding our own inclusivity and welcoming conversations and communication from every single employee on how we can foster diversity and inclusion within our workforce. Daniel Ridd, Head of Sales at Reejig and LGBTQI+ member says that everyone should be able to come to work as their true and authentic self and be accepted, celebrated, and valued.
“For me, I could not be happier that I have found my home at Reejig. As a leader, I never want anyone on my team to feel like they can not be their true selves. Everyone deserves to be accepted for who they are. Everyone deserves to be spoken to and treated with kindness and respect at all times. Everyone.”
Daniel Ridd, Head of Sales & Partnerships, Reejig
How to foster ongoing and proactive inclusivity in your organization today:
Treat your diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging strategy as dynamic, requiring ongoing evaluation. Ensure it’s up to date, measurable, and can continuously evolve and improve. Inclusivity is not a stagnant state that is achieved and never revisited — both talent teams and leadership should frequently seek to understand their performance in this area and possible improvements that can be made.
Invite minorities and LGBTQI+ employees into the conversations with active communication between not only direct reports, but with company-wide communications and initiatives.
Eliminate unconscious bias from your talent decisions through the use of Ethical AI. Take steps to understand the ethical efforts your AI or talent platforms are making, and whether they adhere to equal opportunity standards and laws.
Thinking about — and more importantly, actioning — inclusivity and belonging in an ongoing and proactive way, isn’t just good for your people, it’s good for your business.
We wish every individual and business a happy Pride Month, and celebrate inclusivity and belonging on all levels not just this month, but every day!
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