Linking DEIB to Employee Experience
HR professionals, beware: the dangers of a one-size-fits-all approach to "Employee Experience" are real. The field of HR and People is constantly being bombarded with new trends and fads, from blended learning and gamification to Millennial, Gen-Z, and Organisational Culture. While these trends may inform HR's investments of time and money, they also have a tendency to be quickly forgotten, without taking into account their actual impact.
The latest trend on the horizon? Employee Experience. But here's the catch: as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) specialists, we're concerned that the conversation around Employee Experience is being had without an EDI lens. In other words, it's being treated as separate from Inclusion - which is a big problem.
Why is this a problem? Because we can't meaningfully discuss or achieve our Employee Experience goals without acknowledging that an individual's diversity dimensions materially impact their experiences in the workplace. The reality is that there is no equality in the employee experience to begin with, and those with privileged diversity dimensions already have an experience of comfort, access, and upward mobility that others do not. If we don't invest in equalizing or seeking to equalize the employee experience, we'll only be enhancing the experience for those who already have privilege within the workplace - undoing much of the important inclusion work that's already been done.
That's why we advocate for re-centralizing EDI in all people projects. Inclusion must be central to any Employee Experience program, and to any discussion of people and talent. And ultimately, inclusion should be the ultimate goal - because when we achieve greater inclusion, access, and comfort for more employees, many of the benefits and outcomes that people trends aim to achieve will be achieved.
Let's slow down and get back to basics. Our systems and behaviors tend to privilege and disadvantage certain employees within our organizations, leading to exclusion, disengagement, mistrust, unhappiness, and decreased productivity. Instead of racing to be "ahead of the curve" with the latest trend, let's take the time to truly understand and tackle these underlying issues.
