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Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in the Workplace
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
Introduction President Joe Biden considers diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) a top priority, and every level of government has noticed. Now, federal, state and local agencies are all journeying toward better organizational DE&I. After all, a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace culture can benefit agencies in many ways. Internally, prioritizing DE&I ensures employees feel valued and respected. Happier workers are also more invested in their agencies, boosting productivity, retention and satisfaction agencywide. There are also several public advantages to elevating DE&I. First, doing so helps agencies compete with private sector companies that have diverse, equitable and inclusive cultures. It also attracts a broader array of talent, bringing fresh energy and ideas. Most importantly, the more agencies integrate DE&I into their mission, the better equipped employees are to serve constituents. So, how can you and your co-workers foster diversity, equity and inclusion? GovLoop created this resource to answer that question, as DE&I is of deep interest to our community. The following topics can help your agency start this journey: A Glossary of Key DE&I Terms Understanding Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace Nurturing Psychological Safety Launching Affinity Groups What Your Peers Are Doing GovLoop Spotlight and Other Resources
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This resource is part of our newly launched GovLoop Spotlight initiative highlighting our content about diversity, equity and inclusion. You can find our entire catalog of DE&I articles here.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
A Glossary of Key DE&I Terms Understanding the following terms is crucial for establishing a diverse, equitable and inclusive culture at your agency. Together, these definitions can establish a shared understanding at your agency about what these critical terms mean.
Diversity
Equity
Inclusion
Diversity encompasses the mix of similarities and differences every individual brings to their agency. Examples include – but are not limited to – age, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and more. Together, these features produce workforce diversity, which can help agencies pursue their objectives more efficiently and effectively.
Equity covers agencies treating all people justly and fairly, regardless of their unique characteristics. This impartiality impacts all people, whether they are employees, contractors, constituents or another partner. A truly diverse and inclusive workplace is an equitable one as well.
Inclusion covers the state of feeling respected, supported and valued. It refers to the set of behaviors that creates a sense of belonging and makes every employee believe their uniqueness matters. Inclusion is ultimately about creating the right conditions to meet each employee’s needs, so they can achieve their full potential.
Psychological safety
Unconscious bias
Psychological safety is a measure of the degree to which one feels comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas and criticisms without fear of judgment or negative consequences. It involves satisfying the basic human needs of belonging, fulfillment and security.
Unconscious bias refers to the unintentional preferences individuals have for or against activities, people and things. Although unintentional, unconscious bias can cause problems for agencies, such as falling productivity and workplace tensions.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
Understanding DE&I in the Workplace Answer the following yes/no questions to form an initial impression of how diverse, equitable and inclusive your agency’s culture is.
Assessing your agency’s diversity: 1. Is your agency’s workforce diverse in terms of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin and other areas? YES NO 2. Does your agency’s leadership reflect the makeup of its employees in terms of attributes such as gender or race? YES NO 3. Do your agency’s policies, programs, products and services impact all communities equally? YES NO 4. Does your agency’s HR department promote diversity through hiring efforts, workplace programs, opportunities for professional advancement and other initiatives? YES NO 5. Is diversity pivotal to your agency’s mission? YES NO
Assessing your agency’s equity: 1. Does your agency regularly post internal communications in languages besides English? YES NO 2. Does your agency’s time off policy treat all religious holidays the same? YES NO 3. Does your agency offer DE&I training and resources to all employees? YES NO 4. Does your agency have an internal DE&I policy that is accessible, easily referenced and implemented agencywide? YES NO 5. Are there formal channels inside your agency for reporting incidents that violate its DE&I policy or standards? YES NO
Assessing your agency’s inclusion: 1. Are technologies like your agency’s email accessible to everyone regardless of their physical capabilities, socioeconomic status or other attributes? YES NO
2. Do your agency’s DE&I discussions, initiatives and teams include all workers regardless of background? YES NO 3. Do your agency’s offices include facilities like accessible restrooms for all people regardless of qualities like age or gender? YES NO 4. Do your agency’s leaders consistently reach out to – and seek input from – all employees? YES NO 5. Does your agency actively collect data about its workforce – and the communities it represents – to inform future decisions? YES NO
Next steps: DE&I is a journey, not a destination. Regardless of how you answered these questions, your agency should keep pursuing a more diverse, equitable and inclusive culture. Considering your agency’s DE&I efforts, however, is a valuable first step to transforming your workplace. No two agencies start from the same place. In many cases, an agency’s teams may also begin from different points when it comes to DE&I. There is no finish line for agencies to cross but making these issues integral to how your agency operates will have lasting benefits across the workforce. These best practices can positively shape your agency’s efforts: 1. Continuously discuss subjects like diversity with accountability, empathy and transparency to understand how these topics impact your agency’s mission. 2. Expand your agency’s team building programs to strengthen the connections and the sense of community among employees. 3. Encourage leaders to craft DE&I policies and processes that incorporate all voices agencywide, so employees have a shared vision. 4. Examine how DE&I influences your agency’s daily work and performance management to shore up shortcomings. 5. Finally, strive to make revisiting your agency’s successes and failures on these matters a recurring event.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
Nurturing Psychological Safety Psychological safety is the level of comfort employees have sharing their thoughts with others without fearing negative consequences. Whether they are offering criticisms or ideas, everyone should be able to respectfully express themselves without encountering judgement or unkindness. Although psychological safety might seem like a private mental health matter, agencies bear some responsibility for their employees’ well-being. Potential problems for agencies with low psychological safety include difficulties retaining talent and dissatisfied workers. During “Psychological Safety in the Workplace,” a NextGen online training in February 2021, Mel Kepler and Rachel Niebeling, two experts from LMI, a government consulting firm, discussed establishing a healthy work environment. The following insights can increase agencies’ individual and organizational psychological safety:
For anyone:
For managers:
Understand the four stages of psychological safety: At any agency, psychological safety begins with self-worth. After that, each stage impacts another level of employees’ personal and professional development. Collectively, all four stages of psychological safety can make workers more active within their agencies. According to Timothy Clark, the author of “The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety,” the four stages are:
• Ensure that hierarchy does not define interpersonal relationships. Agencies should have a collaborative environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their ideas. For example, junior employees should not only learn from senior employees, but vice versa.
• Inclusion Safety: Inclusion safety satisfies the basic human need to connect and belong. In this stage, you feel safe to be yourself and are accepted for who you are, including your unique attributes and defining characteristics.
• Listen. “If you meet with someone for 30 minutes, listen for 20,” Kepler said. As a manager, you need to be able to hear the concerns of those working for you. Only then can you address them.
• Learner Safety: Learner safety satisfies the need to learn and grow. In this stage, you feel safe to engage in the learning process by asking questions, giving and receiving feedback, experimenting and making mistakes. • Contributor Safety: Contributor safety satisfies the need to make a difference. You feel safe to use your skills and abilities to make a meaningful contribution. • Challenger Safety: Challenger safety satisfies the need to make things better. You feel safe to speak up and challenge the status quo when you think there’s an opportunity to change or improve.
To learn more about psychological safety in the workplace, download this GovLoop Toolkit.
• Control your behavior. As a manager, you set the tone for your team. Lead by example by creating a friendly, open and non-judgmental environment.
For individuals: • Make individual connections. These heighten the overall psychological safety of the team, which is the sum of how comfortable each employee feels with every other employee. By forming a connection with any one person, you move the needle on overall team comfort. • Be understanding. “People are fighting battles every day that you don’t know about,” Niebeling said. Before offering criticism or judgment, think about what might be influencing a person’s behavior and what an appropriate response would be. • Be a rock. Even in a dysfunctional, psychologically unsafe team, you can be psychologically safe for other team members. By providing a safe space for others, you are working toward a better environment. You may be just the lifeline your teammates need.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
Launching Affinity Groups Affinity groups are collections of employees who pursue shared interests and common goals. Formal or informal, these organizations can make real gains for DE&I. At agencies, affinity groups can take tangible steps toward a more diverse, equitable and inclusive culture because workers can choose the pace that best fits their unique needs. In the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), for instance, an affinity group is a voluntary employee organization (VEO) that is based on a shared identity, common background and/or special interest. Affinity groups offer opportunities for employees to connect on a meaningful level beyond the traditional and/or organizational structure. But establishing and sustaining affinity groups can be difficult. After all, topics such as racial inequity can be challenging to discuss at work. Furthermore, affinity groups require strong relationships and lots of networking. To get satisfying results from affinity groups, agencies need to enthusiastically and proactively support them.
The following prompts will plant the seeds for your agency’s DE&I affinity group: What is your affinity group’s purpose? Creating a purpose statement will determine your affinity group’s aims and how to accomplish them. For example, your affinity group could center on engaging with your agency’s underserved communities to improve DE&I. How do your affinity group’s goals align with your agency’s mission? Your affinity group’s purpose will encounter the least resistance if it meshes with your agency’s reason for existence. What is your affinity group’s strategy? Describe the meetings, practices and roles your affinity group needs to meet its targets. How does your affinity group define diversity, equity and inclusion? Initially, clarifying what these terms mean to your affinity group and its host agency will assist your team’s members with discussing each one. From there, input from affinity groups can help shape your agency’s DE&I efforts.
With a basic picture of your affinity group now in mind, answer these questions to plot out the team’s membership: How many people will be in your affinity group? According to Cultures Connecting, a DE&I advocacy organization, most affinity groups need at least three people – and, at most, eight to 12 – to succeed, depending on their host organization’s size. Smaller groups tend to have less diverse perspectives, but larger ones may require more energy to gain steam. Consequently, identifying an ideal group size is critical.
Who should lead your affinity group? Every affinity group should have at least one person responsible for allocating its energy, money, time and other resources. After identifying that person, decide the best means for other employees to connect with them. Recruiting members of senior leadership is also important for your venture’s success. How are your affinity group’s meetings structured? Picking when your group meets, how often and for how long generates consistency and stability. Even better, well-defined meetings can potentially attract new recruits. Culture Connects recommends at least one two-hour meeting monthly for solid returns. One option is separating these meetings into tactical or update meetings and bonding activities. Lastly, some brief personal reflection can reveal why an affinity group might benefit you and your career. What category would you like your affinity group to affect the most? Possibilities include race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic circumstances. Affinity groups can focus on multiple segments simultaneously but prioritizing the subsets that matter the most to you can maintain your engagement. Which of your experiences have helped you understand DE&I? Personal or professional, your experiences can contribute to elevating DE&I at your agency. No two people are alike, so the more people share their pasts, the more varied your agency’s future can be. What skills are you bringing to your affinity group? Assessing your skillset can assist your affinity group with plugging its skills gaps. More importantly, this step will teach you what strengths you have and how to apply them to your group’s functions and purpose.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
What Your Peers Are Doing Across the public sector, scores of agencies have successfully implemented DE&I initiatives and programs. And while every concept may not translate smoothly to your agency, there is plenty of inspiration to be found. GovLoop dived into our community for case studies illustrating what is possible when agencies champion DE&I. We hope this roundup sparks similar output at your agency.
Celebrating Commemorative Months
Practicing User-Centered Design
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) component shows what agencies can accomplish when they make DE&I a commitment. The NIH’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) celebrates all historically marginalized and underserved communities daily. From women to Native Americans, EDI strives to provide nuanced attention to every category of people.
The Defense Digital Services (DDS) illustrates what agencies can achieve when they design with, rather than for, users. While rebuilding Move.mil, the informational website for military service members’ moves, the DDS picked an allwomen user experience (UX) design shop to revamp the website’s backend.
Agencies looking to follow the EDI’s lead need only look at a calendar. Throughout the year, the EDI hosts a commemorative month for each community that attempts to promote its unique history. Subsequently, events like Black History Month can provide needed perspective, helping all employees become more aware of and sensitive to issues that impact the diverse communities they serve.
Creating Policy Teams The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) demonstrates how agencies can divide and conquer on DE&I policy. Nestled within the Labor Department (DOL), ODEP seeks mission wins by dividing its policy works among six critical teams. For instance, the employer team focuses on helping employers attract and retain talented workers with disabilities. The employment-supports team, meanwhile, centers on support elements such as transportation that are necessary for maintaining jobs. Forming specialized teams such as these can aid agencies with serving underserved communities.
The DDS’s decision produced MilMove, a mobile-friendly web application. MilMove lets military personnel and their families log their orders so they can plan for upcoming moves. By including more perspectives, agencies such as the DDS can get the feedback they need for satisfying products and services.
Forming Community Partnerships Colorado’s Office of Health Equity shows how agencies can look beyond the public sector for inspiration. The Office of Health Equity is part of the Colorado Equity Alliance, a coalition that aims to ensure equity is woven into Colorado’s government statewide. Since forming in 2018, one of the alliance’s tenets has been collaboration between agencies and community organizations. Take the Alliance’s membership. Rather than rely solely on government, the Alliance boasts 13 state agencies and 11 community organizations in its ranks. By including groups like the Latino Community Fund, the Alliance ensures all Coloradans have a seat at the table.
Monitoring Community Equity Los Angeles displays how data can educate agencies about traits such as equity. Launched by Los Angeles’ Controller in November 2020, the agency’s Equity Index measures citywide factors such as education. Using this information, Los Angeles can make informed decisions about how to provide more opportunities to the city’s 100 neighborhoods. Using a data-driven approach to equity, agencies nationwide can follow Los Angeles’ example to tackle their customers’ most pressing needs.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A GovLoop Toolkit
GovLoop Spotlight + Other Resources We hope this toolkit inspires your agency to reflect on its workplace culture. DE&I begins with openness and honesty, so use this resource as a first step toward creating a more welcoming atmosphere. While the road to progress may be long, it is a path open to anyone. No matter your role, we encourage you to consider how you can promote DE&I in the workplace. Use this resource as a conversation starter and share it with colleagues and others who could benefit from it. Lastly, we recommend your agency partner with other organizations to advance its internal DE&I efforts. No matter your agency’s mission, these groups, and others like them, can become valuable allies: • Blacks in Government (BIG) • Federally Employed Women (FEW) • Local Government Hispanic Network (LGHN) • Asian American Government Executives Network (AAGEN) • Modern Military Association of America (MMAA) No matter the agency, governments that strive for more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces eventually bring those characteristics into the outside world.
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