Diversity Training – It’s Importance, What Should it include, and How to Implement Diversity Training

However, diversity training is still a challenge for a lot of workplaces and an afterthought for others.

For example, only 4% of businesses feel their diversity training initiatives yield the desired effects (Source: PWC). 76% of companies do not have D&I goals and treat it as a compliance issue (Source: JoshBersin, 2021).

In this article, you will find all you need to know about diversity training, from its importance to how best to implement it. 

The Importance of Diversity Training 

Diversity is linked to better business performance across the board. It improves profit margins, innovation, teamwork, etc. 

Diversity training lays down the foundation for your organization to become a pleasant and inclusive place to work in. It also primes leadership, HR, and employees to welcome and accommodate diverse recruits. Thus, a DEI initiative cannot be executed effectively without first training the people in your organization. 

Here are some research-backed reasons to highlight the importance of diversity training: 

A. Diverse businesses that are inclusive have a lower turnover rate

According to a Deloitte study, inclusive companies have a 22% lower turnover rate. Retaining talent is a top priority for businesses as replacing an employee costs immense time and money. Some of the ways in which a diverse and inclusive working environment fosters retention is through engagement, innovation, psychological safety, and greater trust in the employer. Diversity training teaches employees how to healthily adapt to and appreciate cultural differences. 

B. Diverse businesses are more likely to be financially successful

Businesses with gender and ethnic diversity are 53% more likely to enjoy better financial performance (Source: McKinsey, 2015).

Other studies report similar findings. For instance, diverse businesses have a 19% innovation revenue according to an HBR study. Another HBR study reports that diverse businesses have a 70% chance to enter new markets.  

Thus, the verdict clearly states that success follows diversity. Diversity training can be leveraged to tap into this success quicker by cultivating teamwork, collaboration, and inclusive soft skills.  

C. Diverse employees report biases as a day-to-day experience

A BCG report from 2017 reveals that for 50% of diverse employees, bias is a part of their day-to-day experience at work.

Half also believed that their companies lack the right mechanisms to reduce or eradicate the impact of biases on major decisions such as promotions. In such a case, diversity training is necessary to build awareness, teach bias mitigation strategies, and train management to adopt a diversity-centered approach at work. 

What Should Diversity Training Include? 

The answer to this question addresses two aspects of training: 

• First, the general training topics they should cover 
• Second, the type of training used to achieve learning objectives

A. Topics to Cover in Diversity Training 

The topics you include in your diversity training programs will depend on a number of factors, such as: 

• Business goals 
• Training needs of employees 
• Notable diversity and inclusion gaps in your organization 
• The demographic of your organization 
• The existing training content available
• Time and budget 

Some common topics covered in diversity training are: 

• Racism  
• Sexism 
• Multicultural awareness and sensitivity
• Inclusion 
• Sexual orientations and gender identities 
• Inclusive leadership 
• Inclusive management 
• Inclusive hiring and promotion practices
• Diversity policies 
• Allyship and managing discrimination 
• Identifying biases 

These can be divided into modules or separate programs. As mentioned previously, every diversity-related topic cannot be included in a curriculum for most businesses. Thus, what you pick and choose will depend on your needs. These topics can then be divided into modules, separate training programs, and even tiered courses that increase in complexity. 

B. The Type of Training Used 

Once again, this will depend on the unique training needs your organization has. Broadly speaking, there are 4 types of diversity training approaches you can use: 

Awareness Training

As the name suggests, awareness training deals with bringing issues surrounding diversity into the consciousness of learners. It simply seeks to educate about what is and isn’t. It could also include telling employees about company demographics. Additionally, awareness training defines diversity and its related concepts such as inclusion and equity. This type of training is a good place to start if you are just beginning to offer diversity training in your organization. 

Basic Diversity Training

Basic diversity training is aimed at building empathy, respect, and sensitivity among employees. Basic diversity training is more value-based and theoretical. It gives learners knowledge constructs but does not delve into application and rigorous perspective building. 

Skills-based Diversity Training

Skills-based diversity training equips learners with tangible and actionable behaviors they can implement in their day-to-day life to be more inclusive and contribute to making the workplace a safe and healthy environment to be in for others. Skills-based diversity training is more advanced than the other forms and requires some prior knowledge. This type of training can also backfire if your learners aren’t ready or there isn’t enough buy-in. Thus, skills-based training should not typically be the first diversity program you offer. 

How to Implement Diversity Training? 

While diversity training has its benefits, it can also create resistance. Therefore, it’s important that you’re strategic with it. In this section, you will find some tips to make organizational diversity training more impactful and increase its positive effects: 

1. Connect it to business values and goals – by connecting diversity training to your business values and goals, you can help employees see why it is important for the organization. If a majority of your workforce is a good fit for the business culturally it will be easy for them to get on board with diversity training once they understand how it related to the business’s existing goals and values. 
2. Make diversity training relevant to the unique context of your organization – diversity training cannot be a one size fits all approach. Each business has different diversity training needs. By highlighting to learners what your business’ unique diversity gaps and challenges are, you can make diversity training more personally meaningful. For instance, you can highlight diversity and inclusion-related data from your organization instead of using generic data. 
3. Include employees at all levels – a top-down approach to diversity and inclusion is one of the best ways to create sustainable change. When leadership participates in and endorses diversity training, they act as role models. 
4. Make diversity training flexible – instead of making diversity training a mandatory obligation, you can make it optional. This way, employees who do participate will participate voluntarily. Naturally, what they gain from training will also be more effective this way. You can also let learners set their own goals for the training, so they have a personal commitment to work towards.
   Additionally, it is very important to avoid or tactfully handle the mention of negative consequences in diversity training. Such topics can often be left to compliance training programs.   
5. Focus more on the dos and less on the don’ts – sometimes, it can be more effective to add constructive behaviors rather than advice against unhelpful ones. Learners might feel restricted if all they take away from diversity training is a list of things they are doing wrong. Thus, telling them what they can do to be more inclusive will have a better impact. 

Infographics

Conclusion 

Diversity training can put businesses at a clear competitive advantage, while also improving the overall working environment for their employees. Despite this, 54% of employees believe their companies do not do enough to improve diversity. Many businesses today are still on the fence about going all in with diversity training. However, by taking a slow, steady, and customized approach to diversity, they can gradually develop buy-in and improve organization-wide inclusivity.  

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) 

What is the importance of diversity training? 

Diversity training is important because: 

• Diverse businesses have a lower turnover rate 
• Diverse businesses are more likely to be financially successful 
• Diverse employees report biases as an everyday experience for them 

What are the types of diversity training? 

The types of diversity training are: 

• Awareness training 
• Basic diversity training 
• Skills-based diversity training 

How to implement diversity training? 

Some effective ways to implement diversity training are: 

• Connect it to business values and goals 
• Make diversity training relevant to the unique context of your organization 
• Include employees at all levels 
• Make diversity training flexible 
• Focus more on the dos and less on the don’ts 

References

• https://ss-usa.s3.amazonaws.com/c/308463326/media/27436024f0b84dfd274918375735238/202102%20-%20DEI%20Report.pdf  
• https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/why-diversity-matters  
• https://hbr.org/2018/01/how-and-where-diversity-drives-financial-performance  
• https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/fixing-the-flawed-approach-to-diversity