Define An Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy For Your SME

I want to give you a bit of context before I start: I’m Char and I am our Talent Acquisition Manager here at Genie AI. I am responsible for sourcing the very best talent in the market in what is ultimately one of the most competitive markets of this decade! It’s an interesting gig full of challenges & surprises but keeps me on my toes and I love that!

I have been with Genie AI since January 2022 and my role gives me visibility across the company and industry and lots of interaction with great people which, as a people pleaser, I enjoy.

Why have we embarked on an ED&I journey at Genie AI?

In the past 5 months of my role I have been pulled to one side by other Genies who ask me:

• How we can diversify our interview panel to better attract underrepresented members of the market?
• What do we think about hiring non-university educated talent?
• How can we accommodate our female Genie’s more particular needs around school pick ups or increase our return to work numbers after maternity leave?

It wasn’t just the Genie team members who displayed a keen interest in how we consider our diversity at Genie. It was the Leadership Team too; I was regularly asked to ensure I was delivering diverse shortlists when it came to gender, religion, race & background. 

What struck me initially was the diversity of people asking me these questions. They weren’t all female. They were of differing age groups. They were from different ethnic backgrounds. They weren’t asking because they were disgruntled either, but because they are a bunch of empaths.

Kind, compassionate and inspired by our meaningful work which we are already plugging away at. Plus they are forever data-driven, enough so that they had each read the stats around the performance of more diverse teams - our Genies want to work with other smart Genies! 

Taking into consideration all of the above, it seemed such an organic step for us to create an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion program. So I asked Rafie our Co-Founder if I could drive this for our business and to my delight he said Yes! 

How did we define our ED&I strategy?

I knew from the off that I wanted Genie to define this process internally rather than go via a consultancy or an expert. I felt for us to truly embed an equitable, diverse & inclusive culture that we are to authentically live, then we had to decide that together as a team. 

So the reading, webinar attending, pod listening & ex-colleague asking began! I wanted to make sure I had as much information as possible to execute this as expertly as I could! What was surprising was the lack of accessible, detailed information with regards to making a plan. And I realised soon that this was because each organisation's diversity & inclusion program is unique to their objectives, teams and culture.

Another reason to be thankful for an internally-driven journey - who knows us better than Genies themselves?

I compounded that there are 6 steps to building a successful Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Program - which we distinctly followed ourselves. 

A 6-step ED&I strategy template for SMEs and Startups

1. Setting the goal

Your goals must align with your company’s values. A wholesome mission statement highlights your commitment to employee’s and provides them transparency of the path on which everybody is heading. This was relatively easy for us.

To make legal services transparent, affordable and understandable by everyone by open sourcing the law.

This ties in so nicely to making opportunity accessible to our employees in the workplace too. 

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2. Set the baseline / Collect data

After setting the mission statement, you need to understand who your employees are and how they actually feel. You will need to track your data over time and introduce changes where necessary.

It is key to gather data on needs and concerns by demographic.

Demographic data may include age, gender, religion, race, socio economic background etc. This information is essential to not only understand the current state of diversity across your organisation but also gives you an understanding of certain groups needs and concerns. Voluntary self-identification is one way to see where your workforce currently stands, but many employees understandably may feel uncomfortable disclosing such information directly so we offer for all surveys to be completed anonymously.

Needs and concerns can be identified by using statements and asking employee’s how much they agree or disagree with them. For example “I trust my employer to be fair to all employees”

It is essential that you are clear on how this information can be used or else it can create a lot of ambiguity & distrust.

Note: You can find a copy of ED&I Survey on Google Forms or at the bottom of this article

3. Analyse Data

The next crucial step is to analyse your data: It’s time to dig into your challenges & look at your major areas of concern. Is there age / socioeconomic diversity amongst your employees? Do employees with the same job have different salaries for example? Fine tooth comb your data and identify where your organisation has a lack of diversity.

It is also important to find out what your team thinks about your workplace culture and current practices. Do they feel like they are part of an inclusive environment? 

By combining this feedback with workforce demographics, you should be able to create a clear picture of where your organisation needs to make improvements. The analysis builds our baseline metrics, and helps us to define what 'success' looks like for our ED&I program.

I output a 25-slide presentation covering the outputs and insights from every question, and presented it back to the entire team.

4. Defining your success

Your action plan must have clear goals and measurable OKR’s. Alot of diversity and inclusion programs fail because businesses don’t set concrete goals and metrics of success from the beginning.

You will need to decide what your goals are and how you will know when we’ve met them.

5. The Journey begins!

Once you’ve decided what you want to focus on and you’ve collected the necessary data to determine your starting point, you will need to create some actionable & measurable steps towards building a diverse and inclusive workplace. Depending on your goals, this could mean a variety of things.

Many businesses (like ours!) opt to internally identify chief diversity officers and a 'guild' of interested parties to oversee and manage these efforts.

Whatever your goals, you must establish a timeline and clear expectations. Everyone should know what they are responsible for, what the target is, and when/how progress will be assessed. It must be a FULLY transparent journey! 

6. Measure, analyse & review, retry! 

Creating a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace isn’t a quick process. It is highly likely that your first initiatives might miss the mark. The only way to identify success is to measure and track your chosen metrics and remain both transparent & accountable! If you aren’t hitting the benchmarks you set, then it’s time for review and to find out what went wrong: For example, is your retention low? Is potential talent uninterested in your company? 

Lastly but definitely not least, everyone at every level of your organisation should be able to view the latest information on how your business’s diversity strategy is performing. Transparency is vital when it comes to diversity and inclusion. Potential candidates do look to EDI stats & journeys as a checker to determine whether or not an employer has an inclusive culture. 

We will continue to make our ED&I journey transparent

Good luck on your unique ED&I journey! ✌️🥳

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Our Initial ED&I Survey Template

[Intro for survey respondents]

A preliminary ED&I assessment is essential to allowing us to understand our company's current attitudes towards equality, diversity and inclusion. If we have a strong knowledge of existing ED&I strengths and problem areas, we will be much better equipped to create efficient, targeted polices and practices. This will lead to more successful ED&I initiatives and ultimately, a more diverse and inclusive company culture.

This assessment is designed to help us assess our capacity and progress in demonstrating best practices in equality, diversity & inclusion.

We will be using this data to:

1. Identify those areas relative to diversity, inclusion and equity that are strongest and those that need further advancement, which could inform the development of a diversity and inclusion action plan in this area
2. Measure changes in Genie's progress towards effectively building and sustaining diversity, cultivating inclusive environments and creating social equality
3. Serve as a starting point for discussions among those of us at Genie (all welcome by the way) by drawing out different views regarding equality, diversity & inclusion

As such please be as open & honest as you wish!

All responses will remain anonymous.

Thank you! :-)

Do you identify as
Female
Male
Transwoman/Transman
Non Binary/Genderqueer/Agender/Gender Fluid
Don't know
Prefer not to say
Other, please provide details below
Other:

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What ethnic group do you belong to?
Freetext

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Which religion is most applicable to you?
Christianity
Judaism
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Sikhism
Jehovah Witness
Athiesm
Other
Other: Freetext
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What age bracket do you fall into?
18 - 24
25-34
35-44
45-64
65+

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Which of the following best describes your sexual orientation?
Straight/Heterosexual
Gay/Lesbian
Bisexual
Other
Other: Freetext
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Would you describe yourself as physically disabled?
Yes
No
Maybe
If so please provide details below:
Other: Freetext
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What is your highest educational attainment level?
Degree or degree equivalent or above
A Levels of equivalent
GCSE's
No qualifications
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Compared to people in general, would you describe yourself as coming from a lower socio-economic background?
Yes
No
Don't know
Prefer not to say
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Would you describe yourself as Neurodivergent?
Yes (If so please provide details below)
No
Other:
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All people have an opportunity to succeed at Genie AI
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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The Talent Team works creatively to source candidates from underrepresented communities
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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I trust Genie AI to be fair to all employees
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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If I raised a concern about discrimination, I am confident my employer would do what is right
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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I feel like I belong here
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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There are leaders here that I can relate to
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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The people I work with treat each other with respect
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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I am included in decisions that affect my work
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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Our organisation values diverse opinions and ideas
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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My immediate manager encourages people with different ideas and opinions to speak up
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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I can comfortably talk about my social & cultural background in the workplace
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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Administrative tasks that don't have a specific owner are fairly divided
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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My personal characteristics (eg gender, age, sexual orientation, colour of skin etc) are not a barrier to career progression at Genie AI
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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I know how to report instances of harassment or discrimination
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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Equality, Diversity & Inclusion is a strategic priority for Genie AI
Strongly Agree
1
2
3
4
5
Strongly Disagree
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What could we do to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in our organisation?
Freetext

What additional feedback do you have on our organisation's equality, diversity and inclusion?
Freetext

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