Organizations have the opportunity to make a positive impact by implementing DEI training. It is a fundamental cornerstone in activating social justice throughout society.
In all aspects of our lives, including the workplace, all people have the right to experience basic human needs and dignity needs. For too long, people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, women, disabled individuals, and all other people from historically oppressed groups have not had equal or equitable access to basic human needs and dignity needs in the workplace. This has created barriers — systemic and interpersonal — for people to thrive in their lives and in the workplace. To create a workplace culture where all people thrive, we need a massive uplift in education about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
What Is DEI Training?
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training typically resides within programs that teach the recognition of justice within a workplace and how to develop strategies and initiatives, so all employees have the same access to the resources and opportunities to achieve their potential. To be successful, DEI training must be outcomes focused. As a quick explanation of each component:
Diversity is the representation of all people within a workplace, crossing all aspects of physiological, psychological, and social dimensions.
Equity is the unbiased availability of resources and opportunities to all people. Equity is fairness in its truest sense.
Inclusion is the development of an environment where everyone shares mutual respect, understanding, and interest as a part of an inclusive larger group.
Why Is DEI Training Imperative for the Modern Workplace?
First and foremost, prioritizing diversity, equity, and inclusion training is the right thing to do. Wherever there is injustice, efforts to right that wrong must be prioritized.
Second, for organizations to thrive in a modern world, they must meet the needs of the modern workforce. Organizations throughout the United States are experiencing extreme labor shortages due to a combination of increased resignations among capable employees and the retirement of a more senior workforce. While retirement is expected, the levels of voluntary resignation we are seeing today are unprecedented; in 2021, 47.4 million people voluntarily quit their jobs. On average, 4 million people quit their job in each month of 2022. We final reporting is in, we can expect to see close to 48 million people who voluntarily left their jobs in 2022.
With Gen-Z workers expecting to dominate the workforce within the next decade, employers are pushing to implement cultural changes to attract this talent and decrease turnover. Pew Research reports that this generation of workers is the most racially and ethnically diverse in US history, as well as the most highly educated and supportive of societal change. Due to this, Gen-Z employees are looking for companies that value diversity, equity, and inclusion as a core components of the business model, along with flexibility, fair wages, and employee health and wellbeing.
Unfortunately, changes in diversity, equity, and inclusion within a company, especially large organizations, do not happen overnight. By investing in DEI training, businesses can internally focus on creating an environment that utilizes cultural intelligence to ultimately attract and retain the emerging workforce while simultaneously implementing an atmosphere that benefits all existing employees.
What Types of Training Should Employers Should Provide Employees?
Organizations have the opportunity to make a positive impact by implementing DEI training. Not only will this training benefit the professional and personal lives of your employees, but it is a fundamental cornerstone in activating social justice throughout society.
DEI training is a layered process, beginning with attaining knowledge. By learning about others and our own internal biases, employees experience an awakening of awareness. From that training, strategic organizational changes along with individual and collective changes can be made to maximize the experience of inclusion and belonging, in addition to more significant shifts in hiring and partnerships to develop greater diversity and equity within a company.
Workplace Peace Institute believes in creating workplace cultures where people thrive. This is why we offer a diversity, equity, and inclusion training program in the WPI Leadership Academy, which includes the following courses: A Paradigm Shift in DEI, The Science of Inclusion & Belonging, and Making Implicit Biases Explicit. Learn more about Workplace Peace Institute Leadership Academy here.
Workplace Peace Institute Leadership Academy exists to support leaders in honoring basic human needs and dignity needs in the workplace, so they can actualize human potential in the workplace. The online Leadership Academy optimizes competencies in human behavior, communication skills, conflict resolution, and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging to create highly engaged workplaces where basic human needs and dignity are consistently honored. All our courses are offered online and can be customized for in-person workshops and seminars.