3 ways we can continue to work towards healthier workplaces amidst DEI legislation bans
As of May of 2024, 25 states have introduced anti-DEI legislation bills and 8 states have passed anti-DEI legislation specific to public universities that are now signed into law (ID, UT, KS, SD, ND, TN, AL, and FL) (Anti DEI Legislation Tracker). I’ve begun hearing from potential clients with private companies based in one of the 25 states that have introduced anti-DEI legislation, that their company is pausing all programming that uses that DEI acronym, which is alarming.
Given this reality, I want to share some ideas for how we can continue to do important DEI work in this anti-DEI climate.
Step 1: Use this moment to assess if the organization you’re working within is in the public or private sector. For the private sector, there is likely freedom to continue DEI work, and I would encourage privately owned organizations to continue the deeper work of DEI that goes beyond celebrating heritage months and touches into building environments that center human needs and well-being. If you work in the public sector this is the moment to move into step 2.
Step 2: We can do our work and call it many different things. One way we can do this work without the DEI language is to adopt the language that simply describes what we are doing. Rather than diversity and inclusion initiatives, we are:
Engaging in retention best practices
Updating performance review systems
Realigning onboarding processes
Benchmarking the current state of the organization,
Understanding candidates' experiences
Creating codes of conduct that center human wellbeing,
Engaging in learning and development for employees
This terminology is often used in Human Resources, and we can infuse all the work we do towards employee recruitment, retention, engagement, and sustainability with the practices that we know are at the heart of building workplaces that both support the worker and help the organization grow (and growth doesn’t always mean bigger and more).
Step 3: Continue to use existing tools to support more holistic inclusion and belonging efforts. The Transformative Employee Resource Group works amidst the challenges. ERGs are at the heart of inclusion, retention, and employee engagement. I think those are all great words that share what ERGs are about. ERGs are an opportunity for organizations to build strong relationships with employees and build a healthy work environment for everyone towards the goal of retention and cost savings.
As you likely know, many of the people we revere today for their bravery and work were not celebrated in their times. I can’t help but think we are living in similar times where we are less likely to be celebrated right now, but in decades to come we will look back and see that we were working towards human well being, centering human needs and experiences, and building work places that honor each of the individuals that make up these successful businesses.
We are living in an important moment. We don’t have to throw our hands up and stop doing the work. Let’s take this opportunity to look at what we are doing, figure out how we can pivot to focus on what matters most, and use the language that allows us to move initiatives forward to care for human wellbeing.
Reach out if you’d like support or the organization you work at needs support as you shift, adapt, build resilience.
