Is Your Workplace Defensiveness Hindering Increasing Diversity (Part I) - [Infographic Included]

💥This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter + monthly workshop series sharing best practices for employers who want to implement effective diversity recruitment programs. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. 💥 

News From #TeamJTC:

👉🏾 Are you a DEI Leader? Our client, a mission-based nonprofit, is in search of a DEI leader with 10 years of previous work experience (with at least 5 years working on DEI strategy and implementation). Is that you? They are already doing amazing work to move the needle to increase diversity and cultivate inclusion in their workplace and this is a newly created role. Email me ASAP - directly at info@jennifertardy.com to express interest.

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You have heard me say it before, and it is worth mentioning again: When it comes to your organization's ability to increase diversity, environment always win.

What does this mean? The day-to-day experiences of your employees is a huge factor in determining career choices. Employees who rate their culture poorly are 24% more likely to leave their organizations within a year. Furthermore, in a survey of 2,000 employees, Hays reported that 34% were looking for a new job, and corporate culture was the main reason. Therefore, you CANNOT and will NOT increase diversity if you are unable to create an environment rooted in inclusion, belonging, and equity.  And this work is every employee's responsibility.

Here at JTC, we believe that there are many steps to effectively help your organization create a culture of inclusion and belonging, which in turn helps increase diversity. In this article, we will focus on one very important step: identify + minimize your workplace defensiveness.  

As individuals, the more we uncritically defend our experiences, the more we risk losing the trust, feedback, and valuable insight of teammates and colleagues. Defensiveness can create experiences where employees, especially those who are underrepresented in the workplace, feel gaslighted, invalidated, unheard, and excluded. However, most significantly, you could lose them to another employer.

How does defensiveness impact diversity recruitment? Organizations such as Glassdoor are now ranking companies on their DEI efforts, collecting demographic data about reviewers, and reporting on pay equity. Therefore, when job seekers start searching for proof of inclusion, there will be plenty of evidence for them to determine if your organization is a performative or authentic ally.

According to a ZipRecruiter report in 2019, “Millennials and Generation X, the two largest generations in the workforce, are more likely than any other group to say that workplace diversity is very important.” They also found that “86% of job seekers say it is somewhat or very important to them personally that people of different backgrounds are represented in the workplace.” AND if that were not enough, a recent survey from Glassdoor in September 2020 revealed that “76% of employees and job seekers said a diverse workforce was significant when evaluating companies and job offers.”

To be even more specific, approximately half of Black and Hispanic employees and job seekers said they had quit a job after witnessing or experiencing discrimination at work. In addition, 37% of employees and job seekers said they wouldn’t apply to a company with negative satisfaction ratings among people of color.

The data is there, and it is abundant. That means that your environment is crucial to attracting top talent and increasing representation. Therefore, when you find yourself defending more than supporting, you are most likely contributing to a toxic work environment that excludes people and hinders your organization from increasing diversity.

To help you identify whether your workplace defensiveness is hindering increased diversity, #TeamJTC has created the following infographic. Feel free to save and share it within your workplace and community.

Here’s a recap of Signs Your Workplace Defensiveness is Hindering [Increasing] Diversity:

Do you rationalize? "I'm sure you understand. We didn't have time to post the position. Everyone knew that Sam was next in line for the promotion. Executive’s love working with her and they agreed." | What you should know: Making an exception to the hiring process for one person and then rationalizing it can have deep and long-lasting downstream implications, especially for those that were overlooked because of it. 

Do you minimize? "Turnover isn't always a bad thing. I like to see people moving on to new opportunities." | What you should know: Monitored turnover can be healthy for an organization because it means that employees are moving on to better roles to support company growth. Unmonitored turnover can be risky especially if you do not look at trends in why people are leaving. 

Do you justify? "You don't feel included? All you have to do is X, Y, or Z. I did it and now we are all super close." | What you should know: Authentic belonging does not have a prerequisite. If an employee has to do something to feel included, it is a sign of exclusive networks that must be addressed immediately. 

Do you deny? "I know James and I'm sure he didn't mean it that way." | What you should know: Standing up for one employee, or trying to reshape the perspective of the event, can leave the other employee feeling gaslighted (i.e., like you are denying their experience).

Although seemingly small comments, the accumulation of defensive actions can lead to a toxic environment. This is why we all must do the personal work to identify workplace defensiveness.

Now, we know the impact of defensiveness on diversity recruitment and how to identify it. Tune in next week, where we will unpack how you can be an ally to minimize workplace defensiveness and increase diversity.  

Join us in the comments section: What signs of defensiveness would you add to this list?

✅ We will use the weekly #IncreaseDiversity newsletter platform to do five things: 

1. Challenge organizations to dig more deeply when it comes to diversity recruiting and retention programs

2. Clarify misconceptions or demystify complex topics related to diversity recruiting

3. Share best practices in diversity recruiting and retention

4. Answer frequently asked questions related to diversity recruiting and retention

5. Build a safe learning community for hiring professionals

✅ Need support implementing an effective diversity recruiting program at your organization? Visit www.JenniferTardy.com to learn about consulting and training programs.

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