Beyond Buzzwords: How SMBs Can Embed DEI in Their DNA

Photo by Yan Krukau

Despite the rapid growth of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) as an industry in recent years, there is a lack of standardized practice to ensure its effectiveness. This can make it challenging for small and midsize employers to find the right approach to tackle complex and persistent workplace issues. The task of implementing DEI strategies may seem too daunting or costly for these organizations, leaving them unsure of where to start.

We’ve heard stories from leaders that have paid consultants tens of thousands of dollars to help them achieve DEI goals, only to receive a generic report with high-level insights. As a result, they end up with little to show for their investment—no clear action steps and no meaningful outcomes. This lack of progress can be frustrating and demotivating for teams who are genuinely committed to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in their workplaces.

While larger employers can afford to spend billions of dollars each year on diversity training–with little evidence of progress—and employ Chief Diversity Officers (who are often given insufficient autonomy and resources), small and midsize employers need to make every investment count. They are a critical driver of the U.S. economy, employing over 46% of the workforce. With limited people, time, and money, they must carefully choose DEI strategies that not only align with their needs, goals, and budget, but lead to tangible results. 

In this article, we'll explore practical strategies and investment options that can help small and midsize employers get started on the path to building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Where to Start?

When embarking on a DEI journey, small and midsize employers often focus on the “D” first, believing they need to increase the diversity of their team before they can start creating structural and cultural change. However, this approach fails to acknowledge the diversity that already exists within their organization. For instance, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, family status, and ability are identities that can often be invisible. 

Starting with an assessment of your current team's needs and culture is a smart move for a couple of reasons. First, not only can it reveal issues that you might not be aware of but it can also help you to prioritize growth opportunities so that you can maximize the impact of your efforts. Obtaining clarity on what needs to change as well as why presents opportunities to show your team you're committed to creating an equitable work environment. Second, doing so can save you from making the mistake of hiring individuals with diverse backgrounds as a primary solution to achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization. This won't solve structural inequalities. In fact, if you bring in new talent without first addressing underlying issues, it is likely that they will feel unsupported and ultimately leave. 

DEI isn’t just about representation: it’s important to address structural inequality before people with marginalized identities join your team. At Ellequate, we focus on the “E” first to build the foundation required to support a diverse and inclusive workplace. 

(Re)Defining DEI

While 79% of organizations planned to increase their DEI budget in 2022, one study found that "roughly 80 percent of companies are just going through the motions and not holding themselves accountable," which some would call “diversity dishonesty.” Your organization can avoid this costly, reputation-destroying approach by getting clear on why you’re doing this work, what success looks like for you, and how you’re going to achieve it. Remember, diversity, equity, and inclusion are outcomes of intentional efforts to create a more fair and just workplace—they are not programs or initiatives. 

Here’s how we define DEI at Ellequate:

Diversity refers to the range of identities, backgrounds, and perspectives represented within your workforce. An organization with a diverse workforce is accountable to the unique needs of its stakeholders, especially those with marginalized identities. 

Equity recognizes that past and current injustices must be addressed through the dismantling and rebuilding of systems to promote fairness and well-being for all individuals, regardless of their background and/or identities.

Inclusion is about creating a culture where difference is not just tolerated, but welcomed and appreciated. When an environment is inclusive, all stakeholders—including those with marginalized identities—feel respected and valued.

Again, we focus on equity first because we believe it’s the foundation and prerequisite for diversity and inclusion. 

There isn’t necessarily a wrong way to interpret these values as long as it aligns with the outcomes you aim to achieve. Ellequate Advisor Cherrie Davis doesn’t use the words “DEI programs” or “DEI initiatives” because these are short-lived, and they can compartmentalize the work into specific departments or committees. Once you make this commitment as an organization, you should be able to assess every decision you make through the lens of your DEI values. Or, as Cherrie sometimes says, “humanizing systems.” She’s optimistic about changing workplace systems and cultures; Cherrie believes that “we will live up to our potential to cultivate an ecosystem that thrives because of our diversity.”

Our highest performing Leaders In Workplace Equity fully embody their DEI values, integrating them into the fabric of their organization across different departments and systems. They understand that DEI isn’t a separate department or an individual function, like HR or accounting, but a set of values, norms, and expectations that extend into every area of the organization.

What Does Your Existing Team Need?

Now that we've established the importance of assessing the needs of your current team, let's dive into how to go about it. For small and midsize employers, starting small and focused makes a lot of sense. However, it's important to avoid the pitfall of picking and choosing “isms” to address first. For example, focusing only on gender or race ignores the reality that people hold multiple identities and often experience compounded discrimination. For example, the experiences of BIPOC women are often very different than those of white women and BIPOC men. Addressing one form of oppression requires addressing all forms of oppression.

Your overarching strategy has to begin with an emphasis on uncovering inequity so you can create better experiences for everyone on your team. When you make assumptions about employee experience or you start with an approach that is too siloed, you run the risk of unintentionally minimizing employees with other shared identities. We’ve seen leaders prioritize much needed efforts to improve the experiences of Black employees in the interest of promoting racial equity and then learn from survey results that their Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander (AAPI) employees feel left behind.

We’ve created an employee survey and organizational assessment that work together to help you understand how your systems impact your people—including employees with marginalized identities—showing you exactly where to prioritize your efforts to have the greatest impact. A comprehensive assessment can also be a great way to gauge employee sentiments about DEI values and start conversations about your organization’s culture. 

It can be tempting to make decisions based on what you see other organizations doing. Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to DEI, and the strategies and techniques that have worked for others might not be the best fit for your team. Again, the best strategy for your organization is one that’s focused on meeting your team’s unique needs.

Make Small Changes for Big Impact

Once you understand what your employees are experiencing and how your workplace systems either promote equity or create unintentional barriers, you can set goals and take incremental steps toward transformative change. We’re not aiming for “better than before,” but above and beyond what they have experienced in the past. No strategy that was custom-built for your team should seem “too big” for your organization to handle.

You can do a lot of this work by rethinking systems and processes, which doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. However, it will take time and commitment. Common areas where SMBs create change include their benefits and total compensation package, workplace policies, leadership style, manager training, professional development, and more.

Smaller teams do have some advantages when it comes to DEI work: with fewer people, it’s easier to create personal connections, make evidence-based decisions quickly, and execute new processes with consistency. Most SMB leaders can also make decisions without having to consider other stakeholders. The way we see it, SMBs have the agility and the human touch to lead the workplace equity revolution. 

Get the Data You Need to Embed DEI

If you’ve already had a conversation or two with your leadership team about adopting DEI values or developing a strategy for workplace equity, you’re ready to get started! The next step is to find out what your team needs. 

An Ellequate membership helps small business and nonprofit leaders access data-driven insights into how their employees feel and what they need. Our platform shows you which employees aren’t receiving enough support and what changes you can make to your workplace systems to help them thrive. Many employers are thrilled to discover that meaningful changes require smaller than expected investments of time and money—resulting in an unprecedented ROI. 

In addition, your organization's efforts can have a profound impact on achieving a greater purpose. Our platform helps us collect and analyze aggregated employee survey and organizational assessment data, which allows us to identify what works for specific groups with shared identities across organizations of all sizes and industries. The collective efforts of your organization and others across the country will influence tomorrow's best practices for equity in the workplace.

Don’t just invest in DEI—invest in data-driven strategies that lead to measurable outcomes. Learn more.

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Recognizing and Responding to Microaggressions at Work

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Microaggressions are subtle, often unintentional comments or actions that can make someone feel uncomfortable, excluded, or marginalized. They can take many forms, such as assuming someone's race or ethnicity, making inappropriate jokes, or using language that reinforces harmful stereotypes. While they may seem small or insignificant, they can cause emotional and psychological distress, decrease productivity and engagement, and lead to higher turnover rates. 

Creating a more equitable workplace requires individual and systemic approaches. Individual approaches increase awareness and promote personal responsibility, while systemic approaches address broader structural inequalities and injustices. 

Below, we share how you as an individual can address microaggressions in the workplace, as well as how employers can operationalize shared values through systems-level approaches.

Individual Approaches

Educate yourself.
Take the time to learn about microaggressions and the impact they can have on individuals and communities. Read articles, attend training sessions, and engage in conversations with those who have experienced microaggressions. This will help you to recognize and respond to microaggressions when you encounter them. 

Ready to get started? Here are some resources that may be helpful:

• How Unintentional But Insidious Bias Can Be the Most Harmful

• What to Know About Microaggressions

• Microaggressions: Power, Privilege, and Every Day Life

Listen and validate.
Listening to and validating the feelings of someone who has experienced microaggressions is an essential step in creating a supportive and inclusive work environment. Find a private space where you and your colleague can talk without interruption or distraction. Commit to maintaining confidentiality and assure them that you will not share their story without their consent. Avoid interrupting or judging their experience. Acknowledge the impact of the microaggressions on their well-being. You can say things like "I'm sorry that you had to go through that" or "It's understandable that you feel that way." Avoid minimizing or dismissing their experience. Phrases like "at least it wasn't worse" or "you're being too sensitive" can invalidate your colleague's experience. Ask your colleague how you can support them and offer resources or suggestions that can help—for example, connecting them with an employee resource group or offering to help them speak with a senior leader or HR representative.

Interrupt microaggressions.
Interrupting a microaggression can be difficult and emotional, but it's important to remain calm. Take a deep breath and approach the situation with a clear mind. Assertively, but respectfully, interrupt the microaggression by addressing the behavior directly. For example, you could say something like, "I don't think that's an appropriate comment" or "Let's focus on the issue at hand." This helps to send a message that microaggressions are not acceptable in your workplace. Use "I" statements to express how the microaggression made you feel or how it may impact others. For example, you could say, "I feel uncomfortable when comments like that are made" or "I worry that comments like that could create a hostile work environment."

Hold others accountable.
Hold others accountable for their actions and words. If someone engages in microaggressive behavior, speak to them privately and let them know that their behavior is unacceptable. Focus on what the person did, rather than making assumptions about who the person is. Let them know why their behavior was harmful. For example, you could explain how certain words or actions can be perceived as discriminatory or exclusionary. You might also provide resources or examples to help the person understand the impact of their words or actions. If the behavior continues or becomes more severe—and you feel safe doing so—report the issue to a senior leader or HR representative. As an ally, you can use your privilege and influence to advocate for change in your workplace. You can bring up issues related to microaggressions during meetings or speak to HR about the need for additional training and resources. Use your voice to help create a workplace culture that is inclusive and respectful.

Systemic Approaches 

Provide education and training.
Conduct regular training sessions to help employees recognize microaggressions, understand their impact, and learn how to address them constructively. Ongoing learning opportunities should be provided to all employees, including managers and supervisors.

Develop clear policies.
Begin by defining what constitutes a microaggression. Provide clear examples of what behaviors or comments are considered microaggressions. This will help employees understand what is and is not acceptable in the workplace. Clearly outline the consequences of engaging in microaggressions. This could include disciplinary action, training, or other measures. Be sure to communicate the consequences of microaggressions in a way that is clear and easy to understand.

Encourage reporting.
Create a reporting system that allows employees to share instances of microaggressions in a confidential and safe manner—for example, an online form or hotline where employees can report incidents they have experienced or witnessed. The reporting system should be easily accessible and prominently displayed on your intranet and/or other communication channels. Once a report is submitted, have a clear process in place for reviewing the report, investigating the incident, and providing the appropriate follow up. Ensure non-retaliation for those who come forward.

Enforce consistently.
Enforce your policies consistently and fairly. Address all reported incidents promptly and take appropriate disciplinary action against perpetrators, regardless of their position or seniority within the organization. Consistent enforcement can help build trust and confidence among employees, demonstrating that your organization takes these issues seriously and is committed to creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace.

Remember that responding to microaggressions is an ongoing process, and it can take time and practice to feel comfortable and confident in your responses. However, recognizing these harmful behaviors and taking steps to address them through individual and systemic approaches can help you create a safe and welcoming environment for all employees, regardless of their race, gender, or other personal characteristics.

Even with limited time and resources, you can develop an effective DEI strategy. Learn how your organization achieve meaningful results.

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Supporting Employees in a Post-Roe World

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Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the constitutional right to abortion, the impact on health, productivity, and the lives of the workforce continues to unfold. It will take years to quantify the many ways this lack of legal protection is affecting the health, productivity, and lives of our workforce. While it is widely recognized that women’s lives are put at risk when they don’t have access to safe and legal abortion, it is critically important that employers understand that the impact doesn’t end there. 

State anti-abortion laws don’t just affect women who are pregnant: they can create barriers for any person who can give birth, including trans employees and women who need specific procedures or medications due to illness—as well those who depend on them as primary caregivers and/or essential workplace contributors. Besides state abortion bans, the biggest barriers to reproductive health care are low wages and insufficient health care coverage. That means that the employees who need the most support post-Roe—especially low-wage employees and women of color—are the ones who are being left behind.

Below, we’ll explore some of the ways workplace systems create barriers to accessing reproductive health care and how to promote a healthy, supportive, equitable work environment for all employees.

Barriers to Reproductive Health Care

Understanding how best to support the well-being of employees, especially those with marginalized identities, can be challenging. Navigating reproductive health care benefits can be a complex process in particular. The following provides an overview of some of the workplace systems that can create barriers to abortion access:

Lack of Health Care Coverage

Offering a comprehensive health care plan only benefits those who qualify—in most cases, full-time regular employees. This means that the most vulnerable employees often don’t receive the support they need. It’s also common for comprehensive health care plans to only cover “medically necessary” abortions and not those that are sought for other reasons, such as personal choice or fetal abnormalities. Of course, in some states, insurance companies are banned from covering abortion services altogether.

What you might not know is that abortion laws can also lead to the restriction of certain medications, even for employees who aren’t pregnant. Medications used to treat arthritis, cancer, and gynecological conditions like endometriosis are also used to provide medication abortions. Care providers and pharmacists have become extremely cautious about controlling access to these medications in anti-abortion states since the overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Infringement of Privacy and Autonomy

When Roe v. Wade was overturned, some companies were quick to announce that they would cover travel expenses for employees seeking an abortion out of state. However, it’s important to note that the stigma of abortion may deter employees from using benefits even when they’re available. When employers offer funds for abortion travel expenses, they may require employees to disclose their reasons for seeking an abortion, as well as where and when they plan to have the procedure. This can be particularly problematic for employees who live in areas where abortion services are limited or stigmatized. Employees may not want to disclose this information to their employer out of fear it will impact their job security or career advancement opportunities.

Additionally, employers may require employees to use specific transportation providers or book their travel through certain channels, which can further compromise their privacy. In some cases, an employer may even require documentation or receipts related to the employee's travel, which can be a breach of their medical privacy.

Access to reproductive healthcare, including abortion, is a fundamental right, and individuals should be able to access these services without fear of judgement or retaliation from their employer. By requiring employees to go to their employer for abortion travel expenses, it creates a power dynamic that can be exploitative and may lead to discrimination, harassment, or other negative consequences.

While employers offering funds to cover the travel expenses of abortion may seem like a supportive gesture, it can have unintended consequences that infringe upon an employee's privacy and autonomy. 

Low Wages, Lack of Benefits

Even employers that outwardly support abortion rights can create barriers through insufficient pay and limited access to benefits. According to the Guttmacher Institute, low-income individuals are more likely to experience unintended pregnancies and may face more barriers to accessing contraceptive services and health care in general. Lack of access to abortion care can have severe health and economic consequences, particularly for those who may already face systemic disadvantage and discrimination.

Low-wage employees often do not have access to benefits like PTO or flexible work arrangements. This can make it difficult to schedule appointments, access healthcare facilities, or recover from procedures without facing negative consequences such as lost wages, reduced job security, or disciplinary action. Furthermore, lack of flexibility in scheduling can create logistical challenges for employees who need to access reproductive healthcare services that have limited availability or require travel. This can create additional stress and financial burden for vulnerable employees.

Support of Anti-Abortion Legislation

One of the most insidious reproductive healthcare barriers that employers are at least partially responsible for is anti-abortion legislation itself. Some employers directly advocate for or support anti-abortion legislation by lobbying lawmakers, contributing to political campaigns, or engaging in other forms of political activism. This can have a significant impact on the legislative process, particularly in states where the political climate is conservative or where employers have significant financial resources or political influence.

In addition, employers may indirectly contribute to anti-abortion legislation by supporting or funding organizations or groups that work to restrict access to abortion. For example, an employer may contribute to a religious organization or political action committee that opposes abortion rights, which can in turn influence legislative efforts to restrict access to abortion. In fact, at least 15 of the companies that pledged to cover abortion travel expenses in 2022 also gave money to PACs supporting anti-abortion candidates, effectively helping to pass these restrictive laws. 

What Employers Can Do

Even employers with the best of intentions may find that their policies leave some employees behind. Supporting your employees’ reproductive health care decisions requires more than a couple of quick adjustments. It’s your responsibility to assess every part of your business for alignment with equitable values and overall integrity.

Take the following steps to start the process:

Know your state’s laws. 
Right now, state abortion laws run the gamut from requiring employers to cover abortion procedures in health insurance packages or provide information about them (CA, IL, HI, MD, NY) to criminalizing abortion along with “aiding and abetting” abortion recipients (TX, OK). To make it more complicated, laws regarding employer accountability for abortion services are constantly changing. The only way to make sure you’re in full compliance with state and federal laws is to consult with legal counsel.

Assess your policies.
We’ve shown how pay, workplace policies, and an organization’s giving practices can impact employees’ access to reproductive health care. Creating a human-centered workplace means supporting an employee’s right to make reproductive health care decisions with their doctor, not dictating which services they can choose from. To identify barriers that might limit access for your most vulnerable employees, put yourself in their shoes and ask: “What happens if I need abortion care?” What are my options, and what steps will I need to take?”

“Ideally, companies should make this available as easily as possible and as broadly as possible,” said Loyola Law School professor Brietta R. Clark in an NBC News article, “without someone having to reveal private information about their specific medical condition or treatment.” Remember that women of color and low-wage employees often have limited access to resources: paying a living wage and prioritizing policies that provide access to paid time off and other flexible work arrangements is critical for these groups. In addition, if abortion care is covered by your health insurance plan, consider extending benefits to part-time employees.

Help employees navigate health care benefits.
Navigating insurance plans can be tricky, so supporting your employees means making sure they know what benefits are available and how to access them. Send communications about how to get help with choosing a plan just before open enrollment begins, and make sure your HR team has the time and resources to answer all of their questions. If you’re in a state with abortion restrictions, you might want to create some additional communications reminding employees what kinds of assistance you offer.

Give with integrity.
If your company gives to political campaigns or PACs that are “pro-business,” take the time to find out what other policies or issues those campaigns support. Consider withdrawing your support from candidates advocating for restrictive abortion laws. You might also think about giving to local abortion funds, nonprofits that support women’s health and reproductive health, political advocacy groups, and other causes focused on creating equity in your community.

Create a health care travel fund.
If an abortion travel benefit sounds like the best solution for your employees, consider including it in a health care travel fund that covers any kind of medical service that isn’t available locally. That way you can protect your employees’ privacy while providing support to other employees who may also need it.

You’ll want to develop clear guidelines for employees who wish to access the travel fund that include information on how to apply for funding, what expenses are covered, and any other relevant information.

Ensure that all information related to the travel fund is kept confidential. This may include limiting access to information to only those individuals who need to know. Some organizations outsource their travel funds to third parties so their employees’ information isn’t stored in company databases or accessible to the HR team. Finally, provide education and resources to employees to ensure that they are aware of the travel fund and how to access it.

A Holistic Approach to Well-Being

It’s understandable that employers want to find ways to support their employees in a post-Roe world. However, providing access to reproductive health care is just one example of how you can build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization. 

Creating a workplace that works for everyone requires a tailored plan that is data-driven and human-centered. It’s important to have a nuanced understanding of who your employees are and what they need, taking into account their lived experiences and perspectives.

Our prescriptive analytics platform is the only one in the market that examines the intersection of an organization’s operational systems and employee experience to create tailored recommendations that lead to measurable outcomes. With an Ellequate membership, employers of all sizes can build data-driven DEI strategies, access 1:1 guidance and support, and track progress with easy-to-use action planning tools—all on their own timeline.

Even with limited time and resources, you can develop an effective DEI strategy. Learn how your organization can achieve meaningful results.

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Employees Should Be Your #1 Stakeholder—Here’s Why

Photo by Christina Morillo

It may seem like the Great Resignation is old news at this point, especially with a global recession on the horizon. But the mass exodus we saw in early 2021 was just the leading edge of a big shift in workplace culture. Essence and Fortune have both reported that up to one third of workers still plan to leave their jobs despite the threat of recession, and burnout rates now match what they were at the height of the pandemic in 2020. Employees are demanding big changes, including lighter workloads, more caring leadership, flexibility, and better benefits. 

At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss these requests because of what it might cost, not just financially but also when considering productivity. What executives and HR teams are really facing is a crisis of priorities. Making the shift to put employees first is a huge undertaking, but it has proven to be a successful strategy for business growth in the long term. In this blog, we’ll take a look at why an employee-first values system is effective, some examples of how this has worked for different organizations, and how to navigate this shift in five steps.

A Crisis of Priorities

Traditional business models put the customer first: “the customer is always right” is so ingrained in U.S. commerce that it may as well be our national motto. The underlying assumption is that making customers happy should create enough revenue to make everyone else happy—but clearly that that isn’t how it usually works out. The only other party with nearly as much sway at larger companies is shareholders, while nonprofits tend to prioritize their donors and grant funders. 

The question becomes: if employees are vying against customers, shareholders, donors, executives, and others for the same dollars and resources, what do you sacrifice or reallocate to grant them more support? But this question doesn’t account for the incalculable cost savings and efficiency companies see when employees are healthy and adequately supported. Your system of priorities and values can be flexible, and it’s not a zero-sum game.

Some of the best examples actually come from big conglomerates of the industrial age. Johnson & Johnson has a legacy of putting employees first. In the past, by providing food and first aid onsite long before anyone else had thought to do this. Today, by offering great benefits like parental leave and childcare. As a result, it has outlived many other companies that were founded around the same time. In contrast, General Electric focused more on creating competitive value propositions and innovations, effectively putting the customer first. They found that customers’ immediate preferences didn’t always match up with the most valuable solutions. The rising costs of innovating with newer technology outpaced the financial strategies they used to fund R&D, and in 2022, GE announced its plan to split into three smaller companies.

How To Invest in Your People

The same principles that worked for J&J and GE apply to companies of every size and scale. To reap the benefits of putting employees first across your organization, you will need to look at your plans in the long term and shift some of your priorities. 

Follow these five steps to create better all-around outcomes by putting your employees first:

1. Understand their needs.
To make a real difference with your team, you need to see from their perspective so you can understand both what they need most urgently and what’s most important to them. These can be two very different things, and it can vary among different groups of employees. This Fast Company article presents a framework to evaluate if you’re happy at work based on five factors: people, value, impact, role, and compensation. You can use the same framework to develop questions and uncover employee sentiments.

Our prescriptive analytics platform pairs a detailed employee survey with an organizational assessment to determine what changes are likely to make the biggest improvement for different groups. For example, in order to meet client demand, a manufacturing company we worked with started requiring their team to work on Saturdays. Our survey showed that employees felt they had no work/life balance: they were burned out and didn’t feel the schedule was sustainable. Making Saturdays optional has begun to restore employees’ energy and job satisfaction, and company leadership has started exploring other ways to increase productivity. However, if employees had been seen as the primary stakeholder from the beginning, the plan to scale the company may have been approached in a different way.

2. Evaluate other priorities.
Remember those other priorities we talked about that compete with employees’ needs and wellbeing—customers, shareholders, and donors? Once you know what your employees need, you can re-evaluate specific policies, processes, and priorities that might be getting in the way. Even values like corporate social responsibility and commitments to your community and environment can outrank employees for time, budget, and resources. The idea is not to de-prioritize these other values and outcomes, but to re-envision what it might look like to achieve them with a strategy that also highly values your employees. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean making sacrifices, but it could mean you have to get creative and find some alternate solutions. In the nonprofit world, donors and grantmakers like to offer restricted funds so they can point to specific projects and outcomes they funded directly. Unfortunately, paying staff and funding basic operations aren’t usually high priorities for donors. The overall effect is that nonprofit employees are often asked to work for low wages and few benefits. With some strategic planning, these same organizations have an opportunity to guide donors in redefining their traditional approach to metrics. In doing so, we can build a compelling case for the exponential impact a donor can have when they shift from the storytelling of supporting a single program’s success to instead showcasing the far-reaching implications of investment in hiring more people to scale the work, retaining effective leaders, and contributing to responsive innovation.

3. Respond intentionally.
Providing adequate pay is a must, but don’t forget that your active commitment to continuously fostering inclusion and reliable access to responsive resources can also make a big impact on employee experience in different ways. When you’ve decided how you will address the employee needs you learned about in step one, treat it like any other initiative. Make a specific plan to roll out this support and determine how you will measure its effectiveness. Create some clear communications to let employees know what you’re doing for them and why, and encourage them to get the most out of whatever new solutions you’re introducing. Finally, develop strategies for sustainability that proactively embed these new solutions into daily practice, such as providing manager training and offering varied modalities of follow-up communication for all employees.

Throughout the decision-making and implementation process, other things are bound to come up that seem more urgent or important in the moment—but don’t let your team become an afterthought. Change your mindset on employee support to view it as a strategic priority: instead of “if we have time,” start saying “let’s make time.”

4. Evaluate unclear, inefficient processes.
There are tons of things you can do to respond to employee needs that don’t cost money but require intentional thought. For one thing, unclear, inefficient processes are a primary source of work-related stress. Less than two-thirds (65%) of workers say work processes enable them to be productive, down from 68% a year ago, and only 63% of employees say their technology helps them be productive compared to 68% last year. Dedicating some time and attention to understanding current obstacles and streamlining processes is good for both employee satisfaction and productivity.

5. Understand that not all employees need the same things.
If you’ve recruited a diverse team (and even if you’re still working on it), your employees are sure to have different lifestyles, families, and life goals that come with different challenges. The same thing is true for every kind of employee support, but especially when it comes to DEI interventions, one size does not fit all. 

In Lily Zeng’s sobering article on The Failure of the DEI-Industrial Complex, they point out that when executives ask for generalized, short-term DEI interventions (the bare minimum), underrepresented employees are the ones who lose the most. The C-suite can take credit for spending money on a solution, but nothing really changes. What organizations should seek out instead are customized solutions that account for different perspectives and needs across different employee groups—especially those employees with marginalized identities (i.e. BIPOC, women, LGBTQ+, low income, etc).

Show Your Employees You Care

Many leaders still operate with the outdated assumption that people will (and should) do whatever it takes to get and keep a job. If an employee thinks their workload is too much, there’s someone else in line who would be grateful to have that job. The Great Resignation is hard evidence that that’s changing. People want to build meaningful careers: they expect more than the bare minimum, and they deserve it. 

We believe that an abundance mindset shouldn’t be limited to the C-suite or the employees that are perceived as the most valuable. Employers who meet employee needs in a targeted way, with the understanding that they all need different things, will establish loyalty with their teams to drive success during uncertain times. 

Are you curious about how your systems impact your people? Want to access other proven low or no-cost DEI strategies?  With an Ellequate membership, you can develop a data-driven DEI strategy at your own pace—all for a price that allows you to spend less on consulting and more on implementation.

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SMBs Will Lead the Workplace Equity Revolution

Photo by Moe Magners

Small and medium businesses have always had a strong reputation of treating their employees like people rather than numbers. But the explosion of DEI as a set of values, a profession, and an industry in recent years has changed the conversation. If you were to ask someone on the street which companies they know of that are progressive and forward-thinking, they might bring up Patagonia because of their environmental efforts or P&G’s commercials about trans inclusion. It would seem that workplace equity and inclusion are large-scale initiatives that only mega-employers can afford to dedicate time, budget, and resources to.

At Ellequate, we have first-hand evidence that just the opposite is true. Working closely with SMB leaders on targeted workplace policy changes has given us a unique vantage point on what they can really accomplish.

So here’s the big question we’d like to address:

Can small and medium businesses keep up with big corporations when it comes to DEI?

The simple answer is that SMBs have everything it takes to build inclusive, equitable environments that blow big businesses out of the water. But trying to compare corporate DEI initiatives with the ways SMBs do this work is like comparing apples and oranges and can significantly compromise an SMB’s ability to deliver effective and meaningful DEI outcomes. 

The conversation about corporate social responsibility in general put SMBs at a fundamental disadvantage. Larger employers have the resources to tell the stories they want and to control the narratives—to the point that it becomes a marketing tactic. For smaller businesses, doing right by their people is a strategy to keep the talent that they have. Instead of making things about perception, for SMBs, it’s about everyday experience—the real work required for actual systems change.

To answer this specific question, we’ll have to re-frame things a bit: when you strip away the jargon, what we’re really talking about is whether SMBs can create an environment where marginalized employees can thrive because they receive the support they need to perform at their best.

Bigger Doesn’t Mean Better

Larger employers have led the race when it comes to benefits, particularly things like caregiver leave, parental leave, and sabbaticals. Unfortunately, having a smaller team makes it a lot more expensive to provide these competitive benefits. But the narratives larger businesses create about “responsible” choices they’re making don’t always tell the full story and aren’t always aligned with the actions they take.

When big companies send “woke” messages in their advertising, that doesn’t mean their track record matches up. Pepsi’s ad with Kendall Jenner is a memorable example of hypocritical Black Lives Matter messaging, but there were others on the bandwagon: Target, Zoom, Nike, and Spotify among them. When Roe v. Wade was repealed, many of the companies that issued statements in support of women employees’ reproductive health gave significant amounts of money to Republican lawmakers who sponsored oppressive anti-abortion legislation: Eli Lilly, Comcast, Citigroup, AT&T, and Amazon to name just a few. The same thing happens with rainbow-washing companies that support anti-LGBTQ+ federal and state politicians.

As much as big companies may want to seem benevolent and responsible, serving their shareholders is always their number one priority. There’s still a huge lack of representation on executive boards and in the C-suite. Can you really say that big companies support all employees when they’re actively disenfranchising huge swaths of them behind their backs? Smaller businesses may not have dedicated DEI teams or access to expensive trainings and consultants, but they also don’t have the same pressures to please people in high places. 

A Crisis of Priorities

Because they literally have smaller teams, leaders in “Main Street” businesses and “Mom and Pop Shops” have more of a personal connection to the individuals that work with them. Every employee is important to the function of the team. But there's an interesting assumption that small and mid-sized businesses aren't doing the work because they don't have the budget. Yes, tackling bias and inequality within a national corporation will come with a big price tag. But the money isn’t what’s important: prioritizing equity is key, along with a big dedication of time and commitment to change. 

Again, comparing SMBs with Fortune 1000 companies doesn’t produce helpful insights. A small business owner could read any number of articles and think, okay, well that's the direction we should go. For instance, a SHRM study of Fortune 1000 companies suggests that positioning volunteer work on company time as an employee benefit “can help employees build new and strong relationships with co-workers.” But how do you know that's the right choice for a small team of less than 50 people? 

Limited time and resources are definitely challenges for small businesses prioritizing workplace equity, and being left out of these conversations makes it even more overwhelming for individual leaders. Now what could SMBs do if they had access to more accurate data on how their employees really feel and tailored, evidence-based recommendations on how to serve them better?

SMBs Do More With Data

The only way to know what approaches will work for individual employees is to get an understanding of their unique experiences. You need to get a comprehensive enough picture of what’s going on in your organization through a survey, policy assessment, listening session, or other mode of communication. Starting out with data-informed strategies can save untold amounts of money on trainings, programs, and feel-good DEI solutions that don’t deliver results.

We’ve seen it working in our community of SMBs pursuing workplace equity certification. They’re leading the way when it comes to caregiver leave, parental leave, flexible work arrangements, all the things that larger institutions tout. With an accurate gauge of employee sentiments and needs, SMBs can change a lot faster than big companies because they’re more nimble and flexible. Instead of treating DEI like a budget line item, small and medium businesses often maintain workplace equity as a long-term strategic priority. 

One of our Gold-certified employers, Greater Cincinnati Foundation, has fewer than 60 people on their staff. They were able to increase their paid family leave policy from 6 weeks for just moms to 16 weeks for all parents, including those who are adopting, fostering, or having children through surrogacy, as well as family leave for other situations. A thorough team survey told them that most departments don’t want to backfill for people on family leave anyway because it can be challenging and expensive to train their replacements. They also know that their small team only has 2 to 3 children per year on average. Spending $10k per year to retain talented, dedicated employees and spare themselves the headache of backfilling turned out to be pretty reasonable! 

What Else Can SMBs Do Now?

Our work with SMBs has uncovered a few places where they can make effective changes that are good for both the business and their employees. These two specific action items are basically free, and you can get started on them right now. Check out this post for more free ideas on creating justice and accountability.

Prioritize pay equity.
Pew Research Center survey found that low pay (63%) and lack of advancement opportunities (63%) were among the top reasons Americans quit their jobs last year. Pay transparency laws have also been introduced in several states. There are a lot of factors that go into pay equity and transparency, but all small and mid-size businesses can work on their compensation philosophy and pay equity. Watch this cohort alumni panel recording for the whole story of how GCF rewrote their compensation policy. They guarantee new hires compensation in the top 50% for their role!

Use inclusive language.
Another thing SMBs can prioritize is the use of inclusive language in their materials and written policies. The APA has published a free set of inclusive language guidelines that’s accessible to anyone.

It’s easy to underestimate how much of an impact language has on employee experience: we worked with a team that used an innocuous sports analogy in a performance review document developed by a paid HR consultant. It made a lot of assumptions about the employee reading it (that they watch sports, for one thing), and the overall sentiment came from a deficit approach, implying that there wasn’t much room for improvement. Once we began reviewing the document together through an equity lens, they realized the metaphor was problematic. Not only did they see the issue, they were quick to recognize its implications, make direct connections to quantitative and qualitative employee feedback, and adjust the language and performance review process accordingly.

The SMB Advantage: Targeted Action, Collective Impact

We’re happy to report that more and more small and mid-sized businesses are delivering on the promise of DEI—instead of using valuable resources to advertise their successes, they are investing in their people. Now here’s why we’re so optimistic about the future of workplace equity on Main Street. Our platform generates unique and targeted policy recommendations based on individual employee responses. But what we do with that information on the back end creates collective impact: we can start to see what’s really going to have the most meaningful impact for BIPOC employees or for LGBTQ+ employees across similar SMBs. As more SMBs pursue certification and upload survey and policy data, we’ll start to be able to see those bigger trends. We just haven't had the technology to be able to do it until now. 

At companies this small, every team’s needs are a little different, but we can work towards having better DEI best practices downmarket. 48 percent of U.S. employees work for small businesses: that’s a lot of people. Just imagine what the small business community will be able to do once they know what’s actually going to work. 

We’re thrilled to be able to provide SMBs with the same powerful data that corporations have access to with an annual Ellequate membership.

Want to get started now? Get in touch with us to learn more.

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What Data Do You Need to Understand What's Going on in Your Org?

While a relatively new practice, tracking representation and experience from top leadership positions to frontline employees has quickly become a baseline expectation. Most organizations use engagement pulse surveys to get a bird’s eye view of employee sentiment towards both general workplace practices and specific policies or change initiatives. A 70 or 80 percent satisfaction rate on any given issue sounds pretty good, but entire subsets of diverse voices get lost: their experiences with workplace culture, policies and benefits remain underrepresented. This rudimentary approach of measuring employee sentiment writ large is no longer enough to inform a competitive people management and DEI strategy.

No matter how much aggregate, surface-level data you collect, no amount of analysis can create a story out of it that’s compelling enough to inspire change. The data itself and the algorithms you use to make sense of it must make room for multiple intersectional perspectives.

The Case For Disaggregated Data

Aggregate data represents multiple sources, variables, or individuals in one measurement, much like the typical engagement survey. Conversely, disaggregated data is indexed by key demographic variables like race, ethnicity, gender, disability, income, or age, so the information can be broken down and analyzed by these categories, providing more nuanced insights. For instance, it doesn’t become clear that gender plays a big role in whether or not someone takes leave, how long they take, and if they think it will have negative consequences on their career until we look beyond the surface-level aggregated data. Are mothers and fathers in your organization encouraged to take parental leave at equal rates? Do they feel their career will be impacted? Using Ellequate’s policy assessment and employee survey, you can compare how parental leave policies impact mothers and fathers against the aggregate scores for parents as a whole. You’ll also have access to data-informed insights with demonstrated positive impact on these groups at other companies.

Data disaggregation is critical to equity and is already being used on a national scale to identify and measure health disparities. Health equity and civil rights researchers have been advocating for more specific self-identification categories on government questionnaires like the US Census in order to disaggregate the data with a higher level of detail. President Biden’s Equitable Data Working Group has also recognized the need for highly disaggregated data in order to fulfill their purpose of identifying inadequacies within Federal data for a more accurate representation of the diversity of the American people and their experiences.

Ultimately, disaggregated data uncovers what’s really going on with specific demographic groups within your organization so you can actively mitigate bias and make targeted changes to create more equitable employee experiences. Deloitte recommends collecting disaggregated data to measure  the effects of an intervention and proactively identify disparities between different groups of constituents, which is exactly what we do at Ellequate. 

Tell a Detailed Story With Qualitative Data

With each wave of tech disruption, the results-driven culture of corporate America has gotten even more data-obsessed, valuing a sophisticated tech stack, instant insights, and high scores above anecdotal, narrative, or qualitative evidence. In the worlds of people management and DEI, both quantitative and qualitative data are needed. SHRM explains: “Qualitative data are uniquely important for providing contextualized accounts of people's daily experiences. They are especially helpful with interpreting patterns of responses among a broader group, and exploring how people who are extremely satisfied or successful differ from those who are extremely dissatisfied or struggling.” 

Ellequate collects both quantitative and qualitative data through comprehensive policy assessments and surveys with open-ended questions that allow employees to self-identify their gender, race, age group, LGBTQ+ identity, and more. Our platform drills down to understand how various identities influence employees’ experiences in the workplace. It doesn’t just measure how many women or BIPOC employees work in different areas of the organization, but also does the much more difficult and eye-opening work of determining why different groups may or may not feel like they belong in your organization. Your results indicate how you can most effectively support these marginalized employees to create more equitable employee experiences—and what you’re already doing that’s working well.

Companies pursuing certification with Ellequate have uncovered blind spots and issues they weren’t even aware of. Our proprietary algorithms won’t just confirm what you know, although having hard data to back up your hunches can give you the confidence and buy-in you need to move forward. It takes a combination of courage and integrity to pull back the curtain and take a close look at what’s actually working for all employees and which programs are missing the mark. We've built in features that help you turn your combined quantitative and qualitative data into a roadmap, which helps organizations with limited time and resources make the most impactful changes first. We wanted to make it easy for our clients to do right by their employees while making DEI more accessible and actionable.

We’ve built a community of over 40 brave organizations doing this work together. Watching them grow has proved to us that seeking out your blind spots and taking action to fix them makes the difference between organizations that succeed at creating equitable and inclusive environments and those that don’t. 

What Positive Change Looks Like 

If you can solve for the most marginalized employees and create better solutions for them, you can solve for everyone. People with limited mobility had to advocate for curb ramps at sidewalk corners for a long time before they became an ADA requirement. But something interesting happened once they were installed: parents with strollers, cyclists, and movers had a much easier time getting around and a lower risk of injury. By lifting up the most vulnerable, we lift up everyone. 

We know that your leadership team can’t focus on everything at once. Instead of creating blanket DEI statements and strategies, it’s more effective to use an individualized roadmap to identify the most significant obstacles in your organization and the ones that will be easiest and most meaningful to address. From there, you can prioritize and set goals for the next month, six months out, and the year ahead. Our platform includes goal-setting and task management tools to help you plot incremental steps of change, stay accountable, and demonstrate responsive impact. 

Our platform can also help you understand why certain initiatives aren’t working as expected. One of our clients pursuing certification had been focusing communications around their parental leave policy on women employees, but when they looked at their data, they realized that there was actually a big need among single fathers that wasn’t being addressed. The pandemic brought about huge changes in the division of labor between men and women at home, so employers need better solutions to find out what kinds of support are actually helpful.

Change takes time and is a valuable asset in equity-driven initiatives. The ability to track the evolution of employee experience and representation over several years provides important insight for strategic planning. A leader noticed that he could measure progress by how the qualitative data changes from one certification cycle to the next. Two years ago, employees commented primarily on the need to adjust hiring practices and increase representation. After the organization made some targeted changes in response to their survey results, the conversation shifted to professional development, cultivating psychological safety, and inviting more voices to the table. Using this data allows for employers to proactively plan and execute initiatives that will foster continued organizational growth—aiding them in significant ways in their race to the top.

Drilling Down: DEI 2.0

The first thing leaders need to understand is that employee experiences are plural, not singular, and they are far from universal. Your perception as a decision-maker is uniquely biased, which is only natural, but it’s your job to try to see from other points of view. Looking at your data and getting familiar with data-driven DEI best practices will help you develop basic literacy in this area.

We are leveraging the collective impact of aggregated data from employers across the country to uncover ways employers can best serve employees from historically marginalized communities. The more employers that engage in this work, the more insights and targeted recommendations we can provide. For example, we’re finding that what cultivates a sense of belonging and psychological safety for BIPOC employees is quite different than LGBTQ+ employees. As our database grows, the picture of how different people experience today’s workplace culture grows clearer and more detailed. It also opens up more innovative ways to interpret and use this data.

Is your organization considering more targeted solutions for measuring employee experience and improving workplace culture? With an Ellequate membership, you’ll have everything you need to make data-driven DEI decisions.

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