Definition of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB)
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) are four concepts that work together to boost team dynamics, productivity, and innovation within your organization. With DEIB at the core of your mission, you ensure that each team member has equal opportunities to do their best work and feels valued.
Here is a breakdown of each concept:
Diversityrefers to the demographics of your workplace, which includes ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, military/veteran status, location, nationality, disability status, skills, and many other factors. It can be challenging to diversify teams. And when you do succeed, having a certain percentage of diversity will not transform your team—it is the environment that you foster for diverse employees that brings real change.
Equity gives each employee fair and equal access, opportunities, and advancements, regardless of their diversity background. This can require companies to actively break down employees’ barriers to success. For example, if a new hire has a disability, an equitable workplace ensures that the resources are readily accessible to help that employee succeed. Equity means that each team member has the proper resources to do their job, with equal opportunity.
Inclusion ensures everyone on the team is treated fairly and respectfully, despite differences. Garter reports that inclusive teams have 30% better performance. Inclusion is about how employees interact. Are their ideas well-received? Are colleagues uplifting? Do employees offer each other constructive feedback?
Belonging centers around the employee experience of feeling accepted in the workplace. Every team member should feel that their perspective is valued and adds something useful. Belonging to a team implies a sense of value—that an employee is needed and wanted. A simplistic example is if a leadership team is composed of nine seasoned managers and a young, new manager. This could make the new manager feel like an outlier with little value to offer. But, if the others actively encourage the new manager to voice ideas and input, provide equal opportunity for this manager to lead projects and grow, etc., this helps the new manager to feel valued and respected. It delivers a sense of belonging.
Importance of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging in the Workplace
Improves bias awareness
Increases talent pool
Boost employee engagement
Offers better decision making
Improves performance
Challenges of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging
Building a fair and representative talent pool and pipeline
Meeting diversity compliance
Measuring how well a company exemplifies diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.
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