Get it right, and your company’s ‘People and Culture’ page can help attract and encourage a wide array of talented applicants to your organization.
Get it wrong, however, and the page can undermine your employer brand — and damage your all-important DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) efforts.
To help your company get it right, we asked our in-house DEI experts to share the most common mistakes and recommended solutions…
1. Baseless claims of DEI commitment
One of the most common mistakes is the sharing of vague or unsupported statements about an employer’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Increasingly, customers, clients, and potential candidates want to see companies share real and tangible efforts towards DEI. Without this, statements can seem performative, and undermine your genuine efforts.
How can your company prove its commitment in a credible way? Here are just a few examples:
1. Share your company’s strategic targets and commitments to DEI. (Recommended resource: Free Guide to Setting Effective Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Targets)
2. Detail concrete initiatives, such as school outreach programs, dedicated apprenticeships, internships and/or graduate pathways.
3. Include your company’s gender pay gap report and action plan. (Recommended resource: Free Gender Pay Gap Checklist)
(Recommended resource: Read the full results and guidance from our annual What Women Want Survey.)
4. Include real-life examples of the positive impact made on women and marginalized groups within your organization.
2. Shying away from reality
Similarly, we often see companies trying to present an overly rosy picture of their DEI efforts without acknowledging areas for improvement.
Jessie: “Again, 59% of women told us that they would still apply to a company with a poor gender pay gap if the company could demonstrate what they were doing about it. Taking ownership over where your company falls short with a plan and reported progress to address these areas is an opportunity to be authentic and credible with your prospective candidates.”
Failing to acknowledge areas for improvement can also hint to a presence of toxic positivity.
This can impact your efforts in a number of ways:
1. Disregards real experiences: Ignoring DEI challenges can invalidate the experiences of employees who face systemic barriers, discrimination, or inequities, making them feel unseen and unheard.
2. Hinders trust: Employees and potential hires may distrust the company if they sense that it is not being fully transparent about its DEI efforts and challenges.
3. Stifles Improvement: Without openly addressing challenges, the company may struggle to identify and implement effective solutions, impeding progress towards true diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Instead, we encourage employers to be honest about the challenges they face in DEI and outline their strategies for overcoming them, demonstrating a realistic and committed approach. For example, if representation at senior levels is lacking, be sure to acknowledge this and outline your plans to address it.
Anna: “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is not a destination, but a journey. At WORK180 we commend employers that are committed to progress rather than perfection.”
3. Stock imagery
All too often, teams struggling to diversify their teams use stock imagery to try and communicate their desire to cultivate an inclusive culture. However, this not only looks disingenuous and undermines your company’s genuine efforts, but is fundamentally wrong to lure candidates into a false sense of security when applying for your roles.
Instead, we recommend using real photos of your employees in the workplace to authentically showcase your diversity. But…
4. Be careful with real imagery too…
While authentic images can build trust and transparency, they can harm your DEI efforts if employees feel their images are used disingenuously.
For instance, showcasing photos from an International Women’s Day event without addressing a gender pay gap can breed resentment. Similarly, team members from marginalized groups may feel exploited if their images are used superficially.
How to avoid problematic use of photos
- Balance imagery: Ensure the overall mix of images reflects the genuine diversity within your organization.
- Seek permission: Always get consent before using team members’ photos.
- Provide an opt-out option Make sure employees feel safe and able to decline having their image used.
- Avoid one-offs: Don’t rely on photos from single events that don’t represent ongoing commitments.
And remember, diversity isn’t always visible. Photos are just one small part of demonstrating your commitment to DEI. Focus on substantial actions and policies that foster an inclusive and equitable workplace, and use imagery to genuinely reflect those ongoing efforts.
5. Ignoring accessibility
Finally, claims of inclusivity are all for nought when valuable candidates can’t adequately use or access your company’s career page! As such, it’s key to consider your page’s accessibility.
Make sure your team is implementing best practices, such as;
- Providing alt text for images (this is a description of the image for those using screen readers)
- Ensuring your site is navigable via a keyboard
- Using accessible color contrasts and fonts
Why are these best practices so important? Watch this video to find out.
A few free resources for checking your page’s accessibility:
- WAVE tool: A web accessibility evaluation tool developed to help teams identify accessibility issues on web pages.
- Hemingway app: A writing tool that helps make your text straightforward, jargon-free, and accessible to users with varying literacy levels.
- Accessibility Checker by Intent Based: This tool offers detailed explanations for each accessibility error it detects and provides multiple options for fixing them.
Looking for more DEI insights, guidance, and advice?
Check out our library of free employer resources or get regular guidance straight to your inbox by signing up to our mailing list.
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