Do Your DEI Branding Efforts Match Your Company's Actions?

Published April 6, 2022

In 2021, 83 percent of organizations said they had diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. These policies were developed to guide leaders and employees to create safer and more equitable work environments for team members of color, those with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women. But how effective are they?

The same survey by WorldatWork found that only 57 percent of organizations have metrics to measure their DEI results. Employee stories across the web highlight how DEI branding doesn't always lead to internal change.

Does your DEI policy match the fanfare you give it publicly? Here's why some policies are falling short and how employees with disabilities react.

Disability is often left out of the DEI discussion

Throughout various DEI efforts, employees with disabilities have noticed being left out. In some cases, businesses neglect to include disability in DEI practices. In other cases, disability is such a broad concept that only some conditions or experiences are acknowledged.

One reason for this, experts say, is that disability covers such a wide range of conditions that it's overwhelming for businesses to try to be fully inclusive. You can see this in how companies optimize their websites for accessibility. They might add captions to videos for website visitors who are deaf but then forget to make their content navigable for screen readers.

Accessibility is also hard to discuss because disabilities can be visible and invisible. Your employees can live with chronic pain, learning difficulties, neurodiversity, anxiety, and other conditions that you can't see. Many of these employees don't want to make these conditions known for fear of potential discrimination.

The reality is that more employees than you realize likely have at least one disability. One in four Americans lives with a disability, according to the CDC. Maria Town, president, and CEO of the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), often says that disability doesn't discriminate. It affects people from all walks of life and all demographics. It shouldn't be ignored in DEI efforts.

Inequitable workplaces push out employees with disabilities

When your DEI policies neglect people with disabilities, your company pushes these workers out of your organization. You might not intentionally be isolating these workers, but they will eventually feel the need to leave your company if you cannot support them.

John Loeppky for Business Insider recently published an article highlighting how brands celebrate National Disability Employment Awareness Month in marketing materials but fail to enact meaningful changes to support employees with disabilities. A few shared their stories of working in corporate environments, including what drove them out.

Chelsea Bear, who spoke with Loeppky, recently left a 9-to-5 desk job to embrace self-employment. Her new career allows her to rearrange her schedule based on her needs.

"You know, if there's a day where I wake up and I'm exhausted, and I just can't get to certain tasks, I can have the patience with myself to rearrange some things," says Bear, who blogs about her experiences with cerebral palsy. "Versus, working in a corporate setting, you don't always have that ability or that allowance from their end."

Bear's story highlights how DEI needs to be part of company culture, not just a set of policies. Employees need to feel comfortable putting their health first and managers need to understand that these needs are more important than short-term productivity numbers.

Post-pandemic policies leave employees frustrated

As companies roll out DEI policies, some workers have noticed that new corporate efforts contradict the statements made by human resources about equity and inclusion. One key area where this contrast is felt across the country is return-to-work and remote work policies.

After two years of remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic, more organizations are calling employees back to the office. Dubbed "The Great Return," 50 percent of leaders say they want employees back in the office five days a week. Even large tech brands like Google and Meta Platforms (parent company of Facebook) are requiring employees to return.

However, these in-office requirements have already started to impact employees with disabilities. Billie Alexander shared her experience with The Washington Post. She has an autoimmune condition that can flare up, requiring her to take time off, but found it was easier to stay on top of her assignments during her employer's remote work period. Alexander planned a few major events, achieved measurable results, and was recognized for her efforts. Then the remote work period ended and her employer denied most of her accommodation requests, and work started to get reassigned.

"I ran out [of leave] pretty quickly as the adjustment back to in-person work was so hard on me physically," says Alexander. She has recently left that employer and found another job that can meet her accommodation requests.

Many employees with disabilities read brand statements from their marketing and HR departments about DEI and support for workers with disabilities, only for the company to create sweeping policies that contradict these claims.

DEI is a company-wide process

The stories of Chelsea Bear and Billie Alexander aren't meant to shame companies for not doing enough. Instead, they are calls to remember employees with disabilities in your DEI efforts – and calls to keep your DEI policies at the forefront of all company initiatives. It's easy to create a DEI policy and forget about it when projects get stressful, or new rules are developed. Unfortunately, forgetting your policies is exactly what makes them ineffective.

Take some time to evaluate how effective your DEI policies are when they discuss disability and how thoroughly your DEI goals travel throughout the company. Then set targets for improvement. Inclusivity and equity is a long-term process that will take years to make part of your company culture – and there will always be room for improvement.

 

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