How do you ensure all aspects of diversity (i.e., race, gender, sexual orientation, & disability) are collectively considered within your DE&I initiatives?
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It's indeed a work in progress. Besides the typical protected classes like gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, and veteran status, there are many more dimensions of diversity. These include neurodiversity, age and generational differences, introverts and extroverts, socioeconomic status, and global nuances. We try to address intersectionality, recognizing that these different boxes combine to create unique individual experiences. When suggestions for new areas come up, we assess the level of interest, prioritize, and consider the business impact.
From our perspective, sometimes it's about addressing issues as they are identified. For instance, we recently realized that many of our online courses do not have audio, making them inaccessible for the visually impaired. We are now working on adding an audio component to these courses to become compliant with accessibility laws. This is a reactive approach, and while we wish it were otherwise, it's often how we identify areas for improvement.
That's a perfect example of how an abilities-focused employee resource group could help. Such a group could help identify gaps and inform where changes are needed.
Primarily because we don't have all the demographic data, it's challenging to ascertain how inclusive we are being. We support diversity through employee resource groups, and if there's a desire within the organization to create such a group, we absolutely support it. We've prioritized certain areas where we feel we are underrepresented, not to dismiss other areas, but to be intentional in our strategy. We aim to curate an environment where everyone feels included, but we've had to prioritize due to limited funding.