Equity is a concept that provides all people, in this case, employees, with equal resources and chances, no matter their background and previous experience. Achieving true workplace equity can be challenging. However, with these tips, you’ll be able to improve the culture and workplace processes

1. Prioritize Transparency

The first step of promoting equity is by prioritizing transparency. Being completely open about your hiring practices, wages, and other resources has been a huge taboo in the past. These practices allowed a dose of secrecy, bias, and inequality which drew people away from your organization. It’s time to put an end to this.

Make your practices known and transparent. Wages shouldn’t be a secret among your employees, so don’t treat it as such. On top of that, having clear and distinctive job descriptions is crucial for equity. By hiding job descriptions and allowing only managers to delegate tasks, you’re supporting workforce discrimination and exploitation. So, keep that in mind!

2. Educate Employees

Before you start changing your company for the better, you need to educate your employees on the matters of equity. While most employees are aware of workplace inequity, they don’t know how to stop and prevent it. That’s why educating your employees on those matters is vital for your organization’s health. What are the benefits of employee education on that matter?

If you opt for a quality employee education program, your employees will learn how to detect workplace inequity, stop it and practice equity at all times. By practicing equity, you’ll also find it easier to make new friends no matter where you are. That increases your chances of scoring suitable employment. Therefore, conduct training programs to educate your employees about the importance of workplace equity.

3. Extend Onboarding Process

New employees joining your company are expected to blend in the culture, as well as get along with their teammates. However, to achieve that, besides equal resources and opportunities, new hires expect from you an adequate onboarding program. But what if you already have an onboarding process?

Providing new employees with a pen and notebook is nowhere near enough. An adequate onboarding process should include continuous support to those who need it! That’s why extending that period to a couple of months can be crucial for your equity practices. Provide adequate mentorship and show appreciation to mentors who are willing to share their knowledge with new hires.

4. Work on Communication

When it comes to any type of business, workplace communication is vital for your organization. It’s one of the essential means of achieving equity and promoting it. Therefore, if your company isn’t based on open and honest communication, you’ll never create workplace equity. So, how can you improve communication and make people more engaged?

Communication strategies are just the thing you need! Whether you nurture formal or semi-formal workplace relations, there is always a place for communication improvement. To create the ideal atmosphere for employee communication, consider introducing engagement tools. They will provide your employees with a safe place to chat, as well as improve the equity within the teams.

5. Mind the Indirect Discrimination

Most companies nowadays try hard not to discriminate against people based on their ethnicity, gender, and religion. However, indirect discrimination still affects a huge number of people, inside and outside of your organization. Therefore, when putting together equity and workplace behavior policies, try to avoid tricky situations that can potentially discriminate against some groups.

For instance, many business owners in industries such as law require their employees to dress in a certain manner, have a clean-cut, not have visible tattoos, etc. However, these practices discriminate against a large pool of people who can be the best fit for the role! So, put your prejudices aside, and promote equity in your workplace.

Final Thoughts on Equity in the Workplace

No matter where you’re from and which industry you work in, equity is the same concept all across the world. So, provide equal chances and resources to all your employees and put an end to discrimination. Besides running a healthier organization, this practice can also make you a more desirable employer on the market!

Even though we live in a modern society, privilege is still a construct that affects many people. Privileged individuals have better access to resources which leads to easier employment and faster promotions. Luckily, many managers started noticing this trend. They are ready to take action and prevent inequity at their workplace. But what is true equity and how can you implement it in your business culture?