HOW TO BUILD AN equitable workplace

Start with an intersectional lens, experts say, and allow women to bring their whole selves to their work.

The world, and our understanding of it, is evolving so quickly.

Even just a decade ago, women were treated as a homogenous group when discussing their advancement at work, says Sarah Saska, co-founder and CEO of Feminuity. Now we realize many distinctions among women can dramatically determine career outcomes – race, age, sexuality, physical capabilities and family situations among them.

And just a few years ago, the script was flipped when remote work became the main option for many industries – ushering in unprecedented flexibility and work-life balance.

It’s an old question, but the context feels fresh. For International Women’s Day 2023, how do we build an equitable workplace?

Consult with your staff

“Individuals want to be able to bring their whole selves to work, be heard, understood, and feel included,” says Devika Pandey, director of learning and knowledge solutions, Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI). The national charity works with employer partners across the country in education, research and practices.

“Inclusion has been more challenging for women because of gender roles and stereotypes,” she adds.

Organizations need to consider “their own context, industry and workforce” – and the first step is consulting with your staff, Pandey says. How can you support your employees better? They know this answer best.

In its work, CCDI has compiled some basic recommendations: provide flexible work options, support accessible child care, offer options for parental leave and support for returning to work, be transparent on pay, and promote sponsorship (more active and effective than mentorship) to advocate for women in the organization.

In addition to needs from existing staff, recruitment, hiring biases and job postings should be reviewed, Pandey says, to build equitable teams of the future. CCDI offers tool kits and resource guides online for free.

DEI in the DNA

Saska agrees – staff consultation, and the flexibility to solve issues on a case-by-case basis, is key.

Any policy or procedure should start with an intersectional lens, she adds. Her strategy firm Feminuity frequently works with startups to design everything from recruitment to full diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategies. Even at the Fortune 500 level, the firm helps build diverse teams, workplace cultures and inclusive products.

“If you bring a really intentional, intersectional frame to how you build any type of policy or program or procedure, then actually you end up solving for a lot of (unique issues) right at the fundamental level,” Saska says.

In other words, inclusivity should be woven into the DNA of the company, with DEI embedded into everyone’s role overview – she calls this “decentralized” approach more resilient.

During volatile markets, recessions or layoffs – when DEI departments can be gutted – having inclusive practices throughout all departments ensures the message isn’t lost.

Keep remote options

COVID-19 forced many people to realize the same thing at the same time – remote offices work, and for many people, they’re great.

“There’s just so many different ways that it has been helpful to certain people,” Saska says, from caregivers to people with disabilities, from racialized workers to those with health issues around menstruation or menopause.

The “sandwich generation” is expanding fast, she adds – caregivers for aging parents, who are also raising children. And although flexible working options has DEI written all over it, almost everybody will have a reason to want to work from home occasionally, even just to skip hours of commuting.

“At a really fundamental level, I think too often workplaces sort of reflect … a patriarchal society,” Saska says. “They just are more individual-based rather than collective-based. They still try to fracture our personal lives from our professional lives, when we really know that’s not true. And I think this is shifting for sure.”

Mind the age gap

Asked if she’s optimistic about younger generations bringing different expectations into the workplace, Saska expects a “complex” transition of values.

“Mingling intergenerational ways of working is going to be wild,” she says. “I really do think that intergenerational (work) needs to be a huge part of the DEI conversation, and I don’t think it’s being had right now. Ageism, as a whole, still isn’t one of the ‘isms’ that I think is properly addressed within DEI efforts proper, which is its own sort of huge problem.”

Again, respecting intersectionality – recognizing that young women may have different needs than older women in the workplace – is part of DEI, staying flexible, and consulting with staff.

“I think it’s really going back to your people, and saying: Who benefits and why?” Saska says. “And what kind of models are going to make sense?”