From Tokenism To True Inclusion: The Essential Role Of Equity In DEI

Source: From Tokenism To True Inclusion: The Essential Role Of Equity In DEI (forbes.com)

While commitments to DEI are a positive step toward building environments where everyone can thrive, many companies fall into the trap of tokenism—making superficial attempts to include underrepresented groups without genuine inclusion. According to a 2023 DDI report, leaders’ endorsement of their companies’ initiatives dropped 18% in two years. In the same year, a study by WebMD Health Services and Blue Research found more than 60% of employees didn’t believe their organizations’ efforts had any real impact.

Removing the equity piece exacerbates this issue, leading to practices that fail to address systemic barriers. Equity is the cornerstone of meaningful DEI strategies because it helps ensure fair treatment, opportunities and access for all employees. Without it, companies are just making hollow gestures that leave marginalized individuals feeling isolated and undervalued.

Understanding The Effects Of Tokenism

Taking minimal steps to include minority groups is how tokenism creates the illusion of diversity and inclusivity in an attempt to deflect criticism. Oftentimes, this is achieved by hiring or promoting a small number of individuals from underrepresented demographics. But without addressing the underlying issues of inequity, tokenized employees’ growth and morale are hampered, and innovation is stifled across organizations.

Early in my career, I realized I’d been hired to check a diversity box. Despite being qualified, I was often sidelined in important projects. Seeing the company’s lack of genuine commitment to inclusion made me feel undervalued. Watching talented peers face similar challenges is what reinforced my determination to advocate for authentic DEI practices that prioritize equity. I’ve found tokenism is prevalent in homogeneous industries like logistics and trucking.

Why Equity Matters

As an executive and founder, I believe equity is what transforms DEI initiatives from check-the-box exercises into powerful drivers of organizational change. Companies with equity-focused DEI programs are more likely to attract and retain top talent, foster innovation and outperform competitors.

Here are some key reasons why equity is crucial.

• Fair Treatment And Opportunities: Focusing on equity is how organizations can ensure they’re treating employees fairly, providing growth opportunities and addressing systemic biases and barriers. This helps increase employees’ motivation and productivity.

• Access to Resources and Support: Providing resources and support for success, including mentorship and professional development, is one of the best strategies for enhancing employees’ skill development and encouraging career progression.

• Addressing Systemic Barriers: The primary characteristic of equity is identifying and addressing systemic barriers that prevent underrepresented groups’ full participation. Reducing disparities within your organization allows you to foster a supportive environment that centers DEI.

• Inclusive Decision Making: All employees must have a voice in decision making, whether it’s at the team level or in ways that impact the entire organization. Their participation will lead to better strategies and innovative solutions.

Creating inclusive environments is transformative. At Rigs on Wheels, I’ve watched how a commitment to equity efforts, like supporting employee resource groups and maintaining open communication channels, has significantly improved team dynamics and productivity.

Moving From Tokenism To True Inclusion

Prioritizing equity in your DEI initiatives is vital if you want to move away from tokenism—or avoid it all together—and create true inclusion. Here are some strategies that I believe will be key for accomplishing this.

• Ensure Leaders Commit To Equity: Treating equity as an imperative must start from the top. This means setting clear goals, holding leaders accountable and embedding equity into values and culture. This is a step toward increasing employees’ trust and engagement.

• Implement Equitable Policies And Practices: You must review and revise any and all organizational policies that can improve equity. You may want to start with your hiring and promotion practices, as that will make it easier to attract and retain top talent from underrepresented groups.

• Offer Training And Education: Everyone, but particularly leaders, need training on unconscious bias, cultural competence and inclusivity. With this kind of organization-wide education, you can build a more inclusive culture that embraces collaboration.

• Create Inclusive Spaces: For improved team dynamics, employees need to feel valued. Developing a culture of belonging through strategies like forming employee resource groups or ensuring both physical and virtual accessibility is what creates inclusive spaces.

• Measure And Evaluate Progress: DEI initiatives don’t mean much if you’re not regularly assessing your progress toward equity and inclusion goals. Using data around diversity and retention, as well as collecting feedback from employees about opportunities for inclusivity that they’d like to see, will help you make informed decisions and continuous improvements.

I’ve ensured these strategies were incorporated in my founding and building of Rig on Wheels. We’ve implemented equitable policies to attract and retain top talent. For example, we use blind recruitment strategies and perform pay audits. Our training around topics like unconscious bias and cross-cultural communication have led to a more inclusive culture where teams collaborate successfully. All our commitments to equity and constantly improving our efforts have enhanced employee satisfaction and retention, which has driven innovation and business performance in turn.

Equity is the cornerstone of meaningful DEI initiatives. Prioritizing it helps you create a culture where everyone can thrive and feel valued and empowered. Equity unlocks your full potential and creates a better, more equitable future for all. By implementing these strategies, you’ll be equipped to move beyond tokenism and create truly inclusive environments that drive innovation, engagement and performance.