Five-Prong Framework May Help Ensure I&D Programs Are Defensible

Inclusion and diversity programs face growing external pressures due to recent enforcement initiatives at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and U.S. Department of Justice, as well as executive orders. Employers can apply a voluntary five-prong framework to ensure I&D programs are legally defensible and help ease these pressures, according to Joanna Colosimo, SHRM-SCP, vice president, Workforce Analytics & Compliance Strategy at DCI Consulting Group Inc., speaking at SHRM26 in Orlando. 

The key, she said, is to tie I&D back to business objectives.

I&D programs should, she said: 

• Be grounded in purpose. Define your North Star before designing your strategy.
• Define barriers and priorities. Name what is getting in the way of I&D at your organization.
• Design strategy and defensibility. Select approaches tied to real barriers and opportunities.
• Establish governance and accountability. Build structures that sustain progress.
• Move from canvas to practice. Close the gap between plan and implementation.

“You can’t really design a strategy unless you’ve done the first two,” Colosimo said. “You can’t do everything all at once when you put together your strategic plan.”

Toolkit: SHRM’s Belonging Enhanced by Access through Merit (BEAM) Framework

A purpose or guiding principle of an organization can be as straightforward as one tied to your industry, she noted. For example, a healthcare organization might make its North Star the following: “We know that diverse perspectives help us improve our patient objectives.”

Then identify the barriers to I&D that you want to focus on. Colosimo recalled one organization that wasn’t focusing on hiring or promotion, but instead on culture and belonging. 

“Think about how the barriers and priorities are going to move the needle for the business,” she said. “Are you going to be able to retain top talent? Are you creating trust for your employees?” In addition, will they become more innovative?

The fourth prong is establishing who is in charge and who’s accountable, Colosimo explained. The fifth prong is ensuring the whole strategic plan is put into practice.

Where organizations stall in implementing this framework, she said, is they: 

• Don’t have clear purpose and struggle to identify a North Star.
• Do not define barriers, such as problems with promotions or retention, or know what they are.
• Do not tie the strategic design to a purpose.
• Have not thought about governance and accountability.
• Have no strategic champion and the goals don’t get off the ground.

“See these failures and avoid them,” she said.

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Pressure Test Your Programs

Colosimo offered six questions HR should ask to pressure test their I&D programs and ensure they don’t violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964: 

• Does the I&D program have a quota? Quotas are illegal under Title VII, she noted.
• Is there a preference? For example, does belonging in an employee resource group give a worker preferential access to leaders because they are women? This would be inconsistent with Title VII, Colosimo said.
• Is there an unlawful set-aside, such as money, because of someone’s race?
• Is someone selected for a position for a reason other than merit?
• Is someone excluded based on protected characteristics?
• Is there unlawful harassment?

As an example of harassment as viewed by the Trump administration, Colosimo noted that, according to the EEOC, one training program allegedly harassed men who sat on one side of a room while women sat on the other side and shared their negative experiences with men.

Be aware of these six questions when reviewing your I&D programs, she recommended, calling the questions “a great tool for you to pressure test these programs.”