The impact of Covid on Diversity and Inclusion

2020 has been a step change year for diversity & inclusion.

Covid-19 was meant to be the great equaliser because everyone was impacted by it – the new lockdown rules applied to everyone. We were suddenly all working in the same way i.e. remotely. Everyone was dialling into calls and no longer were some people ‘in the room’ and others on the phone getting a second grade experience.

At the same time companies were grappling with how to survive, how they could best support employees, whilst continuing to serve customers.

There were murmurings of D&I programmes being deprioritised at the start of lockdown.

However, something then happened that would reverse that trend indefinitely – the killing of George Floyd suddenly kickstarted a global movement of equality and shone a big spotlight on equality and societal injustices.

For example we now know that parents with young kids, LGBTQ+ and those who are isolated having suffered a lot more during this period. So mental health support has been top of many company’s agendas to help impacted groups during this period.

Women in particular within the working parents group have been negatively impacted, trying to work whilst taking care of childcare without the extra support from grandparents and other support networks, with more than 1 in 4 considering taking a step down in their careers or leaving the workforce altogether.

Some of the positives

• The good news is we’ve shown that flexible and remote working can work effectively.
• Reduced time spent commuting has given more people more time to spend with family and in many cases time for self-care.
• Access to global knowledge and networks has grown, with events, conferences and meetings all being held virtually. The age of regular international business travel is over; and whilst technology cannot replace meeting someone in person, it can make working together remotely a lot more accessible.
• In the UK and Europe, we’ve started to see and talk about race and be more ‘colour brave’. It’s important to be comfortable with being uncomfortable in order to move the race agenda along.

D&I strategies for 2021

Thinking ahead to next year, we know there is a huge opportunity to put D&I right at the top of the corporate agenda. Here are my top suggestions on where to focus efforts:

• Continue to embed inclusive leadership behaviours – More open communication, fostering trust, active listening, developing empathy, seeking to understand everyone’s individual circumstances and regularly staying connected. Continuing to talk about mental health openly and checking how people are really doing sits here too.
• Embed a successful approach to hybrid working – We will need to figure out the balance of remote vs office working hours whilst ensuring minority groups aren’t negatively impacted by working in this hybrid way (e.g. parents, women, or those with disabilities). 
• Focus on developing allies – There is a real need for more allies to amplify voices from underrepresented groups.
• Give opportunities to more impacted groups – entry level talent and individuals from lower socio-economic backgrounds are being severely impacted with internships being cancelled.
• Taking a behavioural science approach to inclusion – Taking lessons from behavioural science to help embed D&I into HR processes and nudging people to embed new habits and not revert to old ways or rely on ‘gut feel’ to make decisions.

We must take what we’ve learnt this year into 2021 – retain the good bits and implement strategies to address inequalities that still exist in our society.

If successful, we will see the rise of more human, connected organisations.