How digitization can foster an inclusive workplace

HR executives aren’t surprised by the virtuous cycle between D&I and workplace digitization.

“Employee-first companies tend to be more innovative and also more diverse,” says Rana Robillard, an executive consultant who served as vice president of HR at New Relic and chief people officer at HackerOne. “They’re the disruptors, the ones who both recognize the need for digital tools and understand how to attract diverse talent. People want innovative, efficient, and data-focused companies.”

Mica Mayo, vice president of operations, digital innovation & transformation at ServiceNow, says early adopters of digital workplace tools are more “in tune with the future of work” than their more digital-averse peers. “They’re more inclined to seek out that D&I data and to have that top of mind as a company, to make that cultural shift.”

Robillard identifies three different categories of digital tools that are boosting D&I: those that give companies access to a wider and more diverse pool of job candidates, those that enable companies to better execute D&I initiatives, and those that allow companies to more easily showcase D&I initiatives.

The first category includes tools like Slack, Zoom, Miro, and Asana, all of which facilitate workplace collaboration outside a physical workspace. The second includes tools for tracking employee engagement, performance management, talent management, and demographics. The third parses and analyzes demographic and psychographic data.

“People want to work for a company where they’re treated well and fairly, and for employees to get insight into whether that’s happening is really important,” Robillard explains. “It’s equally important for HR to have the systems they need to leverage their data and make the case for further D&I initiatives, like pay equity and transparency.”

Teams can then dig into the data to identify areas for improvement—and provide snapshots of their progress to job candidates.

“The way to get diverse talent is the way to get all talent,” says Robillard. “What are people looking for? Great managers? Great programs to support employees? Mental health initiatives and child care? Once you know that, you can provide it, and then you can show job candidates what you’ve accomplished and what they can expect from you as an employer.”

As more of the world gets vaccinated against COVID-19, businesses are evaluating what a “return to normal” might look like. Mayo says digital tools will play an even greater role in attracting and supporting top talent. “Companies that have seen an increase in productivity during the pandemic will sustain and improve productivity with digital tools,” she says.

However, there’s a dark side to this return to normal. Although remote and hybrid work have opened up opportunities to people who might not have had them, it has also reified patterns of inequality along lines of race, class, gender, age, and the urban-rural divide.

When it comes to thinking outside that box, Mayo says digital tools are a valuable asset. To promote equity in hiring and promotions at ServiceNow, she’s pushed the use of in-application learning and guidance tools to assist human decision-making.

“In the talent organization,” Mayo says, “we have pivoted to a new recruiting tool and evolved our talent and performance system and process. It’s a new way of calibrating across the employee base. When managers consider their employee’s performance and potential, they receive nudges to aid in suspending unconscious bias and ensure they are being fair, as well as serve up additional resources on the topic.”

Machine learning and artificial intelligence, which are easily scalable and can be leveraged remotely, are also playing a role in D&I initiatives. “Our last DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] summit,” says Mayo, “we did it virtually, and what better way to get people versed on diversity, inclusion, and belonging than to practice having crucial conversations based on real use cases? These exercises included avatars that were built with machine learning and AI. You could literally hold a conversation in a virtual room to practice key principles we’d learned at the summit. It was so lifelike and real, I could tell it was not rote—[the avatars] would respond to things I said and ways in which I phrased things.”

Companies that have already digitized their HR systems, communication tools, and other workflows are ahead of the game. By finding efficient ways to leverage these tools for D&I initiatives, such organizations really make a difference in their hiring and promotions.

Despite the evidence in favor of greater workplace digitization, some organizations have been slow to adopt these tools. CHROs and COOs, who are on the front lines of workplace experience, are more supportive of the idea of digitization than their more removed peers.

“With COVID, the BLM protests, and now the great resignation, organizations are thinking about what to do to be part of the solution in fighting systematic racism,” says Robillard. “Things like pay equity, promotions, D&I training—companies have a lot of ability to make a difference in these areas and in the overall employee experience.”

In light of the positive relationship between greater digitization and diversity and inclusion efforts, C-level executives who are skeptical of their benefits might do well to reevaluate that position.