By broadening their definition of diversity, leaders can identify, engage better, and integrate individuals into their organization. There is a rising need to expand the notion of diversity to include additional factors such as socio-economic status and lived experience.
We are in the midst of a seismic shift when it comes to how companies address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Getting it right has huge upsides because according to McKinsey, narrowing the gender gap by 2025 would generate an additional $12 trillion in GDP. However, this is where many organizations get stagnant in their DEI journey. In addition to focusing on gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, leaders need to include a wider range of people they could have been ignoring– consciously or subconsciously.
Socio-economic status
It is an unpleasant but accepted fact that many people feel and tend to get excluded from opportunities as a result of their socio-economic status. And, this is visible from obtaining a university education to getting placed to even rising on the career ladder. According to a non-profit research organization at Harvard University, “Ivy League colleges have more students come from families in the top 1% of the income distribution than the bottom half of the income distribution.” Also, many low-income students opt for public universities, which is still not a choice for many organizations during the hiring process as they focus on hiring solely from elite private organizations. Research has proven that the more diversity of socio-economic backgrounds exists within the team, the more likely they are to expand the pool of perspectives, aiding in better decision-making. Teams should be able to reflect the customers and communities they are trying to serve, which cannot be provided by the perspectives of a single socio-economic background. Therefore, to broaden the socioeconomic range of those who can apply to jobs and diversify workforces, organizations should commit and take tangible steps to hire from diverse socio-economic backgrounds.
Lived experiences
Consider an organization that has the following type of employees working with them. One is a single parent who has experienced food and housing insecurity. Another is an army veteran, and several others are immigrants. Although they are considered “untraditional” by the outside world, they all bring a range of perspectives and insights. These are their “lived experiences” – episodes in their lives that have shaped how they view the world. These perspectives are vital at all levels in an organization, as lived experiences can help the organization better serve its customers and stakeholders. Discounting these lived experiences can be disadvantageous to the organization. When organizations collectively decide to broaden the perspectives on what diversity means, it is easier to understand that lived experience should be considered an important counterpart to traditional-university earned knowledge.
