A STRATEGIC DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION AND ACCESSIBILITY (DEIA) management plan will assist EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER make the most of its diversity by creating an inclusive, equitable and sustainable culture and work environment.  Workplace diversity is the collective mixture of differences and similarities that include individual and organizational characteristics, values, beliefs, experiences, backgrounds, preferences, and behaviors.

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While diversity creates the potential for greater innovation and productivity, inclusion is what enables organizations to realize the business benefits of this potential. Equity refers to fair treatment in access, opportunity, and advance for individuals. Work in this area includes identifying and working to eliminate barriers to fair treatment for disadvantaged groups.

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When I develop the full plan for Empire Justice Center, the following components should be aligned with Empire Justice Center’s overall strategy. Sample questions to consider and/or action steps to take are included for each component below.

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• Who are Empire Justice Center’s key internal and external stakeholders whose needs and concerns must be considered in the DEIA business plan?

• What are Empire Justice Center’s key business objectives that the DEIA business plan must directly support?

• What changes are needed at Empire Justice Center) e.g., how people work together) to help ensure that Empire Justice Center can meet its key business objectives?

• What changes are needed in Empire Justice Center’s services to help ensure that Empire Justice Center can meet its key business objectives?

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER ACTION STEPS THAT MUST BE TAKEN:

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• Obtain agreement with Empire Justice Center’s CEO and senior management team about the key stakeholders and business objectives.

• Define the changes needed in the areas considered by the above questions. Focus especially on changes needed to achieve the agreed upon key business goals.

• Assess the current situation versus the changes defined in the steps above to identify the gap or gaps.

• Define initiatives to close the gap. Measure the extent to which the changes are put into place.

• Since Empire Justice Center has offices in other regions, seek the counsel of all key geographies represented by Empire Justice Center.

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The Director of DEIA MUST have the backing and active involvement of Empire Justice Center’s leadership, including the CEO, Board of Directors, Executive Team, etc.

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• Who are the natural champions at Empire Justice Center? Has the CEO or any senior leaders been expressly supportive of DEIA initiatives in the past?

• What initiatives or change efforts at Empire Justice Center have been wildly successful?

• In what ways did senior leadership support those initiatives? What strategies were employed at the outset of those initiatives to garner executive commitment?

• Who can reasonably expect to resist the DEIA message? A certain amount of resistance is healthy and will eventually improve the quality of the diversity initiative.

 

COMMITMENT ACTION STEPS BY EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER

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• Prior to my meeting with the CEO or senior leadership, of Empire Justice Center, I will research the evidence of commitment to DEIA via company articles, blogs, web presence, etc.

• I want to know Empire Justice Center’s diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility demographics as a percentage of the general population and senior levels of the company.

• Describe the specific actions I would like Empire Justice Center CEO/senior leaders to take in the first three months of this strategic DEIA Management Plan.  These actions should, at a minimum, include participating in the creation of Empire Justice Center’s vision, mission, and strategy, and a commitment to put his or her name to all company-wide communication about the new plan.

• Preparation of DEIA surveys for the entire Empire Justice Center population to learn about their status relative to DEIA and be prepared to speak about the survey results.  This is essential if the work is to move forward as certainly individuals are naturally passionate about DEIA and will want to know that their DEIA leaders value and share that passion.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE VISION, MISSION, AND STRATEGY

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This is the “where, what, and how” of a strategic DEIA management plan.  Any large change initiative that is not grounded in a clear vision, mission, and strategy is likely to lose focus.

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• What inspires Empire Justice Center’s CEO and other senior executives DEIA champions within Empire Justice Center organization?

• Does Empire Justice Center’s vision statement present a clear and inspiring vision of the future?

• Does Empire Justice Center’s mission statement present a clear and accurate assessment of the work contained in the strategic DEIA management plan?

• Does the strategy statement link the mission with Empire Justice Center’s vision and present a clear path to get from here to there?

• Can the daily work of Empire Justice Center Strategic DEIA management plan be measured against its vision, mission, and strategy plan?

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER’S CHAMPIONS

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• Assemble Empire Justice Center’s DEIA champions – CEO – senior leadership and brainstorm the following questions:

 

1.  What are Empire Justice Center’s hopes and goals connected to our work in diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility?

2. How will they see themselves contributing to the strategic DEIA management plan?

3. After the brainstorming session were all ideas captured and no ideas shot down?

4. Select a core group of individuals – CEO – leadership to craft the vision, mission, and strategy statements.

5. Ensure that the resulting statement supports Empire Justice Center’s overall mission, vision, and strategy.

6. Test the DEIA vision, mission, and strategy statement on potential stakeholders, or even outside of Empire Justice Center’s organization to solicit feedback. Ask those being tested to paraphrase the vision, mission and strategy in their own words and compare the paraphrased responses for discrepancies to determine if there is a lack of clarity and if there is a need to revise.

7. Involve the CEO and senior leadership in the process of crafting the final vision, mission, and strategy.  The CEO should be looking at this from a long-term perspective, which will be a great asset to this portion of my work, and leadership involvement here helps to secure leadership’s commitment throughout.

8. Create a plan to communicate the vision, mission, and strategy of the final DEIA management plan to the entire organization.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER DEIA RECRUITMENT

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DEIA recruitment means companies recruit individuals with a collective mixture of differences and similarities that include individual characteristics, values and beliefs, and experiences and backgrounds.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER EMPLOYEE RETENTION

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Retention is often framed as a key economic driver for DEIA efforts because it costs an organization a significant dollar amount when an existing employee must be replaced.  Diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible organizational climates, however, reduce turnover and increase retention.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

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Training and development include activities designed and implemented to ensure that all employees are equipped to create a work environment that is diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER ONBOARDING – I am going to spend a little time on this as a five-month employee, I feel the onboarding process is important. This is one of the first opportunities to make a new employee in an organization feel welcomed and comfortable sooner rather than later.

 

Onboarding Action Steps for Empire Justice Center

 

• Ensure that all individuals who may have first contact with a new employee are sufficiently coached on how to articulate the organization’s mission, vision, values and philosophy regarding DEIA.

• Create a robust schedule for each employee’s first day on the job, including a meeting with his or her manager, HR, required paperwork such as payroll, benefits, etc. - a briefing on all aspects of the employee’s job description (employee’s manager must be committed to the new employee without any other interruptions) a celebratory lunch with the supervisor and also should include key team members, later in the day an appointment with IT (IT should not be first thing in the morning and it should not be over the telephone – IT must be in person if possible) to receive necessary resources such as laptop, sign-in passes and end-of-day check-in to ensure that the new employee is starting his or her job on a positive note.

• Create a peer sponsor or “buddy” program as part of the onboarding initiative, create a checklist for that individual that might include whom to introduce the new employee to, and a tour that includes supply closets, restrooms, places to eat, etc.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER COMMUNICATION

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DEIA communication should include a strong commitment by the organization to a diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible workforce and to serving a diverse customer clientele base, specific information that pertains to the roll-out of the organization’s strategic DEIA management plan, and information from the employee base that honestly reflects the experiences of all staff in the Empire Justice Center organization.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER’S MARKETING, ADVERTISING, AND BRANDING

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Empire Justice Center will discover that the diversity of its staff and the equitability, inclusiveness, and accessibility of its work environment can be used as differentiators in the marketplace and can become a competitive advantage.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER’S LEVERAGING EMPLOYEE DIVERSITY

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This refers to building and then making use of a workforce that is more diverse and more equitable and inclusive than it was before the plan implementation began.

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• Even if Empire Justice Center appears to be diverse in terms of total numbers, are there teams, disciplines, or levels within the organization that consist of one homogeneous type” based on race, gender, age, nationality, or discipline?

• How diverse are the people in the recruiting function?  Is Empire Justice Center able to source qualified applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds?

• Is innovation a necessary differentiator for Empire Justice Center? If so, how diverse is Empire Justice Center at the top–middle manager levels?

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE LEVERAGING DIVERSITY PLAN

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• If Empire Justice Center’s recruiting team is small or otherwise not as diverse as it should be, consider using Empire Justice Center’s employee affinity or networking groups to assist Empire Justice Center in recruiting to specific markets.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE STRATEGIC ALLIANCES AND PARTNERSHIPS

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These are formal relationships between two or more parties who remain independent while working together to achieve a specific goal or to enhance an element of the DEIA strategy.

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER STRATEGIC ALLIANCE AND PARTNERSHIPS QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

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• What resources does Empire Justice Center need that are not available within the organization?

• Who has access to these resources.

• What is Empire Justice Center’s policy regarding strategic alliances.

• Who has the authority to sign strategic alliance agreements?

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

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Social responsibility and DEIA can be thought of as overlapping circles; the two functions share many of the same goals, and often one activity or effort will meet the needs of both functions.

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• What are Empire Justice Center’s key business objectives? How might corporate social responsibility activities benefit Empire Justice Center?

• What communities are Empire Justice Center specifically hoping to attract, source, and recruit as a result of its strategic management DEIA plan? 

• What corporate social responsibilities are currently underway at Empire Justice Center? How might diversity, inclusion, equity, and accessibility benefit from already existing efforts?

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EMPIRE JUSTICE CENTER CLIENT/MEMBER EXPERIENCE

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This is the experience internal and external clients have when they enter an organization or interact with employees and services.  The goal of the strategic DEIA management plan is to ensure that clients perceive Empire Justice Center as inclusive of their needs and as the type of establishment with which they are happy they have selected Empire Justice Center to do business.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE MEASUREMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

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This refers to the tools used to determine if DEIA efforts have achieved the desired results, and if not, who will be responsible for correcting the methodology so those desired results can be achieved.

 

EMPIRE JUSTICE MEASURE AND ACCOUNTABILITY QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

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• What sorts of measurements are currently being taken?  Do we have historical data about representation, recruitment, turnover, and employee engagement that can be a factor in Empire Justice Center’s plan?

• What new sourcing initiatives have been implemented since the launch of Empire Justice Center’s strategic DEIA management plan?  How many candidates have been identified from new sources? How many hires?

• Has retention increased, stayed the same, or decreased since the launch of Empire Justice Center’s plan?

• Who leaves the organization after a short period (1-2 years)? How do the turnover rates of women, people of color, people of age, and people with disabilities compare to those of the general population? What do the exit interviews tell Empire about Empire Justice Center’s culture?

• Does Empire Justice Center support any affinity groups based on race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, disability, or culture? If so, would it be possible for Empire Justice Center to track attitudes about inclusion from these specific groups that can be traced over time?

• How many members of Empire Justice Center staff have undergone skill-based DEIA training? How have these numbers changed since the launch of Empire Justice Center’s DEIA management plan? How did participants evaluate the training? Six to 12 months later, do participants still see value in the training?

• Have any major policy changes been instituted since the launch of Empire Justice Center’s plan (e.g., telecommuting options, domestic partner benefits, disability accommodations)? How many staff members have taken advantage of these new policies and programs? Have the programs had a significant impact on employee satisfaction and job performance?

• What strategic alliances or partnerships have been instituted because of Empire Justice Center’s strategic DEIA management plan? What specific outcomes have been realized because of these relationships?

• What are Empire Justice Center’s clients saying about the organization since the launch of the plan? How does their feedback compare with the feedback you had pre-launch?

• How was Empire Justice Center’s strategic DEIA management plan directly impacting the key business objectives of the organization?

• With the input from Empire Justice Center’s CEO, leadership, and professional DEIA practitioners, create a comprehensive list of what the organization can/should measure, how to track and/or create metrics, and how these numbers will be communicated.

• Create ambitious target goals, yet still within the realm of reality. If reporting underperforming goals will be seriously detrimental to the future of Empire Justice Center’s plan, create “goal corridors” which are ranges of numbers from the least ambitious to the most ambitious. Goal corridors will allow Empire Justice Center to consistently report success, but with a degree of integrity by capturing the differences between barely successful, moderately successful, and very successful.

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CLICK HERE TO OPEN THE SAMPLE DEI360 ASSESSMENT. This brief survey collects responses from your perspective, as the survey-taker, to obtain anonymous, quantitative insights into the way you feel and experience Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in your organization.