Category: Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is an important and ongoing strategy of any HR plan. Ensuring that your company supports hiring, engaging, and retaining diverse workers with varied backgrounds will set your company up for long-term success and an increased bottom line. This topic offers the latest strategies for talent management, key insights from diversity leaders, case studies on D&I in the workplace, and more.

Accommodating Hearing and Visually Impaired Employees During Remote Work

Some of the often-hidden experiences in many offices even before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a widespread shift to remote work have been the experiences of hearing and visually impaired employees. With a broad shift to remote work, these employees are often finding it more difficult than before to perform their basic job duties. Accommodating the […]

From Basic to Best-In-Class: How to Create Great Workplace Lactation Facilities

As we move toward sharing space at work again, employers often ask us: how can we support our baby-feeding employees? The answer: employers who establish breastfeeding-supportive climates offer comprehensive plans that include policy, procedure, culture of belonging, access to experts, encouragement, community and facilities. In this piece, we’ll examine facilities and identify ways to elevate […]

discrimination

Potential ADA Accommodations Abound, But a Few Declared ‘Unreasonable’

There’s no exhaustive list of potentially reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. Whether an accommodation is reasonable will depend on the unique circumstances of each instance, including the individual’s limitations and essential job functions. Some accommodations, however, have been declared “unreasonable.” 3 Unreasonable ADA Accommodations 1. It isn’t reasonable to eliminate job’s essential functions. An […]

Neurodiversity Is an Untapped Pool of Immense Potential

Neurodiverse individuals have perspectives, skills, and talents that can provide organizations with a competitive edge. Hiring and supporting neurodiverse employees creates a more equitable, inclusive, productive, and innovative workplace. What Exactly Is Neurodiversity? Neurodiversity is the range of differences in brain function and behavioral traits. Neurocognitive variation and differences can include individuals with autism, attention […]

HR Works Podcast: ADHD Isn’t a Knowledge Problem, It’s a Performance Problem

  According to experts, the number of adults with ADHD is between 4% and 5%. Although we can’t say for sure if those numbers are among the workforce, it is likely you have employees with ADHD – and if you don’t, you will. ADHD is one of those things that is vastly misunderstood and poorly […]

Women in Tech: 5 Crucial Lessons for Leading and Succeeding in the Tech Industry

According to McKinsey & Company, women made up only 20% of the tech workforce just before the pandemic. And that number looks to be ticking downward. A year into the pandemic, as many as 2.5 million women, versus 1.8 million men, were lost from the U.S. workforce. This turn of events could potentially set back […]

Diversity Takes Many Forms: Making Progress Through Understanding and Inclusion

Successful diversity, equity and inclusion leadership requires the same kinds of leadership skills that make one successful in any corporate leadership role, whether that be operations, finance, marketing or anything else. But it also requires a solid understanding and knowledge of the underlying subject matter. Working in a relatively new area of corporate focus, DEI […]

Harassment

6th Circuit Offers Guidance on Reasonableness of Investigations, Remedial Measures

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals (which covers Michigan employers) recently provided employers with guidance on how to handle an employee’s complaints of multiple instances of gender-based harassment committed by coworkers. The crux of the case illustrates the importance of taking prompt remedial action, even if the results prove to be inconclusive. ‘You Were […]

EEOC Issues Guidance on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Discrimination

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently issued a technical assistance document for “Protections Against Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity.” The document briefly explains the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia, and the agency’s established legal positions on sexual orientation and gender identity-related workplace discrimination […]

The Importance of Pronouncing Names Properly

Once fodder for TV and movie comedy, non-Western names are increasingly common in American culture and work life. Moreover, as American companies increasingly have subsidiaries in or otherwise do business with foreign countries, exposure to such names is only increasing. While encountering an unfamiliar name may have been an infrequent occurrence just a few years […]