Swetha Harikrishnan

Figuring out the ins and outs of as broad a subject as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) can be tough. You could be chasing the wrong goals too. And as someone who has worked at places that had zero education and sensitization on this subject, I know firsthand the hit their workplace culture would take.

I am passionate about creating awareness around diversity, equity, and inclusion, which is why I am very vocal about my learnings on this journey. While there never is a one-size-fits-all solution to any problem, there are some actionable hiring tips to ensure that DE&I at the workplace is a priority and also that it is done right.

Here’s my take on how best to embrace your journey with open arms. #DEI 101, let’s go!

7 step framework for DE&I at the workplace

• Breaking the stereotype for diversity equity and inclusion in the workplace

Going back to the basics, diversity refers to building a multicultural workplace with people and minorities from different backgrounds. You foster inclusion by making people feel like they belong and that they can bring their whole self to work. Simply put, diversity is the mix. Inclusion is making that mix work.

Equity recognizes that the needs of different people are different and focuses on providing opportunities and resources for equal participation without bias, harassment, or discrimination of any kind.

In 2021, it is high time we break the stereotype that hiring for diversity where there is a visible representation of minority groups will naturally ensure that inclusion will follow. My personal learning – don’t run behind the mix. Make your workplace culture inclusive for the people inside your organization. It’s basically about providing a space of ‘psychological safety’ for people. Diversity of thought will organically follow.

• Embedding inclusion into the DNA of your company

The first step in your DEI journey is to understand if your company needs it or not. And then go on to the ‘how’ of it. Some food for thought –

1. Why are you doing this: What makes you want to be diverse & inclusive?
2. Inclusion is personal: What does I&D mean personally to you, as a company?
3. Analyze your I&D growth so far: Where do you stand today?
4. The desired goal of your strategy: Where do you want to be? Visualize the end outcome & state.
5. Final question: Ah, do you still want to do it?

Recommended read: Talking #BlackLinkedIn and DEI with Patricia Gatlin

I think the message that I’m trying to leave you with, is that it’s important to spend time on exactly why you want to do this. And to check in with the above questions and see if you still want to do this. If you’re choosing to be inclusive, then make it impactful, genuinely, not just for the sake of it. Otherwise, don’t waste your time.

• HackerEarth’s DE&I strategy is a must-have. Not a to-do

At HackerEarth, we believe inclusion is personal and start the dialogue from there. It’s not something we do as a one-off on special days – we invest in giving our people the correct language to use; we ask them to call out behaviors that are not ok, and educate and sensitize others towards these behaviors. We believe in educating people on ally-ship and support – and not educating them only on the marginalized groups.

In this company, inclusion is everyone’s responsibility – not just a mandate for HRs, or the top management. With my experience, I can tell you that it is possible to build such inclusive workplaces, but it needs heart. And a lot of effort. And nope, there is no one size that fits all.

Recommended read: How To Build Safe And ‘PROUD’ Workplaces – A Personal Story

• Measuring your DE&I efforts at the workplace

Targets and metrics for your DEI journey can make for great indicators of progress if used wisely. The minute you look upon them as your be-all and end-all, your journey can become severely crippled.

I’ve personally seen metrics limit people from creating a larger impact. People get hung up only on meeting those numbers. What you end up doing then – creating a diverse team, on the short term and miss creating an inclusive culture, for the long term.

• Key to an inclusive leadership

What is the role of a CEO and any company’s management team on this journey? They play a significant role in making their employees feel like they belong. That they are respected and treated fairly.

According to the Harvard Business Review, a leader’s awareness of personal and organizational biases is the most important trait in generating a sense of inclusiveness in the workplace. Read more about the signature traits of inclusive leadership and how leaders can put these traits into practice in this insightful article.

I’ve been a firm believer of not holding only the ‘leaders’ responsible for anything and everything in a company. I strongly believe that inclusion is something that will fall flat if the CEO/leaders/ of a company do not visibly and authentically commit to and be a role model for their employee to follow suit.

HackerEarth has an inherently non-judgemental culture, which appears as if it is entirely natural without too much work going into it. That is not the case of course. Inclusion is at the heart of everything we do as a company; we have expanded our umbrella over time to touch upon topics that most of us were taught to shy away from.

It is not a one-time activity to do and then dust your hands off but more of a process that needs to be carefully woven into the threads of your company.

What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the workplace?

Diversity in the workplace

Diversity in the workplace refers to the presence of individuals from various backgrounds, demographics, and perspectives within an organization. It encompasses differences in race, gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, abilities, and more. Diversity recognizes that each employee brings unique experiences and talents to the table, enriching the collective knowledge and creativity of the workforce.

Equity in the workplace

Equity in the workplace is the commitment to fairness and impartiality in all employment practices. It ensures that everyone has equal access to opportunities and resources, regardless of their background or circumstances. Equity strives to rectify historical and systemic disparities by addressing biases and leveling the playing field, ultimately fostering a more just and inclusive work environment.

Inclusion in the workplace

Inclusion is the active effort to create a work culture where all employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best. It goes beyond mere diversity by fostering an environment where diverse perspectives are not only welcomed but also integrated into decision-making processes and daily operations. Inclusion is essential for harnessing the full potential of a diverse workforce and promoting a sense of belonging among employees.

This is one of the reasons why I decided to keep an open dialogue going to exchange thoughts, opinions, and ideas from different perspectives on my LinkedIn channel. Now that you have an initial framework for your DE&I strategy to work with, let’s talk about positive discrimination next. Watch this space for the second part of this blog series.

How does one define a word that has been around for ages, and yet has no distinct meaning? Having just come out of an interview, where someone said “I want to be a part of HackerEarth because of your culture”, I found myself thinking, how oft-used (to the point of becoming banal) yet indecipherable the word culture really is. Contradictory, don’t you think?

Peter Drucker said that culture eats strategy for breakfast. I totally believe that it eats strategy for lunch and dinner too (someone said that as well I think).

The reason why culture is so hard to pin down, in my opinion, is because it’s not a specific set of processes that everyone agrees upon. Wall Street swears by its black-tie culture. Startups think it’s cool that you can use four-letter words in a conversation with your CEO and not get flak for it. Perhaps it’s not as much as what we do as what we don’t, which is the real measure of an organization’s culture.

When writing your culture handbook, the must-nots are probably more important than the must-haves. As HR professionals, it is our job to help define what the must-nots really are.

At HackerEarth, our work culture revolves around a central DON’T.

Don’t Be An Asshole.

When I first walked into HackerEarth, I was awestruck by a poster screaming “Don’t Be An Asshole”. Which, if you look closely, should be the basic tenet of every company’s culture handbook. The poster was a big part of the reason I signed up for the job.

The tenet is self-explanatory, but if asked to explain I would say it translates to don’t be that manager, that colleague, that employee, and that person who makes life hell for others at work. Period. Everything at HackerEarth stems from this basic idea of respect – for self, and for others.

Keeping respect as the central sun of HackerEarth’s galaxy helps us do a few things well:

• It helps us keep our employees at the forefront of our organization.
• It helps us underline what is NOT OKAY – behaviors, patterns, conflicts get called out much more easily and resolved faster.
• It helps us trust our teammates and give them the freedom they need.
• It helps us understand differences and find common ground.
• It helps us put the team above individual egos.

Let me elaborate.

1. Keeping employees at the forefront of the organization.

Our approach is ‘inside-out’ when it comes to our people. For anything and everything we do, we start the conversation by asking what it means for our people and then move outward to answer what it means for the company. Yes, it does mean there’s a lot of care and mutual trust for our people. No, it does not mean that we don’t make difficult decisions. We make those decisions too; only we do so with care.

For my peers in HR, you need to move away from the crutches of policies, processes, and practice, and start placing that lens more on individuals. Your policies are just a guidebook. They aren’t written in stone. If you must break the rules to do the right thing, then just do it.

2. Underlining what is NOT OKAY.

We like to keep it straightforward and simple. If someone is disrespectful in their tone, or their action, we boldly call it out and tell them it’s NOT OK. In some of these conversations people stay; in others we politely, but firmly, take corrective action.

As an HR professional, you need to be proactive in constantly calling out what’s NOT OK. And that’s how the company learns to do it, too. You also need to ensure that what’s NOT OK does not change for a company’s CEO, the top leaders, your boss, your employees, or yourself.

3. Trusting our people and giving them complete freedom.

Before HackerEarth, I had never worked in a company that trusts so unconditionally. It’s commendable how we do it. We do not hide any information. We always give our people an understanding of the why behind a decision. Even if it is the decision about a pandemic-induced pay-cut or about letting someone go. If we have made a mistake, we own it. We provide every opportunity for our people to ask difficult questions. In fact, we get worried when they don’t. We are never afraid to be vulnerable in front or to show emotions, and that takes a lot of trust.

We want our people to feel as confident to say ‘NO’, as they would feel saying a ‘YES’. We’re not afraid to make mistakes. We’re famously anal about learning from those mistakes. This is part of trusting them.

Dear HR peeps, please don’t kill the human side of the job. Rather, deal with the ‘people’ side of things to make your job, and the company, better. You have plenty of time to go back to those 2 Ps (Policies, Processes) later. This also means that you need to openly show your human side, too. It’s unfortunate that the strong conditioning of the HR industry has always asked us to portray a ‘rock-solid HR’ figure. Spend time thinking about how comfortable you feel about owning your emotions, and creating a safe space for others to do so, too.

4. Understanding differences. Finding common grounds.

We let our people bring their whole selves to work. We don’t expect anyone to be under any pressure to outperform the other person. We understand that each one of us is different. Yes, we expect them to be the best version of themselves, and give their best, while respecting their innate differences.

As a startup, velocity is extremely important for us. So is listening to everyone at the table and finding what works best for an individual, the team, and the company at large. In that order. You cannot dream of the best ideas without critique. Everyone loves doers. We love and respect naysayers as well, and trust them to be our conscience keepers.

A word of caution here. Differences and diversity are beautiful, only when practiced with intent. Dear HR people, please don’t overuse the word diversity and inclusion at the drop of your hat. ‘Inclusion’ is really not for everyone. You need to be bold to allow for it. Be honest if you want similar people. That’s OK too. Be honest if you want people to say ‘yes’ all the time. But if you really want your people to say ‘NO’, then bloody well coach yourself and your leaders to listen to the ‘NO’, embrace the diverse thoughts, encourage it. I’m not championing ‘Inclusion’ for the sake of it. I’m fiercely advocating it for the merit of it – for any business and its people.

5. Putting the team above individual egos.

At HackerEarth, we pride ourselves on being the stone that cuts brilliant individuals, but it cannot stop there. They need to contribute to creating brilliant teams. We do not tolerate cut-throat behavior between individuals, ever.

Putting the team above individual egos also means allowing for and respecting divergence. Our people challenge us, all the time. And we absolutely adore the fact! We strongly believe in Team > Me and do not compromise on it, at any cost.

Dear HR people, creating a brilliant or high-performing team does not mean individuals need to be in constant competition. It means supporting them in becoming the best version of themselves. Don’t create stress in the guise of gunning for performance.

Coach your leaders to intuitively understand strengths and weaknesses. Not everyone performs at the same level.

Some parting advice from Anti-AssholeVille.

I have always believed that the role of an HR professional is to be the sole custodian of a company’s culture. In the span of my career, I have seen the conversation around work culture morph from ‘what time does an employee punch in’ to ‘what can we do to make our employees happier?’. Topics of diversity, equality, and the creation of a fair and hospitable workplace are our water-cooler gossip now.

To me, it all stems from respecting the Other. In literature and philosophy, the ‘Other’ is anyone who is not you or doesn’t follow the norms laid down by you. ‘Otherization’ is an actual verb, and something I see happening in many HR teams. We are trained to believe a good employee is one who is always hungry, acing their projects; a rabbit on a constant dopamine hunt.

For instance, when someone says “what do I need to do if I need to stay in the same job role and level for the next 3 years?”, our first instinct is to brand them as ‘unambitious’. That’s Otherization. And that’s being an Asshole.

In situations like this, I remind myself to approach with respect. The person in front of me may not have the same life goals as I do, or as I was taught that all employees should have, but it is a goal they believe in personally and I do not have the right to judge. Instead of stereotyping, I remind myself that their statement only means that this is what they want NOW. My role: to facilitate this NOW, so that I can retain a hard-working teammate for the future.

It’s NOT OK to judge, or draw people into boxes, or pitch them against each other. Or otherize them in any manner. This is where we as HR professionals need to be aware of our unconscious biases, and the assholes we can be if we let age-old dictums govern the way we create our workplaces.

So, take charge. Be open to learn and unlearn. Lead with respect so that you can create a more fair, equitable, honest, and pleasant workplace.

And never, ever, be an Asshole.