In an effort to be inclusive of a variety of ideas, thoughts and approaches, it is prudent to consider forming an employee group within the organization. There are many titles for such groups: Employee Councils, Diversity Council, People Task Force, Human Resource Groups, Task Teams, among others.
However, the underlying reason for their existence is the same: to gather input from all over the organization and to make recommendations to ensure an inclusive empowerment for all employees. While all criteria for membership on the councils will always be measurable, other criteria will be based on visual characteristics (age, gender, race) to ensure inclusion of all employees. At the same time it is essential to remember that diversity means much more than visible similarity or difference, it should also include things we cannot see such as: character, thought-process, religious beliefs, education, personality, work habits, cultural background and many more.
The following pages offer suggestions for the creation, organization, and implementation of councils/committees. Whatever it is called internally it needs to reflect something positive to the employees that is separate and apart from their daily policy interactions.
The items below offer some possible action steps when considering the formation or organization of a council.
- CEO should appoint council members when possible.
- Assign a clear and realistic mission to the council, along with adequate support and resources, with a timetable for achievement of key milestones.
- Train council members (at an early stage) on diversity definitions, typical diversity issues and approaches, as well as current company programs.
- Form subcommittees within the council to focus on specific areas, to ease scheduling conflicts, to speed progress on developing consensus and to limit the time required for member participation.
- Caution participants at the outset about the long-term nature of the effort and the need for both commitment and patience.
- Include white males on the committees as equal participants.
- Establish procedures for replacing participants who get tired of the process before momentum is established, or who may lack a strong commitment from the outset.
- Utilize teambuilding activities to help the employee diversity council work through possible wide variations in perceptions of the issue that could slow down decision-making.
- Advise supervisors, in advance, of who the employee diversity council members are, instruct them on how to provide encouragement, flexibility and support for employees’ participation. Create a formal linkage between the employee diversity council and the relevant human resource staff.
- Establish significant logistical support, technical guidance and implementation assistance, which recognize the time and technical limitations of the employee diversity council participants.
