Daily Times

When the United Nations first introduced its idea for the 17 Sustainable Development Goals back in 2016, it knew which ones would get the most attention, and which ones would be left marginalized, in an already censored and shattered conversation on gender equality in the workplace.

Between 2010 and 2020, there has been increased focus on diversity in the workplace. Leadership opportunities have emerged, that have been insignificant, between the arrays of employee empowerment, perspectives and commitment-especially in the western hemisphere.

Gender Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) toolkits revolve around 2 basic courses of action: gender-targeted actions, and gender integration. What this means is that gender bias is not only addressed across all sectors, but in fact, it proves effective when mapping monitoring and evaluation (M&E) mechanisms. By preventing sole reliance on best practices, toolkits help the actual implementation process.

According to Vanessa M. Conzon, at the Harvard Business Review, these are not just talking points that can be funded, or thrown money at, for CSR goal-fulfilment. With carefully crafting and carrying out techniques for optimizing organizational performance (OP), comes greater responsibility. She notes, “When designing and implementing a policy, managers must consider how it will reverberate throughout the organization – and how it might ultimately backfire.”

In this era of data and analytics, companies must use data-driven techniques to work out the best way to identify progress.

It’s important to note that there have been inherent and significant barriers to entry for such conversations. Monopolies in thought processes are the leading cause of this reluctance to embrace all variants of employees and comprehend the different dimensions of diversity and the intersection of identities (e.g., race, ethnicity, ability status and gender).

A study by the Pew Research Centre in 2023 showed that 56% of newly hired workers associated themselves with a likability to adopt Diversity and Equity in their workplaces. The same piece highlighted that 6 in 10 of the companies approached said they had regular training to incorporate DEI changes into both senior management and lower-level staff.

It’s easier said than done. Usually, in managerial environments, we’ve seen the phrase, ‘Obviously we support DEIs’, on the rise. While everyone ‘supports’, and ‘agreed’, with DEI standards and benchmarks, very little actually value them. Half of workers said that there were extreme concerns and support for disabled people, in the workplace, and opening provisions for them. And while that is one aspect of the three letters-we must remember to take D, E, and I, conjointly, for a more integrated and prosperous workplace culture.

The GDEIB has also constructed an array of arguments. These were centric on connecting the dots during research practices.

The Thomas-Ely framework lays out the basis for DEI and workplace culture. Since our conversation has more recently been a part of workplace culture, we’re looking at researchers taking a stand on their own environments, and raising a voice for others, by displaying novel research to devise strategies for communicating expertise on the importance and focus of DEIs, in our times.

In the framework, the authors identify gender, ethnicity, disability and age to determine women’s involvement in the workplace. Women’s active and diverse involvement in the workplace is essential for fostering innovation, and diversity and driving economic growth.

In the future, we must look towards embodying our concerns on a national level-specifically in Pakistan. In this era of data and analytics, companies must use data-driven techniques to work out the best way to identify progress and corporate outcomes they’ve achieved, through DEI practices. Turnover rates, promotion rates and 360-degree feedback are just some of the many ways that can use real-time data to create entirely new software information.

Leadership roles must also be clearly defined. Inclusive leaders must decide upon their own practices in workplaces so that when there are rotations, others in the organization take charge of similar issues.

Now, for the most part, we’ve seen diversity be an important discussion, here in Pakistan, but to what extent is it really being valued, over a simple judgement? Let’s find out.

Research across Pakistan is starting to show the extent of this novel organizational engagement approach, whether it’s the team at Jazz working for a livelier approach to cement pink-collar rights or in the hospitality sector, where our research has shown its best practices guide the way for financial equity and inclusion.

Now, recently, something more interesting happened, where the corporate sector in Pakistan and Academia, aligned to form a toolkit, known as the ‘Gender DEI Toolkit I and II’. The toolkit not only displayed what implementation strategies, plans, projects, and initiatives would help access management essentials for managers, and business leaders. It also displayed some of the different challenges faced by companies when determining and identifying practitioner outcomes, for them to design future operations.

We must, in the future, look towards making our organizations and workplace culture a more inclusive environment for all individuals, escape the vicious cycle of stereotypes in society and take note of a more complex note on reality.

The writer is a columnist and a linguistic activist.