With the rapid growth of globalization, many companies have started to conduct business with two topics in mind: diversity and inclusion (D&I). Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of organizations made strides in understand the importance and positive effects that D&I can bring to leaders and the business environment, although there was still major progress to be made in achieving true equality. However, in 2020 and 2021, D&I was removed as the focal point, as organizations and corporations faced the enormous challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the lasting effects it has had around the world.
As COVID-19 began its steady march across the globe in early 2020, everyone began to face challenges that many could have never imagined or predicted. The pandemic has affected everyone’s lives, including corporations. As an increase in time and effort was spent to ensure everyone’s safety and health from the coronavirus, the pandemic dominated the headlines. The world, including businesses, seemed to halt and started to revolve around COVID-19. As it related to D&I, one could see a decrease in time, effort, and money that was put forth for these efforts because the focus was on COVID-19. Due to COVID-19, many corporations had to cut back on funding for D&I practices in 2020 due to higher costs or depleting reserves caused by lockdown and safety measures.
Due to social distancing and safety measures, D&I practices during the pandemic have had to be implemented through platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and other video conferencing technology. There are many functions in video conferencing technology that allows for D&I practices to be implemented in small ways, such as closed captioning for hearing impaired or nonnative speakers. There are also services that translate meetings into different languages after they occur. Being able to use polling to start with an icebreaker or having a spotlight on a guest speaker also allows for everyone’s voice to be heard and includes new perspectives. These small practices are important, as they help to ensure that inclusive and diverse practices are being implemented in a virtual environment, allowing everyone a chance to develop skills and be heard.
There are also many ways leaders, in particular, can help to implement inclusive and diverse practices into the workplace and during meetings in a virtual environment. Leaders are able to use the breakout room function to their advantage while in a meeting, as they can facilitate collaboration among coworkers and learn more about each individual. They can take the time to join each breakout room, which will allow them the opportunity to speak individually and check in with their employees. These interactions are important, especially during social distancing, as managers can alleviate feelings of isolation, learn more about their employees’ skills, and listen to a diverse range of opinions. After recognizing these differences and skills, they will be able to leverage these skills to ensure that each employee feels valued and has an opportunity to enhance their skills, a hallmark of D&I practices.
With small D&I practices implemented into corporations during the coronavirus through virtual conferencing platforms, there are many corporations still not implementing these small practices. In 2021, only 55 percent of workers agreed that their organizations had policies promoting diversity and inclusion. This is significant, as it indicates D&I implementation is lacking during the pandemic, and organizations need to take action to improve.
At the beginning of 2022, we now are seeing the rollout of vaccines across the globe, although this distribution remains largely concentrated in developed nations. As countries see a rise in vaccinations, we hope to see the coronavirus’ influence lessen. However, the pandemic will have lasting effects, such as the ability to work from home and use virtual conferencing platforms. This raises the question of what D&I will look like going forward.
Although we are unable to predict the future, we can predict that video conferencing platforms and working from home trends will continue post COVID-19 due to the flexibility and convenience that they facilitate. As many continue to use Zoom for business, D&I practices implemented into corporations after COVID-19 can possibly lead to major progress, if implemented and leveraged correctly. Damien Hooper-Campbell, Zoom’s Chief Diversity Officer, has emphasized this idea. When talking about remote work, he noted, “It opens up a broader pool of talent that you can hire…If you have us in gallery view [on Zoom] right now, what you notice is that every single one of our boxes is the same size…We’re all equalized in this case.” Video conferencing platforms give corporations the opportunity to have a wider range of outlets for their D&I practices; thus, they will not be limited to completely virtual or completely in-person outlets.
Also, there are many ways leaders can help to implement D&I practices in the workplace and during meetings post-coronavirus. Due to the fact that employees will be in a variety of different environments, such as at home, in the office, traveling, etc., leaders will need to ensure communication and understanding with all. One way to do this is via surveys that evaluate employee sentiment and any challenges they may face. These surveys can be given to all employees, regardless of location, which will help to promote communication with all of them.
Another way that leaders can promote D&I is through a simple email. A poignant example is when a leader of a state agency emailed her organization after rising public focus on racial injustice and violence, wanting to know how her employees were doing and inviting their feedback. The email led to relevant discussion and reflection among employees and leaders on the current challenges and possible opportunities related to the topic of race. Thus, leaders can implement inclusive and diverse practices in the workplace and during meetings post-coronavirus by using technology to send emails and surveys to ensure everyone is staying connected despite being in different locations.
Ultimately, the effects of COVID-19 will continue to impact the world for years to come and has pushed the world to use technology to comply with social distancing. COVID-19 and our use of technology during the pandemic will now force everyone to adapt to life in multiple locations. Life will be in-person and virtual for both businesses and individuals. Being able to have multiple locations through to the use of technology will be beneficial to businesses implementing D&I practices because it will provide them with a variety of ways in which they can implement these practices. Businesses will not be limited to in-person implementation; rather, new technologies will expand the avenues in which they can implement new D&I practices.