How to be an ally in the workplace

To be an ally in the workplace, participate in allyship training and other forms of DEI training. Allyship training's focus is to enable those in positions of privilege or power to support or amplify the concerns or needs of an employee or group of employees that come from a minority group or historically marginalized community.

Like its name suggests, it helps individuals in powerful roles become allies to those in need in the workplace.

DEI training, or Diversity Equity Inclusion training, is a method organizations use to help their work environments become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive for all employees, but especially for those that come from minority groups or marginalized communities. Getting training in this area, and practicing its methods, is a solid way to be an ally in your workplace.

Here is a closer look at each element of DEI training:

• Diversity

Diversity refers to the presence of differences in a specific workgroup or staff. These differences may include, but are not limited to:

• Race

• Gender

• Color

• Religion

• Sex

• Socioeconomic status

• Language

• Physical or mental abilities

• Sexual orientation

• Gender identity

• Nationality

• Disability

Diversity can also apply to personal preferences, such as political affiliations, communication preferences, or learning preferences.

• Equity

Equity focuses on the promotion of social and legal justice for specific groups. It also includes the aim of fairness, impartiality, and equal opportunities for specific groups of employees concerning matters such as professional advancement, and participation. Equity seeks to mend structural inequalities through the use of specific:

• Procedures

• Practices

• Processes

• Distribution of resources

The bottom line of equity is that it addresses issues of social and institutional inequality.

• Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the process of making any employee feel welcome in a workplace, regardless of their race, gender, religion, disability, or other identifying feature. The inclusion of diverse backgrounds and elements of employees in a workplace fosters a strong and highly versatile staff.

DEI training is becoming increasingly common at large and small companies, businesses, and other organizations and institutions.

• Unconscious bias training

This is meant to help employees understand their implicit and unconscious biases towards certain groups of people. It focuses on developing actions and behavioral shifts to address and ideally mitigate or completely remove those implicit preconceptions.

• Bystander communication training

This form of DEI training instructs employees on how to speak up when they witness another employee being discriminated against or if they see that the coworker is being harassed in any way.

• Specific training on hiring practices

This type of training involves human resource departments, hiring managers, recruiters, and any other employees that take part in an organization's hiring process. The primary goal is to educate these professionals on how their implicit or inherent biases might adversely affect how they interact with specific groups of people during the hiring process.