How can I make my HR practice more equitable?
Dear HR Friend,
Help! I’m a new HR manager in a department-of-one. I’ve only done admin jobs before, so this is a big step for me. My new job is with a small nonprofit that does job placement for people with disabilities. I know that they have not done much work on racial equity before, and I want to do my part to help them move forward. But I’ve only been to a few workshops myself, and none of those were really meant for HR people. They were very general. Can you help me know where to get started in this new job?
- HR Newbie
Hey Newbie! You’ve already taken an important first step: you noticed the problem! Racial equity work in organizations—especially the beginning of that journey—is so hard, but here’s the thing: if you work in HR, you can’t NOT do it. We are uniquely positioned to have a deep impact on our organizations and our people, and using HR as a tool for justice is too big an opportunity to waste.
This is the thing I hear most from newer HR practitioners (and experienced pros who are newer to this equity-focused HR work): “I get that it’s important, but I don’t know what to do!” That’s real, that’s hard, and you know you have to do something. Of course, you’ll need to spend a lot of time learning and listening to keep driving toward that organizational transformation we all want to see, but here are a few things you can start (or stop) doing TODAY that will actually begin to move the needle.
Audit your documents for exclusionary language. Look at everything you have in writing—handbook policies, job descriptions, physical signage—and make note of every spot where the language or the substance might exclude people. For example, change all your old instances of “his and/or her” to “their”— "they” is the most commonly used gender-neutral pronoun and a simple way to avoid leaving out non-binary employees or visitors. Review your job descriptions for old-school requirements that aren’t real (like a college degree for a general customer service position).
Review your physical space. Are your spaces (and the things in them) truly accessible? Are your aisles wide enough? Are your chairs comfortable for people of all body sizes? Does your signage use gendered or ableist language? Grab your facilities friends and fix it.
Post the salary. Seriously, y’all. If you don’t post the salary, you don’t care enough about equity.
Add some version of this statement to your job postings: The principles of equity and justice, including racial equity, gender equity, and accessibility, are foundational to our success as an organization. We strongly encourage applications from communities that are underrepresented in our field to apply. We are actively co-creating a workplace that reflects the communities we serve and welcome applications from women, people of color, Black and Indigenous people, people from LGBTQ2SIA+ communities, and people with disabilities.
Follow these leaders and orgs, and never stop learning:
Readers, any other advice for HR Newbie? Comment below!
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