In the wake of the murder of George Floyd and one of the most divisive elections in American history, we are offering up some of our best practices for developing a diversity training that will help your workforce feel valued and safe in the workplace:
1. Listen
Diversity training is a great way to facilitate communication in your workforce, but only if you leave space for individual voices to be heard. Make sure your training includes an opportunity for your employees to speak on issues that impact their everyday lives.
2. Don’t forget about local law
With so many federal laws governing discrimination in the workplace, it’s easy to forget state law standards. However, some states have additional laws that may apply more broadly-for example, in Illinois we have the Human Rights Act that applies to all employers-no matter their size. And beyond that, there may be even more laws that apply to your business on a county, or even city-wide basis.
3. ALWAYS have a policy for reporting discrimination and harassment
One of the most important steps a company can take for avoiding liability, and for ensuring a safe environment for employees, is having a written policy for reporting, investigating, documenting, and disciplining harassment in any form. It is important for these policies to be written, to be regularly reviewed with employees, and to offer multiple ways to report.
We are here to help. If you have questions contact us for a free, 30-minute consultation with an employment lawyer.
