Ungender’s Guide To Understanding Diversity And Inclusion At The Workplace

Written by: Rajkanya Mahapatra

Editor’s Note: This beginner’s guide on ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ puts together all of Ungender’s good work from 2020 on the subject in one list. It is meant to serve as an easy-to-access guide to understand D&I as concepts and also what they mean in the Indian context, insights from several companies on how they came to draft and implement their D&I policies, how you can measure it, and more. 

Read it as a refresher, save it as your go-to list of resources on Diversity and Inclusion In India or write to the Ungender Insights editor at rajkanya@ungender.in on what more you’d like to read on the subject. 

Understanding Diversity And Inclusion

1) Are Companies Confusing Diversity With Inclusion?

In the last couple of years, ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ as a phrase and as a conversation has picked up currency in India’s corporate circles. It’s important to understand what to make of diversity and inclusion – both as concepts and how they’re likely to manifest at the workplace.

Read this piece to understand the growing business case for D&I at the workplace, and if you’re an HR professional, employer or thought leader, bookmark this for easy access, I guarantee you’ll need to come back to this for reference.

Read the article, here. 

2) 12 Books On Diversity And Inclusion For Indian Managers At Work

As an HR leader, if you’re trying to think of ways to get your D&I policies right, like everything else, books are a good place to start. It’s important to approach D&I policies with empathy and awareness to get them right. Find 12 books on this list that will help you build more perspective on the lived experiences of your current and incoming workforce. On this list, find books by Nivedita Menon, Kavita Krishnan, Al Etmanski, Omprakash Valmiki, A Revathi, and more.

Read the article, here. 

3) 10 Podcasts Indian Bosses Should Be Listening To

If you think it will be a while before you can pick one of the 12 books mentioned on the above list, start small and listen to a podcast instead. You can listen to a podcast when you’re cooking, stuck in traffic or just sitting in a peaceful space trying to tune in to something useful. Allow these 10 podcasts to bring you fresh perspectives from people of diverse backgrounds. On the list are podcasts from BBC India, Women In Labour, Kalki Koechlin, and more.  

Read the article, here. 

4) Explained: Why India Needs Paternity Leaves

India’s ace cricketer Virat Kohli set off a long pending conversation on paternity leaves when it was made known to the world through news reports that his request for paternity leave was approved by the BCCI.

The arguments that ensued after the news broke out reflected India’s patriarchal and sexist attitude to caregiving and went as far as to question Virat Kohli’s patriotism as he ‘gave up’ his duty to the nation. Far from that noise, this article by Ungender writer, Avanti Deshpande, discusses the need for paternity leaves, describes how far the legal conversation on paternity leaves in India has progressed, and more. 

Read the article, here. 

How To Become More Sensitive And Aware At Work

5) How Not To Offend Your Colleagues At Work

There are many reasons why we should consider revisiting our first reactions to jokes or careless statements made in front of our colleagues because a lot of the times it’s our conditioning that speaks for/before us.

The societies we grow up in condition us to think and perceive the world a certain way – think of gender identities, roles, different communities differently based on our social location. It’s important to be aware and sensitive when you work with others and this piece helps you with just that. It shares pointers you can use to introspect your actions at work and become a better coworker.

Read the article, here. 

6) 3 Ways To Respond To Sexist Jokes At Work

Workplaces can often be patriarchal and that can manifest in how men in the workforce think, what the leadership says, if women feel psychologically and physically safe at work, and more. One of the insidious ways in which systemic patriarchy is made known to women at the workplace are sexist jokes.

How do you communicate to someone and tell them that the joke was sexist? How do you react? Do you laugh and let the moment pass by? Allow this article to share three very simple ways in which you can communicate with your coworker when they crack a sexist joke.

Read the article, here.

How To Implement D&I Online

7) The Menace Of Manels

As the world went into lockdown because of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, work moved from the office to home. The lockdown saw a spike in online discussions and Ungender noticed, a lot of these discussions only had all-male panels, even on topics that were about women!

This piece tells you what’s wrong with all male panels and how they serve as brutal reminders of who occupies the most space, has the most agency and enjoys the most amount of legitimacy and visibility in the Indian workforce. Read this piece not just for the arguments but also for the painstakingly curated data that will give you an idea about the menace of manels.

Read the article, here. 

8) Ungender Shares 8 Steps To Organise Diverse And Inclusive Online Discussions

A quick guide by Ungender founder Pallavi Pareek on how to finalise on a speaker set for your online panels and conferences in an inclusive way. Right from appointing a diverse team to curate the speaker set to preparing a checklist to ensure that you have the right speaker for your topic and that your final speaker set will bring to the discussion diverse perspectives.

Read the article, here. 

9) 3 Ways To Make Your Webinar More Inclusive

This article is a detailed guide, one that encourages you to adopt an inclusive approach to organising any event. It focuses on how you can choose the right topic, identify the right stakeholders for the chosen topic and how to ensure you have the right people to talk about it. The article is full of examples and that should help you visualise how to put the said pointers into action.

Read the article, here. 

What Companies Have Done To Implement D&I

10) Lessons To Learn From IKEA’s D&I Policies

After establishing the basics of D&I, discussing how the lack of it shows up as incidents of discrimination and exclusion, we’re going to reorient our focus on companies who are doing something to fix systemic issues.

In this article find insights from IKEA management in India in how they’re working to ensure their workforce is gender-equal . Also, understand what steps you can take as an HR professional to facilitate diversity and inclusion at the workplace.

Read the article, here.

11) How To Implement D&I At The Workplace

This article will ask you to not discriminate, tell you what it means to scale inclusion and what changes you’ll need to make in your hiring procedures to ensure you have the right D&I priorities. Find what the hotel chain Lemon Tree Hotels, aviation company JetSetGo and feminist publishers Zubaan Books do to implement their D&I policies.

Read the article, here. 

What Companies Can Do To Become More Inclusive

12) 6 Ways To Measure Diversity At The Workplace

Drafting and implementing a D&I policy is just the first step to building a workforce that is more productive and feels psychologically and physically safe at work. As the team or manager in-charge of the execution of the D&I policy, how do you begin to measure it? How do you gauge the effectiveness of the D&I policy? In this article by Team Ungender, find six ways you can begin to measure diversity at the workplace. 

Read the article, here. 

13) 6 Steps Indian Bosses Must Take To Ensure All Employees Feel Equally Valued

This article speaks directly to senior management and leadership of the company. Why? Because D&I policies are the most effective when it enjoys the company leadership’s approval and active involvement. This article will act both as a refresher and as a checklist to ensure your intention is aligned and reflects well in your D&I policy.

Read the article, here. 

Ungender Insights is the product of our learning from advisory work at Ungender. Our team specializes in advising workplaces on workplace diversity and inclusion. Write to us at contact@ungender.in to understand how we can partner with your organization to build a more inclusive workplace.