Do Your DE&I Efforts Consider Age, Class, and Lived Experience?

We are in the midst of a seismic shift when it comes to how companies address diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is, in part, due to the recognition that the strategies organizations have traditionally used to create more space at the table for historically excluded groups haven’t worked for some time. Getting this right has huge upsides, for employees, society, and the economy alike: According to McKinsey, narrowing the gender gap by 2025 would generate an additional $12 trillion in GDP and increasing financial inclusion for Black Americans would create approximately $2 billion in potential revenue.

But in addition to focusing on gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, leaders need to include a wider range of people their organizations have been ignoring, consciously or subconsciously. By broadening their definition of diversity, leaders can better identify, engage, and integrate individuals into their organizations. And according to a recent initiative I led as the Executive Director at Rutgers Institute for Corporate Social Innovation (RICSI), tomorrow’s employees will increasingly value this approach, too.

At RICSI, we focus on the role of business in society, and specifically educating students to embrace and champion a business world that “practices what it preaches” when it comes to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our belief is that corporations have a better chance at achieving positive social impact when they hire leaders who believe in a marriage between profit and purpose — and that these leaders should have a breadth and depth of diverse experiences.

Our work is anchored in a commitment to equity and justice, as Rutgers is one of the country’s most diverse public universities. According to our most recent data, of the 7,975 undergraduate students on the Rutgers Newark campus (where RICSI is located), 28.9% identify as Hispanic, 18.4% as Black/African American, and 17.8% as Asian. The school has been ranked one of the nation’s most diverse campuses since 1997 and a top-three school for most first-generation college students in the U.S. These race and ethnicity statistics continuously make us one of the top three most diverse research institutions in the country.

Through our partnerships — both with students and companies that work with RICSI — we demonstrate how organizations might broaden their view of diversity. For example, in 2020, we surveyed 120 students who are part of our student advisory board following the murder of George Floyd. Through written responses and ongoing conversations, we discussed their thoughts as young, diverse leaders on how DEI efforts are packaged today in organizations.

Feedback ranged from encouraging leaders to hire Black executives for more C-suite roles — beyond a “Chief Diversity Officer” — to combining outreach into communities that are regularly ignored with implementing blind hiring processes. According to one of our students, “While companies are currently working on hiring more people of color as a whole, they are treated as a ‘check in the box.’”

For all they had to say on racial equity, however, their comments made it clear that a focus on traditional markers of diversity are not enough. Similar to developmental psychologist Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, our students expressed a need to expand the notion of diversity to include a number of additional factors — such as age, socioeconomic status, and lived experience.

We’ve used our own work at RICSI to pressure test how shifting the definition of diversity can bridge the gaps a traditional definition of diversity leaves behind. And we’ve seen success in looking at how our student body spans many diverse identifiers and how our hyperlocal solutions can help ensure they’re not left behind. For instance, we prioritize meet-and-greets between our students and business leaders because it ensures that students who may not have the ability to regularly network because of familial commitments or work responsibilities still have the same opportunities as their peers.

Solutions like these can be woven into ERG and HR tactics. Specifically, here are three areas of diversity that can serve as launching pads for new ways to hire and retain workers.

Age

Age discrimination isn’t new and there are many pieces of research that outline how prevalent it really is. An AARP survey found that 1 in 4 workers age 45 and over have been signaled out negatively for their age by managers or supervisors. On the other side of the spectrum, young employees may also feel left out of leadership roles or opportunities as a result of their age. Our students range from 18-61 years old, and many reported feeling excluded in some way.

Solutions start with acknowledging that older and younger students or employees have unique mountains to climb. Next steps can come from open conversations on how age discrimination impacts each group. For the younger demographic, one of the comments that struck a chord was a student describing the need for a better pipeline between students and the roles that are open to them. They observed that “the most well-connected workers and employees are more likely to end up attaining superior jobs” and that “internal mobility will help employee morale and increase advocacy for marginalized groups.” Indeed, studies have found that implementing an internal mobility program at a company helps build trust among employees, showing that the company, and its leadership, are invested in their growth and the skillset they already bring. Additionally, another student suggested a mentorship program that offers potential for growth into partner companies.

The common thread we saw across the board is a need to create systems where people on either end of the age spectrum have a clearer connection point to the decision-makers, each other, and the conversations around age at work. Some organizations are already onboard with this. The World Economic Forum, for instance, helps implement this working relationship through their Global Shapers Community, which connects young people with world leaders at Davos. At Coca-Cola, “reverse mentorship” programs allow those who may have historically felt too junior the opportunity to honestly express an idea or a concern without as much fear of retribution.

This points to the real value of diversity efforts: to help your organization dismantle past ways of doing things so that, in those gaps, new ideas and unique perspectives to arise. Today’s young people bring a unique perspective to these endeavors in particular, having grown up as digital natives and taking globalization for granted.

Organizations would do well to focus on age inclusion across the board:

• Find opportunities for younger workers to connect with senior executives on a level playing field. At RICSI, we connect our students to corporate leaders through small group interactions, for example, the kind normally reserved for “high-potential” middle managers.
• Develop a culture where innovation can thrive at all levels of the organization, not just from the top, and ensure there are multi-generational cohorts working on new products, services, and ideas
• Provide opportunities to experiment with new ideas or ways of working. For example, during Covid, many organizations started relying on employees at both ends of the age spectrum to support each other throughout the transition to remote working. Younger employees were often tasked with helping those on the opposite end of the spectrum embrace new technologies. And, as entry-level employees began to onboard virtually, organizations relied on tenured individuals to support these young employees’ transition into the workforce.

Socioeconomic Status

Our students at RICSI often speak out about how they feel excluded from opportunities as a result of their own socioeconomic status. Many of our students work and go to school, support their parents or other dependents, or are the main breadwinners for their families. Their dedication to making the business world a better place is unquestionable, as is their lack of time to take on internships that won’t pay or roles that disregard their current needs in addition to their future aspirations.

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