What Happens When Diversity Goes Out Of Fashion?

Currently in work forces Diversity and Inclusion seems ‘fashionable’. The thing to do. Popular. But what happens when diversity goes out of fashion?

Diversity- A Current Topic

Diversity being a ‘current’ topic is great for disabled and chronically ill individuals, as well as BAME (Black and Asian minority ethnicity) and LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) individuals. I can’t speak for the other groups, but I know that within the disabled/ chronically ill community, many people have struggled to get jobs, and I wonder if these changing times will make a difference?

Job Opportunities as a Result of Diversity, Inclusion and the Pandemic

Is diversity being ‘current’, providing more job opportunities to disabled people? Is this amplified by the fact that companies can now see working from home is not impossible?

The results will not be straight forward to see, it is complicated by Covid and huge numbers of job cuts and redundancies, resulting from the pandemic. As a result the job opportunities may not be there, and the ones that are available, will have such a high number of candidates applying.

An Increased Talent Pool

I hope that diversity and inclusion being ‘fashionable’ will open the eyes of companies, of the talent they are missing out on. One in five of us has a disability. This means that essentially companies could increase their applicants by 20% for every job role. Meaning the talent pool they have to choose from, is much wider and larger.

Tick Boxes and Opportunities for Companies

I hope that it will not be seen as a tick box exercise. We can be valuable, hard working individuals, just like the non-disabled population. Although, I can guarantee that we have had to work a lot harder, and overcome a lot more obstacles to get there. We constantly have to adapt and find alternative ways or solutions, a skill I believe is useful in problem solving in the workplace.

Furthermore, we can help YOU, depending on your company, you could potentially reach out to 20% of the market you could be missing out on. Do you represent the community?

Will Exposure Result In Diversity and Inclusion Being Here to Stay?

It worries me what will happen when diversity is not the ‘thing to do’. Will all these disabled people find themselves back in square one struggling to find work?

My hope is that by the time diversity has ‘gone out of fashion’, companies will have been more diverse and representive of the communities they serve for some time, that they have realised the benefits. That a tick box is not required. That companies realise the valuable contributions people from different backgrounds bring.

Just give us a chance.

What can you do in your company to be inclusive to all? Check out Purple Tuesday’s ideas and make a commitment to improvements.

Let me know your thoughts on the situation. Is diversity and inclusion here to stay?

Hannah x

You may be interested in reading: Sterotypes and The Assumptions They Make.