Diversity and inclusion remain a top priority for businesses today. Forecasting the shift towards all-inclusive workplace culture, many emerging technologies and powerful HR tools have surfaced. Hive Life explores prominent tech-enabled solutions that will cultivate a hospitable, diverse, and inclusive space within an organisation.
Global social justice movements, the ongoing pandemic, and recent economic turmoil have ignited a call to action in our society, pushing for holistic living, community wellbeing, and a healthy work environment, to work towards an inclusive and sustainable future.
As people gain more awareness, and in retrospect of growing societal adoption of ethicality and morals in their everyday lives, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at the workplace have become imperative for corporates to progress and thrive in the modern age.
Employing a diverse and inclusive (D&I) workforce enforces positive corporate culture and demonstrates acceptance of different values and beliefs. To harness a company’s competitive edge, one needs to truly stand out with leadership and innovation, alongside a capability to retain talent in the long run. Thanks to progressive emerging diversity and inclusion technology and an increasing amount of HR tools dedicated to optimising workplace culture and hiring practices, companies can better capture insights and uncover strategic and efficient ways to enact change.
While the D&I tech landscape remains relatively new for many corporations in Asia, incorporating such measures is proven to assist organisations in strengthening workplace culture, boosting employee productivity, and improving retention. Read on for the technology solutions that are facilitating diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
1. Talent Acquisition Technology
Talent acquisition is an essential component within an organisation which directly converts into a company’s valuation, scalability, and future success rates. Without the right people for the job, businesses are most likely to face hardships, along with lower productivity and retention rates over time. Talent acquisition technologies not only ensure a diverse workforce but also help tick many boxes in building an inclusive workforce that correlates to profitability with real-time value creation.
Shirley Tan, the Vice President, Human Resources in Asia at Aecom commented, “Women in Asia represent over 40 percent of employees at AECOM, representing a significant amount of contribution to the success of our business”.
Leading innovation in this field with its cutting-edge technology, Hatch powered by Ambition, is an international diversity recruitment solution for emerging startup networks with hubs around Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Adopting their platform enables a startup to meet all-inclusive needs and help them effectively scale their business model.
With up to 43% of current D&I technologies dedicated to acquiring talent, corporates can source and select from a more diverse pool of candidates sharing a similar vision, drive, and set of values.
2. D&I Analytics and Metrics
Companies investing in D&I technologies often strive to gain actionable insights by gauging their progress and reform capabilities, measured through data analytics and diversity metric tools. However, data is often lost in translation, the priority of incorporating these analytics tools being to accurately identify and improve current D&I efforts. Prioritising this, alongside quantifiable key targets, will allow organisations to adopt an ideal solution personalised to their needs.
Through the traceable and measurable data D&I analytics offers, regular monitoring effectively reduces money and time costs and saves supplementary company manpower and resources over time. These integrative analytics platforms use analytics to develop user-friendly dashboards for organisations to attain practical insights through the key performance indicators (KPIs) generated. They assist managers with tracking and visualising the impact of their diversity trends and leadership framework, providing solutions to identified problem areas accordingly.
Australian HR SaaS platform, intelliHR developed a progressive cloud-based people management and data analytics solution for corporates to adopt inclusive work culture and enable employee performance with measurable insights and perceptibility. Designed to align with diverse business cultures and strategies, it allows companies to create happier workplaces by being inclusive, engaging and encouraging through strategic data-driven analytics.
3. Employee Engagement and Retention
A company’s ability to engage and retain employees effectively speaks volumes about its corporate culture, and could potentially cut down on productivity costs significantly. While it is a given that a happy workforce is more likely to achieve and drive a company’s success, measuring workforce contentment and security at a company can be a challenge.
Well-tailored D&I tech programmes can offer a multitude of functions, from forecasting to understanding employee needs and fulfilment factors. These platforms utilise surveys and chatbots to analyse employees’ sentiments and biases in their day-to-day communication, placing emphasis on important topics such as diversity and inclusion.
According to a report by RedThread Research and Mercer on diversity & inclusion technology, the results produced to act as a pedestal for management to address discrepancies in communication approaches, and eventually facilitate self-awareness to build a more inclusive workplace.
One such HR platform is Singapore-based EngageRocket, whose data derivative allows companies to use real-time employee feedback and analytics to attain measurable insights that assist them with enhancing employee engagement and experience.
Engagement and retention D&I tech solutions are directed towards learning and stimulating the employee experience, corporate communication, and representation. This helps build and scale high-retention workplaces with more inclusive and deeper relationships within the organisation, for elevated engagement and productivity levels.
4. Virtual D&I Training and Development
Virtual D&I technologies have become increasingly popular tools to navigate and facilitate workforce development. With the ever-changing work environments of a post-pandemic new normal, retaining new talents has become a challenge, along with opportunities to mentor those advancing in their careers. The concept of a virtual workplace builds a seamless means of communication and collaboration, allowing employees and organisations to foster a sense of inclusivity, by accommodating individual comfort and needs.
19% of D&I tools emphasise employee development, mentorship, and career advancement; technology-enabled solutions are a promising approach to promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Furthermore, virtual reality is an effective learning and training tool, in regards to its ability to streamline communication, acting as a moderator for management to better comprehend and engage with the diverse range of experiences and situations employees face, creating a safe and embracing workspace for all.
5. Employee Recognition and Rewards Platforms
Employee recognition is immensely important for companies to build transformative and rewarding work cultures that allow employees to feel accepted and well-accomplished. As workforces are integral to driving a company’s success and expenditure, creating an attractive workplace alone does not enable internal harmony and open communication.
Businesses need to take a step further, and with the aid of D&I technologies, management can better recognise and value the efforts, work, and accomplishments of their labour force. Building a solid reward system and offering other incentives that celebrate and encourage inclusivity and engagement will help to foster a prosperous work environment.
Established in Singapore, Praisepal is the number one employee recognition and reward tool for corporates in Asia, is a cloud-based platform adopting a point-based reward system to maximise employee experience and productivity.
The platform has previously worked with Asian tech-enabled coffee provider, Flash Coffee, as well as Grab, the leading superapp in Southeast Asia, by engineering solutions for the company’s remote teams to celebrate wins and diversity, promising real-time results in improving overall employee productivity, engagement, and consequently, talent retention.
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