People Operations

CHAPTER 16Creating a Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Workplace

Is this issue of diversity and inclusion in the workplace just a buzzphrase that's going to peter out in a few months or years? We don't think so.

A massive number of Millennials and Gen Zers are entering the working world. Generation Z alone, defined as people born between 1996 and the newly emerging Generation Alpha, represents 61 million people, a group that's bigger than Generation X and two‐thirds the size of the Baby Boomers. These individuals come from a world vastly different to that of their parents. They've never known the world without internet or smartphones, and they have immediate access to content made from anywhere. This gives them a vastness of perspective, thoughts, and worldly opinions unobtainable by previous generations. They're ready to work hard and be loyal, but they have some new expectations about how the world of work should work. Namely, they expect positive day‐to‐day work experience that interacts fluidly with their nonwork lives and demand social equity and inclusion for ideas and people. In fact, according to Handshake's 2019 survey of 14 million college students and alumni from more than 800 universities across the United States, two thirds of students and recent grads said they'd only work for an employer that's built “an inclusive company culture” and provides “a sense of belonging to employees from all backgrounds” (Handshake 2019).

Gen Z has shifted the focus on social causes, ...