Evelina Silveira, President, Diversity At Work
So you have taken a look at your budget and your boss says there is no money for diversity and inclusion activities this year. What do you do? You started something great where you work and now – BANG! You fear that you could lose the momentum you started.
There is no reason to let your budget constraints keep you from creating an inclusive workplace. Here are a couple of easy low-cost and no cost actions you can take that do make a difference:
Make use of your existing resources.
Do you have a company newsletter, intranet or know how to put a podcast together? Capitalize on these avenues for delivering diversity information and education as well as use them as a forum for recognizing your diversity champions. The intranet can be a great place to pose diversity related problems and ask employees for feedback. Consider posting recent articles and eZines like the Inclusion Quarterly or links to websites like Diversity!in the workplace. It’s cheap and you can keep employees up to date in a simple and efficient way. Make use of these vehicles for communication.
Learn a foreign language for free.
Don’t let time or money get in the way of learning a new language. Do a quick internet search, and you will find that indeed you can learn a language for free. Or if you prefer, some public libraries subscribe to language courses for their patrons and this means you can access them at no cost. I know that my local library has access to Mango Languages. Check it out. No excuses!
Make your print materials easier to read.
Just by increasing the size and simplifying the font you use can make a big difference in how people with low vision can read your material. Remembering to keep backgrounds light or white and use black font for best results. This is simple and low-cost and makes a huge difference.
Save costs on advertising and pre-screening candidates.
Have you checked out the non-profit agencies that help people with barriers to gain employment?
By circulating your ads to non-profit agencies, you stand a better chance of meeting your employment equity requirements by widening the pool of applicants. You can save on advertising costs by giving the organization some criteria for pre-screening candidates. This should save you time and ultimately money.
There are so many more ways to make diversity and inclusion a reality without breaking the bank.
For more ideas check out our eBook, Diversity and Inclusion on a Budget at http://yourdiversityatwork.com/ebook/.
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