New Methods for Promoting Diversity and Equality in the Middle East

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Arab Emirates reports that age and racial discrimination are also problems for UAE businesses. As such, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) policies in the region should prioritise addressing the age, gender, and ethnicity of their workforce. According to Kearney, a prominent global management consulting company, businesses in the Middle East with a diverse set of leaders saw a significant increase in revenues from innovation.

The incoming millennial and Next Gen workforces, who will be the driving force behind the organization's future success, are also highly concerned with diversity and inclusion, and they prefer to work for businesses that are actively fostering these values.

Combating DE&I issues related to age, gender, and ethnicity of employees is crucial. So, tell me, how would I begin doing DE&I in this area? What effective methods of DE&I could I carry with me to this area? And how might these customs be adapted to work better in this area?

Proven DE&I Practices

Change in the MENA area can only be prompted by tried and true methods. The world's top companies have faced DE&I challenges, and their experiences have yielded methods that can aid other businesses.

Included in these collective initiatives is "engaging, supporting, and educating leaders on how to use the DEI agenda to create change."

Professor of sociology at Harvard University David Pedulla says more instruction is required. Change needs to come from the top down, so include administrators early on. Leaders need to be very clear on why implementing the selected DE&I plan is a catalyst for change. Authorities should take care to avoid giving the impression that they are merely performing the role of an ally. That's why they need accurate information about effective DE&I methods.

Adopting the region's robust cultural framework

Variety boosts productivity and revenue. As a result, the Middle East region's cultural diversity should be utilised to its fullest potential so that companies can continue to thrive in a market where foreigners make up a sizable portion of the population.

Human resources professionals have talked about how excited they are to take advantage of the region's rich diversity of faiths, languages, and cultures.

If we don't encourage open communication between people of various cultural backgrounds, our local economy will stagnate because everyone will always see eye to eye.

Leadership Potential in Ladies

More and more regional businesses are realising that female executives can boost productivity. Many of our present leaders felt that women are making progress despite still being vastly underrepresented in C-suites and corporate boards across the states in our area.

There appears to be a rising interest in gender variety among regional businesses. But we still need to pay even closer attention to the changing social attitudes towards women in leadership roles in the area. There has been significant progress in Saudi Arabia, according to the HR expert of a major technology company, because male employees have been trained on how to engage more effectively with female peers.

Increasing Popularity of Non-Conventional Nominees

It was discussed how important it is for a company's diversity strategy to look for candidates who don't have the typical qualifications. This is especially important because of the severe lack of technological and digital pioneers in the area. The traditional four-year technology degree is becoming unnecessary for entry into a growing number of today's IT positions.

High school grads who take advantage of accelerated technical training programmes, online courses, coding boot camps, and community college programmes can acquire the knowledge and abilities necessary to succeed in a wide variety of entry- and mid-level IT jobs, according to the head of a major pharmaceutical organisation.

Tackling Compensation Disparity

Foreigners to the Middle East have expressed unease over the apparent wage gap between nationalities. Some businesses have taken proactive measures to address this issue by publishing pay rates for all job classifications on the company website for all employees to see. This aids in making sure that individuals are compensated solely on the basis of their abilities and merit, regardless of their cultural background.

Permanent Employment

The significance of welcoming both younger and older team members in the region was emphasised by one compensation and benefits expert who noted that we tend to think of diversity in terms of gender and ethnicity.

Reverse mentoring is becoming increasingly popular as a means of reaching out to and inspiring high school and college students, especially in the STEM technology fields. There was widespread agreement that, in this period of longer life expectancies and later retirements, we should make an extra effort to welcome and include our senior colleagues.

Banishing the Bias

Unconscious bias training is being provided to all employees at many of the businesses represented, and new artificial intelligence screening tools are being implemented to help companies ignore applicants' demographics when reviewing their resumes.

While the Middle East has made great strides towards greater variety and inclusion in recent years, it is essential that these gains be maintained. HR managers in the Middle East can boost their capacity for innovation in this crucial area by maintaining an open mind and an interest in the customs of other countries.

Use DE&I conversations to embed a common language and amplify core values

The importance of discussing DE&I cannot be overstated. However, this cannot be achieved without first possessing a foundational understanding of fundamental DE&I concepts. Pedulla maintains that a business should provide instruction on such crucial matters. They should involve at least the following:

• The meaning of DE&I
• Addressing microaggressions, intersectionality, accessibility, neurodiversity and equal pay
• Unconscious and implicit bias based on gender, name and beauty norms
• Conformity, stereotyping, prejudice
• Cultural awareness and belonging
• The support of women and working mothers

All these aspects of DE&I vary from one area to another. Understanding the cultural sensitivities associated with these issues in the MENA area is crucial. Work with local partners who manage society on a daily basis, as opposed to relying on theories like Hofstede's cultural insights, was my prior recommendation in this regard. Anyone who is just entering the market would be foolish to take their advice on this matter.

Let people know what the company's stance is and isn't on various topics

Everyone in the company needs to know this so that nobody feels excluded. Clearly communicate to your people the reasoning behind your decision to back a particular set of arguments. Considering the price tag of limiting women's access to the labour market, empowering women in the workplace would be a great first step for the MENA area.

Although these tried and true DE&I strategies have shown positive results in other contexts, they won't be able to bring about lasting change in the MENA area overnight. Instead, addressing DE&I issues calls for extensive planning, the creation of new policies, and the provision of training. For this reason, it's important to recognise that crafting a powerful DE&I plan can appear challenging at first. But keep moving forward, keep studying, and keep making an effort, because it will pay off in the long run.