What is your opinion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at your company?

Our reader poll today asks: What is your opinion of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts at your company?

• They’re great! Everyone needs to feel respected, fairly treated and included 41.78%
• They’re okay. I get the principle but sometimes it doesn’t work as intended 34.23%
• They’re a distraction. We have more important issues to deal with 8.00%
• They detract from our work environment and aren’t helpful 8.88%
• They’re really bad and don’t have a place in our work environment 7.11%

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Matter. 75% of you feel DEI efforts are important in the workplace. Getting the most out of people requires understanding and accepting them for who they are. DEI efforts are often a way to build awareness of the importance of these dynamics. For those who feel negatively toward these types of efforts, ask yourself if it’s a question of how these efforts are being executed at your company or if it’s because of personal views you have toward the importance of DEI in the workplace. If it’s how the efforts are being carried out, get involved. Offer your thoughts on how these programs could be more effective. If it’s because you don’t see the value in diversity, equity, and inclusion, I encourage you to spend some time with your colleagues who feel otherwise and understand why they see it as being so important. The better we understand one another’s perspectives, the more effectively we’ll all work as teams.

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.