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Law
Demystifying DE&I Implementing Such an Initiative
Can Provide a Number of Benefifits BDy Kylie Brown and Tanzania Cannon-Eckerle
iversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives are
being discussed more than ever in conference rooms, boardrooms, human- resources departments, and administrative offices. This is exciting, and for companies implementing these initiatives, one of the benefits incurred will be the creation of internal processes and procedures that will mitigate per-
ceptions of discrimination and harassment in the workplace.
Massachusetts law requires that businesses maintain a harassment- and discrimination-free
workplace. The law states, in summary, that it is unlawful to discriminate or harass in the work- place because of race, color, religious creed, national origin, or sex.
According to the related laws, a Massachusetts company has a duty to maintain a workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment. It would be fiction to state that it is possible for a company to ensure that it maintains an idyllic workplace for everyone. There are too many unique and diverse humans, too many variables. The good thing is the law does not require a company create an idyllic retreat.
However, it does require companies to do their due diligence to create and maintain a discrimi- nation- and harassment-free workplace, and if something does occur that might meet the defini- tion of discrimination or harassment, a company must address the matter in a timely fashion
and implement remedial measures when and where necessary. As such, companies must
prepare to manage the possibility of these occurrences. It would be most beneficial if a com- pany did not wait to implement remedial measures in response to wrongdoing or after an
incident has occurred; the programs should already be in place.
DE&I initiatives provide a multitude of benefits to an organization with returns that are both
ethically and financially calculable, including assisting in the creation of discrimination- and harass- ment-free workplaces.
It can be difficult to calculate a financial return on prevention; however, in the realm of dis- crimination and harassment, prevention can be calculated by the declining costs of litiga- tion. Creating a workplace that assures that policies are created to prevent harassment
and discrimination, and that procedures are implemented to enable the consistent and equitable application of policies to all employees, will cause a decline in the appearance of
harassment and discrimination and will diminish legal costs to a company — and costs to
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