3 Primary Diversity and Inclusion Roles You Should Know About
Companies are actively seeking to increase the diversity among their employees, and as a result, they’re hiring roles that are specifically dedicated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. If this field is calling your name, you may be curious as to which positions are available. There are no one-size-fits-all ways to champion diversity and inclusion in the workplace, but the following three job titles will give you some idea of how you can support DEI at your dream company.
- Chief Diversity Officer
This role — along with any other senior DEI leadership gig — has responsibility for diversity and inclusion in the entire company. To perform this role, you need extensive experience in DEI as well as human resources. Here are some of the responsibilities that CDO will take on:
- Develop company-wide diversity and inclusion programs
- Work with recruiting to develop talent pipelines
- Facilitate diversity metrics and reporting
Supervise training and development programs
Diversity and Inclusion Manager
This is a middle management position that is filled by individuals prepared to support the senior diversity officer. They often report to the head of Human resources. A Diversity and Inclusion Manager will often handle the following responsibilities:
- Offers general guidance on diversity and inclusion matters
- Provides support for the CDO
- Serves as a middleman between senior diversity officer and lower-lever diversity staff as well as the rest of the company
Manages leadership development
Individual Diversity and Inclusion Contributor
The individual diversity and inclusion contributors are not leadership positions in the workplace, but they are often the people on the ground performing very necessary work.
Examples of titles you may see at this level include “Analyst,” “Coordinator,” and “Trainer.”
Still, it can be difficult to conceptualize the true difference between what someone at this level is doing versus a Diversity and Inclusion Manager or Chief Diversity Officer. Someone in a leadership role would determine the DEI metrics that they’d like to see. However, the contributor (likely in the form of an analyst) would be the person running the data, organizing the information, and interpreting the results.
While a trainer would develop and deliver a diversity, equity, and inclusion curriculum presented to company employees, the leadership would approve and oversee this curriculum and training. Likewise, the leadership would provide changes to coordinators who would then work to implement them across the organization.
These individual contributors are the foundation of any working DEI program. If you’re looking to transition into a diversity and inclusion role, taking a non-leadership role can help you learn the ropes and prepare you to move up the chain to a leadership position eventually.
Final Thoughts
Because diversity and inclusion programs are still in development at companies across the country, many people aren’t sure how they’re structured. Including cultural competency training can help with this. Knowing these three basic tiers of roles and their responsibilities can help you understand how you can contribute to DEI in your workplace if you’re hoping to get hired in the diversity and inclusion space.