Equity

Equity in the Workplace

Workplace equity is the concept of providing fair opportunities for all of your employees based on their individual needs.

Equity versus equality in the workplace

Although equity and equality sound similar, they are not synonymous. To properly plan for a more equitable workplace, it’s important to have a strong understanding of how these terms differ.

Equality seeks to provide all employees with access to the same resources, regardless of the pre-existing barriers they may face. This can refer to an equal distribution of money, resources or opportunity between workers at a similar level.

Equality is in many ways a beneficial concept that can push company culture in the right direction. However, it often fails to address problems of underrepresentation or an unfair status quo.

Equity is distinct from equality in that it doesn’t provide the same resources and opportunities to everyone. With equity, an organization will recognize that each employee has varying access to resources and privileges. And those with less access may need more support in order to take fair advantage of opportunities within a given company.

(Definitions from Instride.com)

Equity First: The Path to Inclusion and Belonging - 1 hr 24 min
Equity is an important concept in today’s workplace and you're encouraged to take the time to watch the entire course. The instructor helps you gain a better understanding of what equity is, shows you some of its benefits, and offers some practical advice on fostering equity in hiring, promotions, and development. She highlights how equity makes organizations stronger, then goes over what equity in the workplace looks like, and discusses gender equality, racial and ethnic equity, sexual orientation equity, and equity for people with disabilities.

Course Highlights:


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Toolkits & Presentations

Berkeley Lab is a Corporate Program Member of the VMware Women's Leadership Innovation Lab at Stanford University. (To access the content below, click on this link for the document that contains the login information to the member section.)

Critical Assignments Tool

Critical work assignments propel employee growth and are essential tools to increase diversity, equity and inclusion on your team. The tool provides you with an equity-minded assignment framework that lays out a three-pronged approach to connect assignments to DEI strategy.

Equity in Allocating Stretch Assignments presentation

Equity in sharing high-visibility assignments across employees is a key driver of organizational resilience, according to Lab Senior Research Scholar Dr. Shannon Gilmartin and Research Data Analyst Gabriela Gall Rosa. In this presentation, the two discuss strategies for building accountability and fairness around allocating stretch assignments.

Do you need another slide for a quick meeting opener or a prompt to start a longer discussion on inclusion? Check out the One Minute for IDEA slide library.

Equity is giving people the opportunity to excel at whatever they do according to Theresa Triplett, Manager, Assurance and Integrity, at Berkeley Lab. Theresa talks about how, when people can be their best self when they bring all of their skills and talents to address workplace challenges.