To mark the recent release of Shakil Butt’s new book Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Explained, HRZone has been given access to an excerpt from chapter 2.
The book is designed to help early-career HR practitioners with an EDI remit to better understand and implement effective EDI initiatives.
In this excerpt, Butt explores the role of EDI in HR and how different models of HR incorporate EDI.
The role of EDI within HR
This book has been written for the early career HR practitioner who has been tasked with looking after EDI in some capacity. It assumes that you are responsible in whole or part for EDI within your organization.
HR plays a fundamental role in embedding EDI principles within the organization. As we will see throughout this book, the principles of EDI go across the employment lifecycle, from recruitment and selection to termination and everything in between.
HR, as a profession, is tasked with managing the employee lifecycle, compliance, payroll, personnel records and using HR Information Systems (HRIS). HR is often responsible for strategy and culture, managing change, leadership development, governance and producing data analytics. EDI usually falls within employee engagement, wellbeing and culture.
According to Frank Douglas, founder of Caerus Executive, the role of Chief Diversity Officer, at its highest level, is placed within HR, reporting to the Chief People Officer (CPO) or to the Head of Talent, who then reports to the CPO. This, he argues, is too far down in the organizational hierarchy to be impactful.
This, combined with the fact that EDI is often just one more thing on an already very long list of demands vying for HR’s time, resources and attention, can contribute to a lack of progress and limited impact of EDI.
Stop and think
Do some research in your own organization. Who is ultimately responsible for EDI, and who do they report to? Are they solely responsible for EDI, or do they have other responsibilities too?
The EDI value of values
The business case arguments for EDI speak volumes on their own merit, but they also most likely align with organizational values. Most organizations have carefully crafted ‘vision and mission statements’ – strategies that are underpinned by the organizational values which the senior leaders have collectively agreed are important to them.
These values often have buzzwords, such as: innovation, people-centric, empowerment, fairness, courage and authenticity. Some organizations have these words on the wall or in policy statements, and others articulate the behaviours expected concerning these values. Values can be a great way to underscore the relevance of EDI.
Valued people
Regardless of the values of an organization – stated or not – most will claim that their people are their most important resource or highest valued asset. Whether or not that is said as lip service, organizations can only deliver products and services through their people.
Organizations are nothing more than a group of people following policies, processes and practices. So having an engaged, motivated workforce is a prerequisite to cost-effective and sustainable, long-term success, which brings the focus back to the importance of HR in ensuring that staff are feeling included and have a sense of belonging.
Stop and think
EDI should not be an add-on or an ‘instead of’. It should be aligned with the values of the organization. Think about your own organization’s value statement. Does it include words that align with EDI?
Traditional and contemporary models of HR
It’s useful for you to understand how different models of HR incorporate EDI. We’ll start with Dave Ulrich’s HR model, which is sometimes called the ‘HR Business Partner’ model.
Dave Ulrich is a thought leader in HR and proposed his model in the late 1990s. It became a foundational framework which has influenced the organization of HR functions across the private, public and voluntary sector. The model suggests HR has a strategic function through four distinct roles:
- Strategic partner.
- Change agent.
- Administrative expert.
- Employee champion.
Even though the model makes no direct reference to EDI, it clearly outlines areas where EDI can play a key role. As a ‘strategic partner’, HR can align EDI initiatives with business goals and the organizational strategy, with leadership being held accountable.
As an ‘employee champion’, HR is positioned to be an advocate for minority groups within the workforce, creating inclusive cultures and psychological safety.
More contemporary models of HR, such as Perry Timms’ ‘HR 3.0’ and David Liddle’s ‘People and Culture’ model, position EDI more centrally.
In his book Transformational Culture, Liddle states that ‘Disparate disciplines of employee engagement, EDI and employee wellbeing compete against each other for resources, energy, time and focus.
Yet, in virtually every possible respect, they complement each other. By bringing them together as a single, unified discipline, they act synergistically, with each area enhancing the other.’
EDI terms
When tasked with EDI as an HR practitioner, you may find that people throw around terms that you, and perhaps not even they, fully understand.
As an early career professional, it can be difficult to ask people to clarify what they mean, for fear of coming across as ignorant.
In reality, you will find that people use terms without fully knowing their meaning, or terms can mean different things to different people. So never be afraid to ask someone to clarify the meaning behind their words.
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Explained by Shakil Butt (Kogan Page, 2025) is now available to purchase.
