Encouraging Diversity and Inclusion in Business with emotii

No matter how inclusive you try and make your hiring policies, the fact is without proper practices in place - once a candidate becomes an employee - you’re in danger of putting off those from different backgrounds and cultures, and particularly who don’t speak the same primary language.

Being able to fully take part in conversations and meetings with colleagues is an essential part of working for a business, so having the right tools in place to ensure every single member of staff can do so is essential for a company which truly wants to be diverse and inclusive.

The challenge

There’s been a real increase in the number of businesses looking outside of their own regional or national borders to hire, attributed in part to the rise of remote working, the issues with finding skilled workers for vacant roles, the uplift in people working as ‘digital nomads’ and, of course, the amount of businesses now looking to expand internationally.

Currently almost three in ten UK companies are open to hiring new staff from other countries (University of Law Business School), and it’s estimated 232 million people (more than 3% of the global population) work in a country different to where their business is based (United Nations).

Having the right skills, experience and knowledge to undertake a job properly is only part of the picture. If you’re missing out on vital information because the people around you are speaking in a language and you’re not a native speaker, then you’re bound to feel disadvantaged when carrying out that job.

It’s not only about being able to translate the words being spoken around you – it’s vital to also understand the nuances, the idioms and other sayings which may not have a direct equivalent in your language, and ensure you’ve picked up on every element of the conversation. Otherwise, there are crucial pieces of the jigsaw missing which are bound to impact how well you can carry out the tasks which form part of your role, as well as affecting how involved you feel in the company’s day to day running.

Not only can a limited understanding of the language being spoken impact how well you’re able to follow conversations and carry out any tasks or make any decisions assigned to you, it can also severely inhabit your ability to contribute to the discussions. This can disempower employees, and limit the range of voices you’re hearing during important meetings, again totally undermining any concept of diversity or inclusion.

The solution

At emotii, we wanted to ensure businesses weren’t relying on simple direct translation tools to promote diversity and inclusion. Instead, we developed a platform which has the ability to ensure every person in the (virtual or literal) room had a full and comprehensive understanding of every word being spoken; that every phrase unique to the language being conversed in could be accurately interpreted so the true meaning was comprehensible to everyone; and that no one was left out and left behind simply because of language or cultural barriers.

We believe that’s the only way to ensure real inclusivity: that there is a level playing field where every person within a business has access to the same information, and that native speakers of the primary language used across a business don’t have an unfair disadvantage simply because of their place of birth.

How does it work?

Emotii leverages the power of AI to ensure accurate, real-time interpretation to avoid any misunderstandings, without the high costs, scheduling efforts and accessibility issues around using a real-time human interpreter.

Able to handle multiple languages simultaneously, the technology enables everyone to communicate in the same language in real time.

This means every single team member around the table (and around the world) can contribute effectively to meetings and discussions, enabling you as a business to take on board a range of ideas and, in doing so, widen the perspective from which you take decisions and grow your business. One piece of research highlighted that businesses make better decisions 87% of time if their teams include people from a wide variety of geographical locations with variations in age and gender also helping to improve decision-making (Cloverpop). Another stated when executive boards considered more than one alternative, they made six times as many ‘very good’ decisions (Heath and Heath).

With so many advantages to using first-class interpretation technology within a business, not least attracting the very best talent from across a range of cultures and countries, it’s no wonder that more leaders than ever are turning to AI-led tech like emotii. Doing so ensures they’re promoting diversity and inclusion, hearing the voices of everyone in their team, while driving global business success.

‍