Seven ways the sports industry can improve DEl efforts

This article was written as part of the #LinkedInSports Challenge started by Adriene Bueno .

Education about diversity, equity and inclusion should not be a one-time effort. It requires continuous change, growth and learning from sports organizations and its individuals.

Here are seven ways the #SportsIndustry can improve #DiversityEquityInclusion efforts.

1. Prioritize ongoing learning opportunities about DEI for staff

Everyone in the company should be required to participate in DEI trainings on a regular basis. If you make attendance optional, the individuals who need the most education about diversity, equity and inclusion are the ones who will not attend. From my experience, these are the people who need to learn about topics such as how to be more inclusive, why pronouns are important, and the importance of accessibility. They are the executives who need to unlearn the old "boys club" mentality.

If you make attendance optional, the individuals who need the most education about diversity, equity and inclusion are the ones who will not attend.

Also, it's my belief that the facilitators and organizations you hire for these trainings should be diverse (i.e. women, BIPOC, disabled, etc.).

2. Provide opportunities to marginalized groups

The sports industry needs more programs such as the Toronto Maple Leafs Management and Coaching Development Program.

Opportunities specifically for historically marginalized communities are important because these are positions that in the past may have been given to "a friend-of-a-friend" or an executive's family member. Now, does that mean those individuals aren't good at their job? No, it does not.

What it means is that they were given an opportunity just because of who they know or who they are related to, instead of the company following equitable hiring practices.

3. Pay your interns

All internships should be paid. Experience does not pay the bills. Candidates from a lower socioeconomic background can't afford to be an unpaid intern.

I myself completed two unpaid internships while also working 20-40 hours at my part-time job. I definitely would have preferred to focus on my internship, but if I had work on evenings and weekends so that I could pay my bills.

Unpaid internships only allow those who are more privileged to intern. Those interns will go on to obtain entry level positions, now that they have gained some experience, compared to others who could not afford to be an unpaid intern.

Experience does not pay the bills.

What does more privileged mean? People who have adequate financial, family and community support, who don't have to worry about how they will pay rent, buy food, and pay bills.

4. Pay your employees a living wage

Since I live in Toronto, let's take a look at the living wage for my city. According to the Ontario Living Wage Network, it is $23.15/hr. Time for some math:

$23.15 x 40 (hours a week) x 52 (weeks in a year) = $48,152

That means entry level employees in Toronto should have a base salary of at least $48,152... and trust me, it should be more that.

For Americans curious about the living wage for their city, that can be discovered here, using a calculator created by Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

5. Allow for the hiring of remote workers

Not every role in the sports industry requires the job to be done on-site. If there's one thing the pandemic has taught us about work, it's that a lot can be done remotely.

Let's not forget there are different types of diversity, including socioeconomic status. Remote work eliminates that barrier for someone who can't financially afford the move to a major city. There are also people with physical disabilities who can't easily travel to an office everyday, but would be an excellent remote employee.

By removing remote work as an option, companies lose out on a pool of diverse candidates, contradicting their supposed commitment to increasing diversity.

If a company refuses to have full-time remote staff, I would hope they at the very least consider hiring freelancers who can work remotely on certain projects and tasks.

6. Support your social media staff during DEI initiatives

When a sports organization puts out a social post about a marginalized community, there are always some not-so-nice replies and comments. For example, on National Coming Out Day, the Colorado Avalanche tweeted in support of it. They were actively replying to ignorant comments, such as the reply below.

Often, a team will simply make a social post about a marginalized community, and then never engage with the post again, or monitor for hateful comments. When a team does that, it gives the impression that the post was only made to check off a box for Pride Month, Black History Month etc.

When a team does not respond to comments on these posts, it's likely they haven't been given the green light from the higher-ups to reply to ignorant comments. A social media team can only do so much if executives aren't committed to equity, diversity and inclusion all the time and not only when it's convenient for them.

7. Don't make accessibility an afterthought

I've always thought about accessibility in terms of social media for #SMSports. This includes aspects such as alt text, closed captioning and subtitles. While I was working at the Canadian Olympic Committee , something we starting doing was including alt text for our social posts.

It's important that social teams are taught how to write alt text. For example, the alt text written here for this tweet by the Carolina Hurricanes is not the best as it doesn't describe what is on the graphic. (Most of their tweets with images have better alt text compared to this one!)

A more detailed alt text description would be: Brent Burns and Seth Jarvis skating towards each other for a celebratory hug behind the goalie net while fans are cheering in the stands. A black bar on the bottom with "game recap" in capital grey letters on the left and the SAS Software logo on the right.

Every department of a sports organization needs to evaluate how accessibility affects their area of responsibility.

Aside from social media, there are so many other areas of accessibility that the sports industry needs to improve on. For example, one topic I see discussed frequently on Twitter is accessible ticketing and seating for events. Every department of a sports organization needs to evaluate how accessibility affects their area of responsibility.

There are many other actions that the sports industry can improve their DEI efforts in addition to the seven that I've listed above. What are some actions that you have in mind?