The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the University of Washington are releasing three final chapters of the “Guides for Equitable Practice.”

“Guides for Equitable Practice” were developed in AIA’s partnership with the University of Washington and the University of Minnesota to improve firm culture and to build equity, diversity and inclusion in the architecture profession. The guides are intended to be a firm resource for applying principles of inclusion and equity in attaining a professional work environment, building fluency in intercultural competency, improving cultural awareness, and for developing and retaining employees.

The final set of chapters released focus on developing employee career paths; building and involving authentic community engagement and measuring firm progress in developing equitable practices. Previously released chapters cover:

• Increasing intercultural competence and reducing bias.
• Managing workplace culture.
• Establishing parity in compensation.
• Attracting and retaining talent using equitable recruitment and retention practices.
• Adopting equitable and inclusive negotiation skills.
• Mentoring and sponsoring employees to make workplaces more diverse and inclusive.
  Guides were developed using current research on gender, race and culture in the U.S. They include perspectives from architects on what equity, diversity and inclusion mean as well as moral, business, ethical and societal cases that can help individuals, architecture firms and others build equity in their organizations.