Workplace diversity.
We’ve heard about it more and more over the last few years, across industries and on a societal level – but what can a diverse workforce actually bring to your workplace?
By 2020, global searches around diversity and inclusion had skyrocketed by 122%, with searches around ‘diversity and inclusion manager’ growing by 200%.
Generally, we know that diversity and inclusion in the workplace can be beneficial, but what are the specifics?
Let’s take a look.
Diversity and inclusion, in a nutshell
Diversity refers to race, culture, gender, religion, sexual orientation, class and identity differences.
In the workplace, diversity is upheld by ensuring your workplace has a range of individuals from these different backgrounds, each with their own perspectives.
Inclusion is about making everyone in the workplace feel valued, understood, respected and fairly treated.
Part of inclusion is recognising the unique talents and viewpoints of employees, and embedding equality and fairness into your workplace culture.
But what can diversity and inclusion do for a business?
Breed innovation
Part of building a dynamic, innovative business is having people from a variety of backgrounds, with a variety of experience.
This range of experience isn’t just beneficial in terms of creating an environment that is approachable and comfortable for all individuals, it’s also advantageous to the decision-making process.
Diverse teams were found to be 87% better decision-makers than individuals when it came to making business decisions.
Having a workplace with employees that bring their own perspectives, experience and ideas helps teams and the company at large to innovate.
Inclusive companies are 1.7x more likely to be innovation leaders in their market3, which is no coincidence.
When different perspectives come together, out-of-the-box thinking is inevitable!
Build trust
Did you know that only 1 in 5 HR and engagement leaders agree that employees trust their company leaders?
This is why inclusivity is so integral to company culture.
By valuing and rewarding employees for good work and cultivating a workplace culture that not only recognises differences, but embraces them, a company can truly build trust.
Increased trust has a knock-on effect on employee retention, which is hugely advantageous to a business and also very attractive to potential candidates.
In fact, employee advocacy, loyalty, commitment and engagement were cited as the payoff for trustworthy employers – which inevitably impacts the bottom-line of a business.
Increase attractiveness to candidates
According to Glassdoor, 67% of job seekers consider diversity important when assessing a company or job offers.
Though conventionally, our first thought of the advantages diversity and inclusion bring to the hiring process might be a larger talent pool, it can also significantly influence the way potential candidates view a company.
With 83% of candidates indicating the diversity elements of a company are important towards whether they will accept a job, the message is clear – diversity impacts candidate decisions as much as it does employee opinion.
Improve performance
Employees who believe that their company has a strong inclusion strategy are likelier to be more engaged than those who think their company has a weak inclusion strategy, according to Quantum Workplace.
Increased engagement has a knock-on effect on productivity, but what about company-wide performance?
Companies with significant racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to outperform competitors, and 70% more likely to capture new markets8.
Additionally, diversity and inclusion significantly influence cash flow, with diverse companies benefiting from 2.3x higher cash flow per employee.
Across the board, companies with an embedded, consistent approach to diversity report boosted revenue, higher profits and increased innovation.
Account for a changing workforce
When it comes to workplace culture, whatever you implement should be proportionate to the workforce, which can fluctuate.
By 2025, the workforce is expected to account for 75% of the millennial generation – 83% of which say they are likelier to be engaged if they believe their company has a diverse, inclusive culture.
There is also the fact that the millennial generation, though accounting for more individuals, is 16% more diverse than baby boomers, with 56% of their generation being white in comparison to 72% of baby boomers.
Diversity and inclusion strategies shouldn’t just be thought of in terms of what they can bring the business, but also as a demand and requirement for a changing workforce.
Promoting diversity in this regard is meeting a demand.
Provide a wider talent pool
Having a diverse workforce attracts a diverse range of candidates.
As already mentioned, job-seekers are more focused now than ever before on the values, ethics and approaches of a company, particularly when it comes to diversity.
Having a strong stance on diversity and inclusion not only has the potential to increase the number of applicants for each vacancy, but also as a by-product increases the chances of finding an exceptional candidate who is the perfect fit.
It significantly increases your chances of finding the best possible hire – alongside benefitting your existing employees and business at large.
The key factor to consider
Even with all of the facts and figures mentioned above, there is arguably, a more important factor in the success of bringing diversity and inclusion to a workforce in order to benefit from it.
Consistency!
In order to benefit from the multitude of advantages a diverse workforce brings, diversity and inclusion can’t be viewed as a ‘one-off’ strategy or campaign.
Having an integrated, consistent approach to diversity and promoting the value that it brings is key to guaranteeing effectiveness.
It should begin with a diverse and inclusive hiring strategy, and continue with an approach to retention and company-wide initiatives.
Particularly with the uncertainty that came with 2020, the knowledge that organisations who maintain their commitment and values to employees during difficult economic times are the ones who thrive is a welcome relief.
We truly believe that diversity and inclusion are vital to businesses, particularly in the sectors we deliver recruitment services for, such as IT, accountancy, law and engineering – all of which thrive on the innovation and engagement that diversity and inclusion bring.