It’s Martin Luther King Day, so we thought it would be a great time to reiterate why every company should be diversifying their workplace. Thankfully, our country has made significant progress, but we still have more to do. A major issue that we see is that many companies believe they’re already promoting a diverse and inclusive culture, although that doesn’t seem to be the case. In a recent BCG study, only about 40 percent of employees actually agree that their manager fosters an inclusive environment. Let’s increase this percentage together. Below we’ll go into detail on why it’s important to do so.
Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion at Work
Diversity and inclusion (D&I) go hand-in-hand. Diversity without inclusion may result in a toxic environment, decreasing chances of your company doing well, and inclusion without diversity can make a company stagnant, uncreative and potentially, loss of sales. Promoting D&I in the workplace environment establishes a sense of belonging and builds trust among employees. Because of this, companies who implement D&I have discovered their employees tend to work harder, producing high quality work. These companies see a significant increase in their business in the form of results, innovation, and decision-making. Let’s go into further detail of the benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
Bigger Talent Pool
Let’s begin with your recruiting process. If you find yourself continuously hiring the same type of people, you’ll need to restructure your process. Expand your search to more diverse candidates and qualities such as background, ethnicity, age, etc. This will widen your talent pool and increase your chances of finding more diverse candidates to hire, which will likely lead to a more successful company.
New Perspectives and Innovation
With the now bigger talent pool, imagine how many new perspectives and opportunities there are from your new and improved recruiting process. Your company has now increased its chances of being a top producer in your industry because of the more diverse group. The Harvard Business Review found that the most diverse organizations or companies—in terms of migration, industry, career path, gender, education, age—were the most innovative. Your company’s products or services will be able to reach different audiences because of this diverse team and what their knowledge from their background brings.
Stronger Business Results and Profits
With new perspectives and innovation, you are on the right track to stronger business results and profits. For obvious reasons, D&I is beneficial to one’s mental health, making your employees enjoy work more, longevity at your company will most likely increase, and overall, employees will have a more enjoyable experience. In fact, it also increases employee engagement and trust, leading to better decision-making and improved performance. Because of these, we see stronger business results and profits, and as stated by Harvard Business Review, more diverse companies report 19 percent higher revenue. Additionally, businesses that are in the top quartile for racial, ethnic, and gender diversity have a 25 percent greater likelihood of being more profitable than the national median.
Striving for diversity and inclusion in the workplace has improved significantly, but we still have many ways to improve. Of course every company wants to succeed, and this is a great way to start. Not only is it beneficial for a company, but it’s what employees look for when searching for companies to be employed under. Let’s all aim to work together to increase diversity & inclusion in our communities.