Diversity and inclusion are paramount in the workplace – here’s why

If you want your diversity practices to be successful, creating an inclusive work culture is crucial. 

While companies worldwide have brought diversity, inclusion, and equity to the front page over the last few years, there is still plenty of room for improvement. A diverse workplace would encourage employee productivity and engagement because an inclusive team has greater problem-solving abilities and perspectives. Research proves that diversity in the workplace powers financial performance and innovation. Companies promoting diversity policies seem to perform better and have greater resilience during tough financial times. Why? They have greater levels of innovation. 

Diversity and inclusion are paramount in business nowadays because a healthy variety of specialists from different cultures and backgrounds provides an organisation with a diversity of thought and a balance of voices. 

Unfortunately, many companies still lack a healthy balance of different workers from varying backgrounds. And they must change this to stay relevant in the market and rip the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce. 

Reasons why diversity and inclusion are essential for corporate success

Here are the main reasons diversity and inclusion are important in your workplace.

1. It’s healthy for your company culture
2. It helps you understand your clients better
3. It fosters innovation
4. It improves talent retention
5. It encourages employees to manage mental health 
6. It increases the revenue

It’s healthy for your company culture

Building a team of professionals who challenge one another to look at the world differently can encourage growth. Promoting diversity in the workplace allows your employees to make their own decisions because you create a culture that promotes kindness and freedom. 

Millennial and Gen Z specialists value workplace diversity, and 69% of them find a diverse workplace more stimulating and motivating. 47% of Millennials look for an employer promoting diversity when searching for a new job. 

It helps you understand your clients better

Gathering new perspectives from your employees can help you understand your audience better. A diverse and inclusive workplace fosters a culture of empathy and helps people communicate better. As expected, this could only benefit your clients because the messaging, customer service and products themselves would address a varied public. 

It fosters innovation

When people from different backgrounds work together, they welcome new perspectives into their lives and learn new things – which are catalysts for problem-solving and creativity. It’s the ideal way to create a work environment that encourages innovation and prevents groupthink. If you hire specialists with various cultural backgrounds, belief systems, job experiences, industry experiences, and skills, you create a place where new ideas are easily born. On the other hand, fostering innovation can be challenging if all your employees think the same. Diversity can help your organisation stand out in the market. 

It improves talent retention

Inclusivity and diversity improve the overall employee experience and could help you attract and retain talent. Studies concluded that diverse teams have a 22% lower turnover rate than those that lack inclusivity. Experts prefer employers who embrace who they are and encourage them to grow. By promoting diversity, you create a welcoming environment, and your workforce is less likely to search for other job opportunities. 

It encourages employees to manage mental health

Mental health is one of the most daunting workplace issues because most people deal with mental health problems at some point in their lives. Sadly, people cannot separate their mental health and work life, and their personal issues often impact their work performance. 

A diverse workplace would provide them with new opportunities, experiences, and ideas and encourage them to discuss mental health and address the issues. When people feel respected, accepted, and heard at their workplace, they’re more likely to share their mental health problems and improve them. Talking about mental health problems is the first step in treating them. 

It increases the revenue

Researchers have analysed the connection between gender and ethnic diversity and increased profits and concluded that organisations with diverse employees are more likely to outperform those that neglect diversity and inclusivity. 

Recommendations to improve diversity and inclusion in the workplace

If you’re looking for ways to improve inclusion and diversity in the workplace, you embark on a challenging journey, but we guarantee it’s worth the effort. Here are some tips on how to do it. 

Establish specific, measurable goals

Identify your position now, and decide where you want to be. Some inspiring goals for any company looking to boost inclusion are:

– Increase the number of minorities and women to over 20%

– Encourage minorities to apply for leadership roles

– Fundraise for disabled people in your community

– Hire employees with skills and industry experience you have never hired before.

Develop a training program

Diversity training can help your workforce understand how cultural difference impacts their interactions and work. You can hire a motivational women speaker to cover concepts of self-identity and how to deal with differences and conflict in the workspace. Focus on training relevant to your specific needs and ensure it aligns with your inclusion, equity, and diversity challenges. Partnering with a specialist who can help you customise a training program or plan events to provide your workforce with the necessary information is crucial.            

Acknowledge holidays of all cultures

An effective way to build awareness of inclusivity and diversity is to be aware of the different cultural and religious holidays your workforce might celebrate. Use the intranet to help employees be aware of multicultural celebrations and provide information about how to behave. 

Evaluate your progress

Besides setting diversity and inclusion goals, keep track of how they impact employee experience. Survey your workforce at the beginning of the process and for the upcoming months. Create questionaries that help you understand how the process affects them. Encourage your employees to share feedback on what’s going under the surface so you can make decisions accordingly. Anonymous feedback usually works best in this kind of situations. 

Be bolder when it comes to promoting diversity, inclusion, and equity!