Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion at Work: Bigger Talent Pool
Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion at Work: Bigger Talent Pool
Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion at Work: Bigger Talent Pool
Diverse teams can also better identify products and services that fit the needs
of emerging customer profiles. Furthermore, many diverse employees have
faced significant adversity in their life. These challenges forced diverse
employees to hone their expertise and develop excellent problem solving
skills.
Better decision-making
Diverse teams make better decisions. Cloverpop, an online decision-making
platform, examined 600 business decisions made by 200 teams. They found
that diverse teams have a 60 percent improvement in decision-making. In
particular, gender-diverse teams outperformed individual decision makers 73
percent of the time, and teams diverse in geography, gender, and age made
better business decisions than individuals 87 percent of the time.
Improved performance
We’ve already discussed how D&I increases company profits, but this
outcome is a direct result of increased productivity and performance. Diversity
is a competitive differentiator 一 McKinsey found that for every 10 percent
increase in gender diversity, EBIT rose by 3.5 percent. Companies with
significantly more racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to
outperform competitors. Harvard Business Review also discovered that
diverse companies are 70 percent more likely to capture new markets, which,
in turn, yields higher performance.
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 for their respective industry. This is
especially true during times of crisis. Great Place to Work assessed hundreds
of publicly traded companies before, during, and after a recession. Highly
diverse, inclusive companies experienced a 14.4 percent gain while the S&P
500 saw a 35.5 percent decline in stock performance.
Challenges of diversity and inclusion
Of course, creating a diverse and inclusive workplace is easier said than
done. There will always be growing pains when attempting to change your
company culture on such a broad scale. Below are some of the top challenges
that organizations face when it comes to leveling up their diversity and
inclusion strategies.
Leadership involvement
Diversity and inclusion initiatives must align with your organizational goals and
company values. Otherwise, they’ll always be pushed to the back burner. In
one study of Fortune 1000 companies, 41 percent of respondents said their
organizations had very informal diversity efforts with no structure because
they’re “too busy”. Organizational change begins at the top. Upper
management needs to allocate resources to D&I efforts, even in the face of
uncertainty. Taking these steps shows employees that upper management is
taking D&I to heart.
Once you’ve garnered adequate support, ask critical questions about your
company’s workforce. Oftentimes, these questions bring about tough
conversations, but those conversations are necessary in order to drive true
change. Leaders must objectively assess where and how their D&I activities
can be improved and communicate why.
In the end, the HR department and individual managers are responsible for
enacting change and sustaining a D&I-centric culture. These groups should
receive training to understand new HR policies and practices. Managers and
HR departments must present a unified front that upholds D&I practices, and
measure the company’s progress toward D&I goals.
Measurement
The only way to know if D&I is improving in your organization is to measure
and track it. This means you need the right tools in place. Usually, this
translates to an annual survey, but that’s simply not enough.
Practicing continuous listening and having real-time insights into what your
employees are thinking and feeling when it comes to D&I in the workplace
helps properly define and assess major challenges and opportunities.
Inclusion is tougher to measure, but there are two key ways to do it. The first
is to look at the Inclusion Climate—the equitable employment practices,
integration of differences, and inclusion of decision-making. The second
measure is the Perceived Group Inclusion Scale. This gauges employees’
sense of belonging and authenticity.
Remember: Gathering data is just one piece of the puzzle. You need to follow
up and take action to ensure that you’re using insights to strengthen your
approach and impact. For instance, if your employees or data tells you there
is a noticeable lack of employee appreciation in a particular department,
identify the obstacles and provide resolutions. Consider creating a campaign
to increase activity in your employee recognition program to ensure everyone
feels appreciated by their peers and managers.
Find out how to fuel your HR team with data and properly measure.
While managers can lead the way, employees should still receive D&I training
to help avoid and overcome biases. These training sessions need to show
that you’ve done your research and you know about the current biases in your
workplace. Explain how your D&I program is an opportunity for all employees
to acknowledge and improve.
Silos
Many organizations struggle with silos, within departments or throughout the
organization. Silos become dangerous because they encourage exclusivity
rather than inclusivity, decrease productivity and productivity, etc. Before
deploying a recognition program, Meijer, a family-owned superstore based out
of the U.S. Midwest, was aware that silos between teams or groups within an
organization can severely hinder collaboration. After implementing their
recognition program, mteam, the strength of networks in each Meijer store
location increased. In an effort to improve each team member’s sense of
belonging, mteam has been able to bring team members together and
increase connections.
Discover how to strengthen connections across your organization.
Breaking down silos and increasing connections across your company are
instrumental in strengthening D&I throughout your organization. If you’re
unsure where to start, try Meijer’s approach and start leveraging the power of
employee recognition.
Some recognition tools offer digital celebration cards to celebrate new hires,
work anniversaries, birthdays, and milestones. Try experimenting with a
variety of team-signed celebration cards to help foster a sense of belonging
and make employees feel included from day one. Frequently embracing and
recognizing differences can motivate employees to continue bringing their
best self to work.
When you establish your ERGs, leverage every internal platform to promote
them. For example, you can use your internal platform’s features to announce
their establishment so employees can join, feature any upcoming events for
employees to participate in, or request idea submissions. This helps spread
awareness about ERGs and encourages people to sign up for D&I initiatives.
According to Jeff Cates, employee networks are “perhaps the single greatest
way to promote the type of inclusive culture that helps people thrive and
businesses stand out.” Outside of ERGs, think about establishing a D&I
steering committee to drive and advocate for D&I initiatives. This steering
committee should consist of all types of employees from all areas of the
business who can provide suggestions, share best practices, and encourage
their teammates to participate in D&I activities.
Provide fun opportunities for every employee to connect and feel included.
One example is to kick off virtual coffee chats, which connect two employees
at random to meet and talk about anything they want. This helps employees
across various locations and departments get to know each other and build
meaningful relationships. Ultimately, this will lead to better collaboration and a
culture of belonging.