Building a diverse and inclusive workplace culture should be a priority for all employers, regardless of the size of your business or the industry you operate in.
From a commercial perspective, there are all sorts of benefits to be gained from focusing on diversity, such as a more representative and productive workforce, enriched corporate culture, improved financial performance and a stronger employer brand.
But most importantly of all, the concepts of diversity and inclusion efforts are about people. Truly inclusive companies respect and value every member of the workforce as an individual, regardless of their age, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
Committing to diversity and inclusion in the workplace will lead to positive outcomes for both your business and your employees in the long term. This will subsequently improve your overall company culture leading to a positive impact on your employer brand.
the value of diversity and inclusion
What does diversity and inclusion mean in the workplace?
By putting diversity and inclusion at the heart of your recruitment and workforce management activities, you help to ensure that all employees get equal opportunities to make contributions and fulfil their potential in the workplace.
As well as being important purely from a moral and ethical perspective, building diverse and inclusive teams is important for staff well-being, employee engagement and business performance. That is why inclusion is so important in the workplace and the benefits of diversity and inclusion should never be downplayed.
the people perspective
It's becoming increasingly common for employees - particularly younger generations who represent the future of business and the workplace - to want to work for organisations that value differences and diversity with an open-minded, progressive outlook.
More than 4 out of 5 Gen-Z jobseekers (83%) view commitment to diversity and inclusion as an important factor when choosing an employer, according to the 2020 State of the Candidate Survey by Monster.
Workers are also more likely to feel happy, engaged and productive at work if they feel fully supported and respected by their employer. Embracing a diverse and inclusive approach to hiring and managing your staff shows that you view every worker as a unique individual.
the business case
As the World Economic Forum has noted, the business case for workplace diversity is now 'overwhelming'. Mr. Eswaran pointed out that bringing together people from a wide range of backgrounds and areas of experience helps to boost innovation. This is evident on a large scale in prosperous, successful urban centres like New York, Dubai, London and Singapore - all international 'melting pots' with eclectic local populations.
Dedicated research by companies like McKinsey has provided clear evidence of the commercial advantages companies can achieve by building diverse teams, particularly at senior level. The company has now published three studies in a global series exploring this subject: Why Diversity Matters (2015), Delivering through Diversity (2018) and Diversity Wins (2020). The latest findings show that the relationship between diversity on executive teams and financial success has strengthened over time.
Business leaders should be convinced to include workplace diversity and inclusion as part of their organisation agenda and employee brand. They will also need to demonstrate empathetic leadership skills and drive diversity and inclusion initiatives to boost employee experience, as well as their job satisfaction in the long run.
key results from the most recent study include:
- Organisations with the most diverse executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than those with the lowest levels of diversity
- This is up from 21% in 2017 and 15% in 2014
- Firms in the top quartile for ethnic diversity were 36% more likely to financially outperform those in the bottom quartile
These conclusions are backed up by separate research from Boston Consulting Group, which showed that companies with above-average diversity on leadership teams report better outcomes from innovation and higher earnings margins. This goes to show that diversity and inclusion matters to your business to a great extent, where having inclusive leadership and organisational culture will contribute directly.
Given the clear benefits your business can achieve through diversity and inclusion, it's important to look into what positive steps you could be taking to put these principles at the heart of your HR strategy.
make it part of your culture
To be an effective and lasting pillar of your organisation, workforce diversity and inclusion needs to be ingrained into your company values and workplace culture.
It's not enough to take a siloed approach that brings about change only at a departmental or team level. The entire business needs to be fully committed to create an inclusive environment for all employees to work in. Becoming leaders in diversity is no easy feat and by cultivating a diverse inclusive workforce, talent will be more attracted to apply for a role with your company.
A crucial part of building an inclusive culture is making sure the company's leadership are fully on board with your diversity and inclusion efforts. This would include providing inclusion training and other forms of support to your employees to get the best results from it.
Boardroom backing is likely to rely on you making a strong business case for the value of diversity and inclusion. It will also be crucial to ensure that the various initiatives and activities involved in your diversity push are directly linked to your organisation's wider goals.
If your firm is currently looking to expand into new markets, for example, you might want to focus on how making your workforce more eclectic and representative will help you understand a broader range of customer needs and expectations.
Making sure senior stakeholders and decision-makers are fully behind the drive towards greater diversity is a crucial step on the way to making this a fundamental part of your company culture.
rethink your recruitment
There's no doubt that optimising recruitment strategies and practices needs to be a top priority for any organisation that is genuinely committed to creating an inclusive company culture. Fortunately, there's a lot you can do to make sure each stage of your hiring process is specially designed to eliminate bias and encourage applications from the widest possible range of candidates.
To start with, it's important to make sure job descriptions are written carefully to be as inclusive as possible. That could involve avoiding unnecessary jargon and gender-sensitive words that will make roles feel exclusive or unwelcoming to particular groups.
It can also be beneficial to only list essential skills when discussing job requirements and omit 'nice-to-have' qualifications. LinkedIn highlighted this as an effective way to make job posts more inclusive in its Gender Insights Report, which revealed that women apply to 20% fewer jobs than men and are 16% less likely than men to apply for a role after viewing it.
There should be an emphasis on diversity and inclusion in every phase of the hiring process, particularly at crucial stages like the interview. If possible, put together an eclectic interview panel to minimise the risk of bias (conscious or otherwise) and to show all interviewees that they will be welcomed and given every opportunity fairly to move forward in their careers with your company.
Another important step is to make sure interviews are standardised and structured in the same way for all applicants. That might mean:
- Asking the same core questions in the same order
- Giving every interviewee the same opportunity to ask their own questions
- Evaluating all responses in the same way
conduct diversity and inclusion training
If your company is dedicated to introducing genuine, lasting change on the diversity and inclusion, it's worth considering the benefits of offering dedicated training on the subject.
This can be a good approach if you feel there is a need in your organisation for more discussion and understanding of key issues such as:
- Why diversity and inclusion matters
- The differences between diversity and inclusion
- Conscious and unconscious bias
- Discrimination laws
There could be people in your workforce who are keen to learn more about subjects like these, or have questions they would like to ask, but don't know when or how to bring them up. Focused training sessions within diverse teams will provide a good opportunity to have honest conversations, share useful information and raise awareness of topics that fall under the banner of diversity and inclusion.
Going forward, it's important to make it clear that this is an ongoing mission, not something that can be encapsulated in a one-off training session and then forgotten about. Sabrina Clark, associate principal at SYPartners, a consultancy specialising in organisational transformation, said one way to bring about lasting change in how people think and behave is to entrust the task to dedicated cohorts who aren't at executive or management level.
These groups can be equipped with the skills and information needed to pave the way for the inclusion and diversity efforts and drive change in their team or department by leading through example.
interested in learning more? download the guide: 7 benefits of a diverse and inclusive workforce
Workplace diversity and inclusion matters and it has become an undeniably crucial consideration for employers. It's also a rapidly changing, increasingly nuanced concept, which means it's a good idea to keep educating yourself so you can feel confident that you're making the right decisions for your employees and your business.
We've produced an in-depth guide that takes a detailed look at the various stages involved in creating a truly diverse workplace. The guide explores subjects that are related to your bottom line and why diversity and inclusion can be difficult to achieve.
It also recommends more strategies that can help you prioritise diversity in recruitment.
work with randstad
Randstad, as a worldwide HR leader, promotes workplace diversity and inclusivity. Our inclusive culture is built on our respect for each member of our community's originality and uniqueness, and we value our diverse multicultural teams. We are one community pushing creativity, innovation, and change, and our people are our success.
If you're unsure whether you're doing enough to build a diverse and inclusive workplace, you can always contact one of our specialised recruiters. We have established an in-depth insight and knowledge of what employers and talent are seeking for.