Diversity is more than just a buzzword.
It’s more than just something you put on your website or in your brochures.
You can’t just make sure there are “representative diverse” employees greeting your customers, but the rest of the office looks the same.
Diversity plays an important role in the workforce, and as we’ve discussed, it means making sure your company is reflective of the community and the world around you.
Plus, diversity isn’t just about following the laws and policies.
It directly affects your business in many positive ways.
The following are five of the biggest—but there will be others, look for them, from employee engagement to more cultural awareness.
1. Improved productivity
Whether it’s gender, race, cultural, age or any of the other ways you should be looking to improve diversity, it’s a fact that the more variety you have in your workforce, the better productivity you’ll have.
In a 2013 report by Deloitte Australia (Deloitte) and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, it said, “When employees think their organisation is committed to, and supportive of diversity and they feel included, employees report better business performance in terms of ability to innovate (83% uplift), responsiveness to changing customer needs (31% uplift) and team collaboration (42% uplift).”
Yet more numbers backing up the increase in a company’s numbers from diversity: a 2015 report from McKinsey showed that “of 366 public companies that were analyzed, those with higher racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above national industry average.”
2. More perspectives = Increased creativity
This reason seems obvious—hiring more diverse employees brings a variety of backgrounds and experiences to your organisation.
Those perspectives can help your team think of new and different approaches to everything from how you present your product and where you market it to a more efficient billing system.
Tap into your diverse employees for not just discussion around the conference room, but formulating committees or groups within your team that could benefit from a breath of fresh air.
You probably will be thrilled with the creative ideas you find coming out of them!
This idea is backed by the numbers, too. A 2011 Forbes study found that 85% of the 321 large global companies surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that “diversity is crucial to fostering innovation in the workplace.”
3. Better understanding of customers
It’s hard to widen your customer base if you look around the office of your company and see the same face everywhere.
Having a diverse workforce provides a better understanding of the world around us, therefore making it easier to market to that world.
A United States survey by Center for Talent Innovation noted that 48% of U.S. companies with more diversity in senior management had improved their market share in the previous year, while only 33% at less diverse companies reported that same growth.
4. Boost recruitment (and retain employees!)
There are more ways than ever to research companies before you apply and/or interview—between LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed and more. And one of the major factors candidates desire is diversity.
A survey by PwC in 2017 found that “54% of women and 45% of men said they researched if a company had diversity and inclusion policies in place when deciding to accept a position with their most recent employer.”
Plus, your current employees notice when there’s a focus on diversity—they will like hearing about efforts made by their company to hire more diversely, be more inclusive, provide support for various issues and everything else that goes into being a good steward of diversity.
5. Company reputation bump
If your company becomes known for diversity, not only will you enjoy a boost in recruitment, but your company’s brand will receive a rating boost.
Whether you see chatter about your brand online, hear about it through word of mouth or see it in the bottom line, you’ll be happy with the results.
There’s more to be said on the topic of workplace diversity, and we look to cover additional topics in the next two weeks.
Next: Are you ready to tackle diversity in your business?
The first 90-Day Program started in January, and we’re already getting excellent feedback. Our next session is planned for 1 May 2019. Fast track your leadership and culture with our new 90-day Culture Accelerator Program.
Whether you’re ready to join our next session or want personalised help for HR issues, simply email me with the subject line: “Help me with HR!”
P.S. How do you feel you rank on workplace diversity? Is your business running into HR issues? Get in touch with me in one of the following ways:
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