Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion
“The difference between diversity and inclusion is being invited to a house and being able to rearrange the furniture.”
Today, diversity in the workplace means that a company employs a diverse array of individuals. These are people of a different race, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, cultural background, languages, education, ability, and sexual orientation. It’s now become one of the hottest topics in human resources in the last few years, a major goal for most companies. Yet, not everyone realizes that increasing diversity and inclusion is not only a worthy goal to pursue, but that it offers other immediate benefits for a company. In this blog, we’ll discuss how diversity and inclusion are advantageous to workplaces.
- Diversity fosters greater innovation
Research shows that inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in the market. Because employees are exposed to a wider variety of perspectives and worldviews in a diverse workplace, they often come together in new ways. This leads perspectives to combine and allows innovation to flourish.
- Diversity is beneficial for employee retention
If you’re conscious of the bottom line, you know it’s expensive to hire and rehire. There’s quite the financial incentive to prevent recruiting constantly or more than you need to. Fortunately, companies with diverse workforces are generally more inclusive of different individual characteristics and perspectives. As such, employees are typically more likely to feel accepted and valued and stay with the company for a longer period of time.
pixabay: Ralph, user Capri23auto
- Diversity and inclusion boost workplace engagement
You’ve probably heard that happier employees are more likely to be productive and engaged. Employees who feel valued, respected, and included ultimately feel happier and more relaxed in any given work environment.
For this reason, it’s important to focus on both diversity and inclusion in your organization. It is a good idea to include a diversity calendar in the company so it will not be overlooked. Some organizations focus solely on diversity and making sure they’ve more or less checked off all necessary demographics. Yet, while you can be diverse on paper, inclusion is the ability to engage diversity in your workforce. As the quote above says, everyone must have an equal opportunity to contribute. They should be able to “rearrange the furniture” and to bring the ideas to the table. This will help them feel valued, respected, and included.
- Customers respond to diversity
Workplace diversity and inclusion do not only impact employees; it also impacts customers! Companies with diverse staff are more likely to be perceived as understanding the needs of a diverse customer base. So, as your staff becomes more diverse, your customers are more likely to be members of minorities as well. This is because having a company culture that fosters diversity makes your business more attractive to minority customers. Diversity can ultimately improve your brand’s image and business alike.
Final thoughts
Workplace diversity takes your company culture and your business to a whole new level. With a variety of different vantage points and perspectives, you’ll increase the creativity and innovation at your company. This leads to higher employee engagement and increased retention as well as a more diverse customer base. If you want to outperform your competitors, dig deep into your diversity and inclusion efforts. This is one sure way you can better your company and achieve higher profits!
Author: Deny Smith
