Diversity in the Workplace – 4 Undeniable Benefits

Why You Should Make Diversity and Inclusion Your Top Priority

Diversity in staffing has become a top priority at many companies. The PwC Global Diversity and Inclusion Survey shows that companies around the world are onboarding diversity and inclusion as a core business value at a greater rate than ever. 87% of respondents to the survey said that diversity and inclusion is either a stated priority or value within their organization.
Businesses are realizing that the benefits of diversity and inclusion lead to happier workplaces and better business outcomes. In this article, we explore a few of these.

What Is Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace?

Diversity is about who you hire into your company. It describes the composition of your workforce in terms of the range of characteristics of your employees – their gender, race, religion, age, social status, etc.
Inclusion describes how your employees feel. You may have a diverse workforce, but do all your employees feel listened to? Do they feel safe, with high job satisfaction and good career prospects?

Why Does Diversity and Inclusion Matter?

All the evidence shows that more diverse teams have real and tangible positive impacts on business performance. For example:
• In its research report, Why Diversity Matters, McKinsey & Company concluded that those companies with ethnically diverse workforces are 35% more likely to have higher-than-average profits
Boston Consulting Group found that more diverse leadership teams give a 20% advantage over teams with below-average diversity in their leadership
Such results are achieved because of the way in which diversity impacts team performance. Here are four undeniable benefits of diversity and inclusion that lead to better business outcomes.

1. Diversity Makes You Smarter and More Innovative

If you have a problem that needs solving, one of the best ways to reach a successful solution is to brainstorm among a diverse group of people. Those with different experiences and perspectives bring fresh ideas to the table. They bring new information and different ways of looking at perplexing issues.

Culturally diverse teams bring extra depth of knowledge about your customers. Consolidating this into your problem-solving enables you to innovate faster and with more certainty. You’ll recognize changing customer demands more quickly and be better positioned to provide top notch customer service because of this.

2. Diverse Teams Are More Productive

When your employees build rapport with customers, outcomes improve. Employees who can connect with customers and coworkers are less likely to suffer from verbal abuse and more likely to give customers a positive experience. The diversity of your staff enables you to build better customer relationships, understand the cultural differences of your customers, and deliver your service to an increasingly multi-lingual customer base. The result is happier customers and improved productivity.

3. Diversity and Inclusion Creates a Happy Workplace

When people feel connected to their work and their employers, employee engagement improves. This snowballs into benefits such as increased productivity, lower turnover, and higher profits. You’ll benefit from higher collaboration, greater individual and team effort, and employees who become brand advocates – encouraging talent to join your team. Reams of research prove this is the case. Here are a few examples:
• McKinsey found that gender diverse companies are 21% more likely to report above-average profits
• Cloverpop’s research concluded that diverse teams deliver 60% better results
• Gartner discovered that highly diverse and inclusive organizations deliver a 26% increase in collaboration
In short, diversity and inclusion help to deliver a happier workplace that drives business results.

4. Diverse Organizations Attract Talented Candidates

Organizations with strong diversity and inclusion policies attract the most talented candidates for their vacant positions. Research shows that candidates’ convictions are growing stronger, too:
• In 2014, Glassdoor found that 67% of candidates surveyed said a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating job opportunities
• The 2017 PwC Managing for Talent survey found that more than 80% of respondents said that diversity and inclusion policies and practices are an important factor when choosing which company to work for.
To attract the most talented candidates to your company, you must embed diversity as a policy and as part of your hiring process.

Hiring for Diversity

To recruit today’s top talent, it is crucial that you hire for diversity. You may already have ensured that your diversity and inclusion policies are included in your employee handbook and HR procedures. However, do your hiring procedures support this?

What questions do you ask on application forms, and what questions do interviewers ask of candidates?
What do your candidate experiences tell would-be applicants about your diversity and inclusion policies?

A CareerBuilder survey found that only 32% of candidates found their most recent candidate experience to be ‘very good’. And candidates who have a poor experience during the hiring process are less likely to join you. To deliver a more satisfying candidate experience in a world in which your approach to diversity and inclusion in the workplace really does matter, contact Lakeshore Talent today.