Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

The topics of diversity and inclusion are on everybody’s lips these days. For busi­ness­es, the concept is taking on a bigger and bigger role when it comes to putting together a suc­cess­ful team and pre­sent­ing one’s company as an at­trac­tive employer. We explain what the terms are all about and how im­ple­ment­ing them can benefit your company.

Diversity and inclusion are often mentioned in the same breath and do have a lot to do with one another. However, they are actually two separate concepts.

Diversity refers to the presence of in­di­vid­u­als with a variety of char­ac­ter­is­tics and back­grounds in a group. These char­ac­ter­is­tics can vary along axes like gender, race, class, sexual identity, religion, dis­abil­i­ty, and age.

Studies in recent years have shown that teams and companies that place value on having personnel that’s as diverse as possible are more pro­duc­tive, exhibit a higher tolerance for new things, and have higher employee mo­ti­va­tion. However, it’s less about working your way through a checklist of potential diversity char­ac­ter­is­tics and more about dis­cov­er­ing gaps and potential. Iden­ti­fy­ing a lack of diversity as the cause of problems on your team is the first step.

The core of inclusion is the idea that everyone - re­gard­less of race, age, religion, gender, sexual ori­en­ta­tion, or any other char­ac­ter­is­tic - should have the same op­por­tu­ni­ties and access to resources. Every voice should be heard. In the workplace, that means creating a patient, un­der­stand­ing, and re­spect­ful en­vi­ron­ment where everyone feels com­fort­able and valued. This often involves taking certain practical steps, such as creating wheel­chair-ac­ces­si­ble office spaces, offering ap­pro­pri­ate parental leave and daycare for new parents, setting up systems of ac­count­abil­i­ty for instances of sexual ha­rass­ment/racism/ho­mo­pho­bia, enabling good work-life balance, and making in­for­ma­tion available in all the languages spoken at the company.

Numerous studies and sta­tis­tics show that diversity and inclusion is a worth­while part of a company’s mission and vision. Some of the concrete benefits of diversity and inclusion for companies are:

1. More skills mean better results. Different ways of ap­proach­ing tasks lead to different results, meaning that new and more creative solutions often come out of diverse teams. In­di­vid­ual pro­duc­tiv­i­ty is also increased when people are motivated by one another’s skills and knowledge.
2. Sales and profits increase. Increased pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and cre­ativ­i­ty have a positive effect on the company’s revenue.
3. Companies become more at­trac­tive for potential new hires. That’s because more and more ap­pli­cants are paying close attention to the topic of diversity and inclusion when choosing an employer.
4. Once hired, employees at companies that pri­or­i­tize diversity and inclusion tend to stay longer due to the strong team feeling. This means that companies can save money on the processes of hiring and training new team members.
5. A company’s corporate image improves overall - and not only in the eyes of ap­pli­cants. Diversity and inclusion can also be very important for investors and customers.
6. Employees will benefit from the social skills they gain on the job. So an inclusive work en­vi­ron­ment doesn’t just make sense from a business per­spec­tive but also from a human per­spec­tive.

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