By respecting the unique needs, perspectives, and potential of their diverse workforces, equitable employers earn deeper trust and more commitment from their employees—and outpace their competitors. In recent years, diversity and inclusion have become increasingly significant elements of the workplace, yet many companies often make simple mistakes in the implementation of their diversity or inclusion efforts. Such mistakes can be corrected, but only if organizations know what they're doing wrong. Unfortunately, many leaders won't see those shortcomings—and won’t recognize what's “right” and “wrong” when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the workplace—unless they're actively seeking them out.
Defining diversity and inclusion
Diversity is ensuring the representation of different people in an organization, and inclusion is ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to and influence every part and level of a workplace. Diversity and inclusion are interconnected—but not interchangeable—concepts. Diversity focuses on representation or an entity’s makeup, whereas inclusion measures how much the contributions, presence, and perspectives of different groups of people are valued and integrated into an environment. If many different genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations, and sexual identities are present but only the perspectives of certain groups are valued or carry any authority or influence, that environment may be diverse but it is not inclusive.
The benefits of diversity and inclusion
A diverse and inclusive workplace can lead to higher revenue growth, increase innovation, and improve an organization’s ability to recruit a diverse talent pool. A culture of inclusion can also aid retention, because when employees don’t feel that their ideas, presence, or contributions are truly valued or taken seriously by the organization, they will eventually leave. Inclusion helps build trust, and when employees trust that they (and their colleagues) will be treated fairly regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or age, they are more likely to have positive engagement with their work and to stay a long time at their company. Having an inclusive workplace culture helps a company not only attract a diverse set of new talent but also retain the diverse talent it already has.
Achieving—and going beyond—diversity and inclusion
A diverse and inclusive workplace is one in which everyone—regardless of who they are or what they do for the business—feels equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace. To reveal the true diversity and inclusion in their workplaces, leaders should examine whether their organizations have diversity in their recruitment practices, in all of their departments, and at all levels of the organization.
When leaders push to overcome challenges and create a workplace in which employees feel that they belong, that their unique talents matter, and that their individual needs are cared for by their colleagues and leaders, they foster a company culture that respects and honors all members.
Because today’s workplaces are more diverse and globally connected than ever before, the “for all” approach is key to organization’s success. Leaders must tap into collective intelligence to maximize the potential of every person. And as technological and social changes continue to alter the landscape in every industry, organizations will need the human judgment, empathy, passion and creativity of all their people to realize the full promise of the era’s new technologies, increase agility and inventiveness, and address the challenges of an increasingly demanding (and vocal) marketplace.
Organizations that remain “for some” workplaces will risk losing money, earning less, and falling behind their competitors. But those that pursue—and achieve—diversity and inclusion will cultivate tremendous value from their people’s differences and will thrive.