Over the past several years, many businesses are actively focusing on improving diversity within the workplace. Research has shown that gender diversity, as well as ethnic and cultural diversity in the workplace, can be extremely beneficial for your business.
Not only is it important to have a diverse workplace, it’s also important to ensure that the workplace is inclusive and that everybody’s voices are heard. After all, what’s the point of hiring diversely if you don’t hear them out?
Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace that values the differences of each individual can have a remarkable impact on your employees’ motivation and productivity.
Although certain people will view D&I (diversity and inclusion) practices simply as a “social justice trend,” these practices have been proven to have positive, tangible impacts for your business interests.
Ultimately, D&I practices are beneficial in fostering an equitable society, as well as being practical to your business. Today, let’s take a look at how diversity and inclusion in the workplace is advantageous to your employees and your business at large.
Employee Retention & Recruitment
Your employees are the backbone of your business. It is extremely important to take care of your employees and ensure that they feel comfortable in the workplace.
Having a diverse and inclusive workplace shows your employees that not only do you accept, but also embrace the differences that make each individual unique. It also shows that you are open to varying ideas and perspectives. Ensuring that your employees’ voices are heard shows that you value them.
Employees who feel undervalued will be far more likely to explore other employment opportunities. This can be the result of them feeling like their voice is continually unheard, or their efforts continually unacknowledged.
On the other hand, embracing an employees’ individual differences allows your employees to feel accepted, which will result in a more engaged professional presence.
This can be accomplished by being intentional about the way that you incorporate inclusivity and diversity practices into the workplace. Whether it is an idea or a concern, an employee will feel valued if their voices are heard and opinions respected. This in turn reduces employee turnover rates.
This is significant when you consider this survey conducted by ManuLife, which shows that an average turnover costs about 40% of an employee’s salary. Reducing employee turnover rates can be a huge factor in reducing costs for your business.
In addition to increased employee retention, workplace diversity and inclusion positively impacts recruitment as well.
Work culture is quickly becoming a predominant draw for potential employees. As such, demonstrating focus and attention towards D&I practices will allow your business to be viewed more positively by potential applicants (and customers as well). After all, potential applicants want to ensure that they are entering a positive workplace environment that they can seamlessly integrate into.
As an employer, creating a diverse and inclusive workplace will ultimately allow you to recruit from a larger pool of talent.
Gaining Customers & Clients
When it comes to marketing and sales, D&I practices can benefit your business in a variety of ways.
As already briefly mentioned, showcasing diversity and inclusion efforts reflects positively on potential customers and clients. Additionally, having a diverse team and the various perspectives that come along with them means that you are able to gain a broader understanding of your potential customers and clients.
A McKinsey’s study reveals that businesses that are gender diverse are 25% more likely to outperform their contemporaries, going up to 36% for ethnically-diverse businesses.
It is important to listen to the input of a culturally diverse team, as it is potentially some indication of the various demographics that you are marketing your product towards.
A Well-Rounded Team
Employees who possess distinct backgrounds and who come from different walks of life usually possess different experiences and abilities as well. Working with, and socializing with individuals outside of one’s familiar circle can help in exposing them to new interests as well as broadening their world view. When comparing a diverse workplace with a relatively homogenous workplace, the former will often foster more creativity and innovation.
Accounting for and synthesizing the diverse experiences within a workplace exposes your employees to fresh ideas. This allows them to learn and grow, and can also be a catalyst for innovation.
In addition to encouraging innovation, a well-rounded team is constructive in problem-solving. When confronted with a problem, considering viewpoints from varying perspectives allows your team to come up with a more comprehensive view of the obstacle at hand. Having different perspectives allow your employees to solve problems quicker and devise a wider range of solutions.
How To Build a More Diverse and Inclusive Workplace
Recruiting and onboarding the right employee(s) can be a monumental task. In addition to that, there’s training, taking the time to build company culture, managing staff relations, amongst a plethora of other processes that make HR time-consuming and resource intensive.
If you are running a small business, and find the task of building out the right team to be intimidating, don’t be hard on yourself. It is intimidating. Finding the right employees and creating a healthy work environment can be immensely profitable for your business. It’s an important part of your business, and deserves the time and effort.
What if we told you we have the tools that can assist you in this critical task and save you the time, as well as the headache?
We are here to support you in all aspects of the HR process. Whether it’s recruiting, onboarding, training, building company culture, and anything else, our human experience experts can assist you through the process. If you would like to learn more about our human experience services, click here!
