The workplace research body Great Place to Work defines a diverse and inclusive workplace as being “one that makes everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do for the business, feel equally involved and supported in all areas of the workplace”.
While diversity and inclusion (D&I) are interconnected as concepts, it is important to recognise that they do mean subtly different things.
Diversity, as CIPD explains, is about recognising the differences across individuals and acknowledging the benefits that a range of perspectives bring to the workplace and to its customers. Inclusion is more about how well that diverse workforce feels its contribution, presence and perspective is being valued. As CIPD states, each person, no matter their background, identity or circumstance, should feel able to thrive and perform at their full potential.
Incorporating a D&I strategy into your organisation can bring many benefits for both the organisation and staff. Below we’ve explored five of these in more detail:
1. Attract talent and retain it
Hiring from a wider pool of people means access to a diverse range of skills, perspectives, attributes and ambitions that can be beneficial to your organisation and its culture.
It also means that, if you do have a vacancy, the chances are you’ll be better placed to find the right person to fill it. This is either because you have a wider range of talent available internally or because potential candidates are drawn to your organisation. According to CIPD, research shows that people want to work for organisations with good hiring processes that are fair to everyone.
2. Improve innovation and creativity
In a workplace or business scenario too much ‘of the same’ may not be a good thing. It can lead to ‘group think’ or only seeing things from narrow or rigid positions.
Organisations that are diverse and inclusive – that draw on and celebrate different views and approaches – tend to be more innovative, imaginative and creative.
They are often better at finding solutions and/or overcoming problems, diversifying into new areas, ‘blue skies’ thinking, or adapting to change.
3. Improve decision-making and collaboration
Diversity and inclusion can play an important role in improving and enhancing decision-making within an organisation. For example, if an organisation is not diverse, it can lead to staff drawing on a similar pool of experiences, perspectives, prejudices and backgrounds. When they bounce ideas off each other they’ll be in echo chamber, reflecting back solutions or answers that feel comfortable, or that are out of touch with other people’s perspectives.
As this blog makes clear, organisations that are diverse, especially cognitively diverse, will be able to bring fresh thinking, ideas and perspectives to their decision-making. Crucially, in an inclusive as well as diverse organisation, fresh perspectives and skillsets from all levels within the organisation are encouraged and celebrated.
4. Understand your customers better
As this article shows, having a diverse and inclusive workforce not only means teams tend to work better internally, you’re also likely to gain an edge because you’ll be better reflecting your customers and potential customers.
Employees will be better placed to understand and anticipate what it is customers want or don’t want. They’ll be able to communicate better with prospects, making your business more attractive.
This can feed through into reputational benefits, and not only because you’re more tuned-in to your customer base. If your customers can see you’re ‘like them’, whether that’s reflecting the diversity or simply their interests and purchasing decisions, that’s going to enhance your reputation and how you are perceived.
A further benefit is that, if your workforce reflects the physical or social community within which you are operating, you are more likely to be able to engage in CSR (corporate social responsibility) activities, such as employee volunteering. Taking part in these initiatives is an opportunity for the organisation and staff to work together in order to make a positive difference in the world.
5. People feel valued
An organisation that genuinely embraces and celebrates all of its talents is likely to be more transparent and have a greater level of engagement, loyalty and happiness across its workforce.
Taking this into account, it’s not that surprising that organisations who lead in and engage with D&I generally report higher rates of employee retention, as this blog highlights.
However, as this article in the Harvard Business Review also emphasises, the key here is more the inclusion side of D&I – making people feel they belong – rather than simply focusing on a broader range of individuals.
As James Leckie, service delivery director and D&I SLT sponsor at Optima Health, says: “Inclusion within diversity is absolutely fundamental. Diversity is important, of course, as everyone has value and can bring different things to the table, based on their own experiences and background.”
“But from there, it is about ensuring those different opinions and perspectives count; that people feel valued and of value, in their role as well as how they are influencing and contributing to the organisation as a whole,” he adds.
Finally, it’s also important to highlight that embedding D&I into your organisation can also help to support the health and wellbeing of staff. Creating an environment where people feel they can bring ‘their whole self’ to work can help to build resilience and contribute towards their overall mental wellbeing.
Occupational health also has a role to play, for example, it can offer guidance in relation to the Equality Act 2010. It can also offer screening for a range of neurodiverse conditions and offer employers advice on reasonable adjustments that can be put in place.
If you’re interested in further developing your diversity and inclusion strategy, why not book one of our workshops for your team?
Our workplace wellbeing team offer a range of workshops you can book that are a wellbeing intervention focusing on the essential skills and knowledge needed to manage occupational mental health and wellbeing effectively. The wellbeing interventions help to increase resilience in your staff and are preventative and restorative. For more information, register your interest in a wellbeing intervention by contacting workshoprequest@optimahealth.co.uk