Surely most people have either heard or been told that there are numerous benefits to a diverse workforce. But perhaps many do not know, or understand, why and to what degree. Creating an inclusive and diverse environment in an organisation is not just the new “trend” but has very real and direct benefits to the organisation, such as outperforming their competitors, increasing employee engagement and achieving higher profits. Doesn’t that sound like a good thing?
Let look more closely at some of the benefits of a diverse workforce. If you have a diverse workforce, you will automatically have people with various backgrounds, experiences and thus different perspectives. This helps a business in ways of planning and executing business strategies, by ways of new ideas coming from the various perspectives and skills of the employees. This exposure to different perspectives can also lead to an increase in creativity. If we have a homogenous workforce, who all see things the same way, the ideas brought forth will never change. But when you have people who think differently, and come from differing backgrounds, then you are more likely to promote new and fresh ideas.
According to research companies that employ a diverse workforce are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders within their niche. Similarly, Harvard Business Review has found that diverse teams solve problems quicker than groups of individuals that are cognitively similar. Diversity of people leads to a diversity of solutions!
Within our growing global market, we find that the world in many ways is getting smaller. It is easy to have business partners across the globe and as such a diverse workforce is a huge benefit to any organisation. With a diverse workforce you increase the organisations cultural sensitivity, insight and local knowledge which for example can lead to a higher quality of marketing strategies and materials.
Another benefit comes from increasing the pool from which you can find your employees. According to a survey by Glassdoor two thirds of job hunters noted that diversity was important to them when looking at which companies or jobs they were attracted to. By making diversity an important part of your recruitment strategy and process, your talent pool will broaden. Further studies have shown that a diverse workforce actually helps companies retain the workforce and thus reducing costs associated with employee turnover. Employees are more likely to feel valued and respected for their unique contributions and thus more likely to remain with the organisation.
A diverse workplace also leads to better decision making, where a study demonstrated that when diverse teams make business decisions, they performed better that individual decisionmakers up to 87% of the time. Another study carried out by McKinsey & Company, a global management firm, found that companies with higher diversity amongst their top teams were also the top financial performers.
The list of benefits and research to back it up, could go on forever. The above are just a few highlights to why diversity in the workplace is a must.