For a time, inclusion felt like just a temporary buzzword. While inclusion has become a common practice, there remains a significant gap between theory and practice. This means that organizations often fail to achieve their goals because they don’t fully understand the power of inclusion and diversity.

Successful workplaces of the future should involve policies for diversity. Long-term sustainability will depend on what individuals and companies do today, making inclusion increasingly crucial. Inclusion can refer to diversity in terms of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, religion, or disability. Recently there has been a shift in attention from standard recruiting procedures emphasizing skill sets to personality and cultural fit.

This is seen through employing people from diverse backgrounds using affirmative recruitment.

So why are companies focusing on diversifying and inclusivity in the workplace right now? Does it make a company successful? What are the benefits of inclusivity in the workplace?

Here we share why an inclusive workplace is a great contributor to company success;

Read More: Diversity in Matters Now More than Ever

Diversity Increases Profitability and Sustainability  

“There is a strong business case for diversity,” said Nora Gardner, senior partner at McKinsey. Inclusive workplaces bring together people with unique talents and backgrounds, reducing employee turnover, improving innovation, and increasing productivity. Fostering a workplace that celebrates diversity allows companies to have workers free to think of unique solutions to problems.

Gender, racial, and ethnic equality and inclusion frequently link to diversity. In recent years, companies have realized the importance of building diverse teams to attract and retain top talent. Many candidates looking for work consider diversity policies at the company prior to accepting offers.

A study from McKinsey highlights how women leaders increase employee retention. Even with little to no recognition from the business, women leaders are more likely to work twice to support their teams. This is a double-edged sword, as women leaders are more likely to feel exhausted and underappreciated by their companies due to the high workload and lack of appreciation. Unfortunately, this may lead to burnout, hence looking for better and more appreciative opportunities outside.

Nearly half of the businesses started in 2021 were women-led. Many Diverse teams are more likely to have increased revenues from innovation and investments. According to a report by Harvard Business Review, “thriving requires creative thinking, and diverse collaborators are better equipped to deliver.” Venture capitalists with a 10% increase in female partners had a 1.5% increase in annualized fund returns and 9.7% more lucrative exits.

Diversity Leads to a Healthier Workplace Environment  

The International Labour Organization reports that “high levels of equality, diversity, and inclusion are linked to increased creativity, productivity, and performance, as well as talent recruitment and retention and staff well-being.”

A diverse workplace fosters innovation, creativity, and problem-solving. This is because various origins and perspectives encourage a healthy and proactive exchange of ideas. Which also encourages employees to be more open to their colleagues. Hence creating a safe space for them to discuss any negative or positive issues that may arise in the workplace or within their personal lives, as work stress can be compounded by feeling isolated and disengaged especially if you are a remote employee.

With tech-enabled DEI solutions, inclusion in the workplace can best be represented and allowing your employees to use their preferred nouns is a good first step in recognizing not only their gender identities but their individuality as well.

Ways to Be Inclusive in Your Workplace 

1. Know the Diversity Data of Your Current Employee Pool

Creating a successful DEI strategy in your company will require analyzing your current employee pool. You can start by collecting information on job applications, resumes, and performance evaluations. Analyze the insights into how the existing performance management system design or adjustment has met the needs of your diverse employees.

To effectively engage diverse employees, companies need to collect relevant data. Such as the minorities represented in your current employee pool? What are your turnover rates for your diverse employees?

2. Ask Your Employees for Opinions and Input on Your DEI Policies

Empower your employees by asking them for their opinions and input to help improve your diversity performance as a company. Learning that you want to hear from them is a great way to remind them of how much you value them. As stakeholders in the company, your employees will have valuable information on how and where to implement changes.

Create spaces where employees can share their opinions as individual workers and in a group. Your introverted employees may prefer online forms that can protect their anonymity. Focus group discussions can be done both with senior staff and with your low-ranking employees.

3. Celebrate Diversity for All Employees

Celebrate diversity in your workplace, from small acts to big ones. The annual celebrate diversity month can be an office discussion or dinner with all employees. This can be a statement that the company values its employees’ diversity.

You can also include small announcements on the company’s bulletin board. Celebrate by decorating the office space depending on the holiday or event. Have small rainbow flags or share a rainbow cake in the office during Pride Month. Allow for pets to be included during Family Day events in the office. These seemingly little acts can endear and motivate your employees more for the company.

4. Revisit Your Recruitment Process

Review the job posts and the process documents when screening candidates. With the help of your human resource staff, look into patterns that may indicate significant bias in the recruitment process. Is your human resource staff trained to conduct equal-opportunity recruitment? Does the job post not explicitly state that the company is open to diverse candidates?

Some equally attractive candidates may have reservations about applying to your company for fear of recruitment discrimination. Ask yourself, what are my diversity goals? Does my recruitment process reflect my company’s policies on inclusion?

5. Partner with Diversity, Inclusion, and Equal Opportunity Practitioners

DEI practitioners and experts can help you better in navigating policies for inclusion. Consult with staffing firms that have experience in specific industries or fields. Tech diversity practice may differ from marketing diversity.

Partnering with specialists like staffing firms can help anchor you better on DEI issues and developments. With their rich experience, they can help you with recruitment and performance management.

Embrace Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion with the Help of On-Demand Group  

Diversity and inclusion in the workplace lead to better-performing employees and profitable businesses. On-Demand Group is a woman-led and award-winning consulting firm that provides equal opportunity to its candidate pool. As the 14th largest IT Consulting firm in the twin cities, you can be sure your business will have the support it needs to increase Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in your company. We conduct our business openly and honestly based on genuine connections and mutual respect for your needs as our client. Reach out to us today!