From greater productivity and employee satisfaction to becoming a leader in your industry, learn the benefits of diversity in the workplace.
What comes to mind when you hear the words “a diverse workforce”? Do you imagine a group of people with a different set of characters? As it happens, a company that employs a diverse workforce actually employs individuals with a wide range of characteristics and experiences. This includes race, age, sexual orientation, culture, religion, skills, and ethnicity. Although we all appreciate diversity in our school and in our neighborhood, did you know that hiring a diversified workforce can also have a positive impact professionally?
Many companies today place a great emphasis on diversity. As of May 2016, over 51% of Nike company’s workers were not white. What’s more, females make up 48% of their workforce. Facebook has implemented programs like Facebook University to encourage women and underrepresented minorities to learn programming and increase interest in computer science. Hilton is another global company that employs a majority of minorities in the workforce.
Creating diversity in an organization is a longer-term strategy that requires hard work, but the payoff is worthwhile. Here are some benefits of diversity in the workplace:
A Pool of Different Talents
Your ideal team is a group of people with different talents, skills, and experiences. David is your tech guy, Ivana is great with digital marketing, and Rajesh is the HR specialist. Nothing can go wrong and catch you off-guard when you have the most experienced and diversified crew in place. A diverse workplace can draw in star candidates, can increase your employee retention, and can create a happier and more progressive environment. The greater your talent pool is, the more talent you’ll attract. Once you have a diverse team with different skills in place, you’ll be ready to reap all the rewards.
Related: 5 Strategies for Attracting and Retaining Millennial Talent
Innovation and Creativity
What’s more valuable to an organization than a new idea, concept, or method? Innovation is when creative people come together to produce something ingenious and novel that hasn’t been thought of before. A diverse workplace is where innovative ideas get born. When you have a pool of talents with different backgrounds, they can share their perspectives with each other and exchange thoughts and suggestions. Some employees can come up with new ideas for your company, then other employees with different skills can execute those ideas and make them a reality.
A Forbes study has shown that the best road to innovation is through a diverse workforce. The majority of the companies that make at least $500 million, 85% of them agree that one of the most essential aspects of fostering creativity and innovation is having a diverse workforce. Diversity drives innovation and creativity, which in turn can make your company successful on a global scale. Brainstorming, enhanced problem-solving, and improved collaboration – these are only some of the perks when a diverse team works together.
Better Customer Relations
Knowing and understanding your customers is at the center of every successful business. Knowing how to engage with your customers, speaking their language, knowing their idiosyncrasies is a great way to improve loyalty and get great recommendations. Diversifying your workplace will make the customers feel welcomed and encouraged to work with your company.
Let’s make things clearer with an example. Your company wants to introduce a new product geared toward veterans. If your workplace employs a veteran, your company will design the product that best suits their needs. This will give you a competitive edge and the company will perform better financially.
A study performed by LinkedIn questioned nearly 9,000 recruiters and hiring managers from 39 countries and 49% of them said that they focus on diversity in order to better represent their customers.
Employee Performance
Another top reason for companies to focus on diversity is to improve employee performance. By being part of a diverse team of individuals from all walks of life and various backgrounds, one will feel a sense of psychological safety that he/she belongs there. Employees won’t feel discriminated or undervalued, which will enable them to be their best selves at work. When an employee doesn’t feel included and accepted, then that employee will disengage and not operate to his/her full potential.
Fostering an environment that respects differing opinions, having leaders acknowledge the importance of diversity, and embedding diversity in the company mission and values will build an enthusiastic and motivated team that flourishes.
Positive Reputation
Diversity is now a worldwide trend. Roughly 78% of all global companies say that diversity is the top trend affecting how they hire. To stay alive professionally, you have to embrace it as it will lead to a positive reputation on a worldwide scale. A diverse company will show customers that it’s global-minded, innovative, and looking toward the future.
Take Walgreens for example. Its founder Charles Walgreen promoted equal pay for all pharmacists, regardless of race, 90 years ago. That same mindset still exists today as the company is dedicated to diversity recruiting and making everybody happy and healthy. The company celebrates events like same-sex marriages and transgender coming-outs, engages disabled talent, and helps veterans with their career paths. For this reason, Walgreens is one of the best-recognized companies that employ a diverse workforce.
Diversity is the New Global Mindset
Diversity is complex and doesn’t happen overnight. There’s no easy shortcut to achieving it, but the payoff is substantial. If you embrace it, it could be a revenue-driver for your company, a hot source of growth, and a game-changer for your global reputation. Incorporate diversity into your organizational culture so you can fuel prosperity and profitability.
Now that you are informed about the benefits of diversity in the workplace, use the knowledge to stay ahead of the game and recruit the best talent. Hire smart and stay competitive. Decide to ignore the trend, and start moving in the wrong direction.
