Equality is the idea that people should all be treated fairly (not equally) while diversity is about recognising that there are both individual and group differences and so people should be treated as such. You can look at building an inclusive and diverse workplace in any combination of financial and/or ethical ways but the result is the same: it benefits your organisation to be one. Firms that offer an inclusive environment for a diverse mix of employees stand to innovate, grow and outperform the competition (Guardian 2017). Many benefits have been identified for organisations who adopt equality, diversion and inclusion into their companies. The following are some of those benefits:
1. Equality and diversity add new skills to teams
People who come from different backgrounds can add new experiences, talent, and skills into your team — all of which improve company performance. Valuing diversity and employing people from different backgrounds with different perspectives can massively improve business output. Having a diversity of thinking allows your team to understand and design better customer experience, which leads to better customer satisfaction. Better customer services. A diverse and inclusive workforce can improve customer services.
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2. Diversity in the workplace promotes innovation
Diversity widens viewpoints and takes different ideas and perspectives into account. This can translate into creating richer solutions, obtaining better results and maximising productivity, innovation and creativity. It is evident that diversity in the workplace creates more innovative business outputs. By bouncing ideas off each other, a diverse team can generate more creative, innovative ideas. Skills diversity also comes into play here. Good diversity management is key to future business success.
3. Diversity and inclusion opens business up to new markets
When you introduce people into your teams with different social, geographical and cultural backgrounds, you instantly get a new knowledge base for potential new markets. The business economy is becoming increasingly globalised. Having a diverse workplace allows organisations to more effectively market, better serve and communicate to consumer groups from different cultures, races and religious backgrounds, which in turn may lead to increased sales and profits and access to a more diverse market.
Why pay through the nose for a questionable standard translator when your in-house copywriter writes in three languages? Why employ separate language telesales operatives when you can hire staff who are multilingual? There are other advantages too. Having multiple nationalities and cultural backgrounds within your business can make it more appealing, modern and relatable to the outside world.
4. Valuing diversity improves your brand reputation
Another business benefit of Diversity and Inclusion is about Brand and Reputation enhancement. Diversity in the workplace is vital for employees because it manifests itself in building a great reputation for the company, leading to increased profitability and opportunities for workers. Workplace diversity is important within the organisation as well as outside. Business reputations flourish when companies demonstrate their commitment to diversity through aggressive outreach and recruiting efforts. An organisation known for its ethics, fair employment practices and appreciation for diverse talent is better able to attract a wider pool of qualified applicants. Other advantages include loyalty from customers who choose to do business only with companies whose business practices are socially responsible.With big companies now having to publicly disclose their gender pay gap data, and the drive for more inclusive workplaces increasing, introducing diversity drives into hiring decisions can improve your chances of acquiring the best staff. If you have proven success in hiring diverse candidates into senior roles, it can have a visual impact on those checking your company out before choosing to apply for a job.
It can also improve integration for new starters if they can see diversity throughout the business. Word travels fast in the modern world — especially through social media and channels like Glassdoor. Get your diversity right, and your employer brand will strengthen significantly.
5. Diversity management opens up new talent
If you have a strong employer brand built on diversity, new talent will start to emerge. Once you’re viewed in the public eye as a progressive company, you will attract people from every sector of society. When you have more applicants from more backgrounds, you have a greater pool of talent to choose from. Once onboard, employees that feel valued and respected and that are part of an inclusive work environment are less likely to leave. Doing both of these successfully can help reduce expenses related to recruitment and retention. Not only does better diversity open up new talent, it helps you retain the best talent you’ve got. People want to work in a company that has values that reflect theirs. With society becoming ever-more inclusive — with young talent in particular being acutely aware of inclusivity — your teams need to reflect the society in which we live so you can retain the best talent.
6. Reducing the risk and possibility of legal action
The more you do to tackle discrimination in the workplace, the less need there will be for you to face possible legal proceedings and, even if you do, there are greater mitigating factors that reduce the likelihood of a successful claim against you. It might sound rather mercenary to talk in these terms but balancing risk is something that needs to be done, especially where it could cause significant financial or reputational harm to the company. (Tate 2020)
In summary there are numerous benefits to having an equality, diversity and inclusion policy that supports these concepts. Failing to have this policy could result in limiting the skills and new talent available to your organisation, an increase in conflict, reducing innovation, limit available markets and damaging the reputation of the brand or organisation. Ultimately it cold lead to legal challenge, which has financial implications as well as damaging the reputation and image of the organisation.
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