Improving Diversity and Inclusion May be the Key to Solving People-Related Issues

Experience, Leadership

 Businesses, at least the most successful ones, are always fully committed to identifying and strengthening areas that may hamper their growth and success. 

But even some of these businesses, as we now have learned, have missed a key element – diversity and inclusion. 

We know this to be true because in a survey of more than 5,000 people, a staggering 65% of all ethnic minority participants experienced racial harassment in their workplace in the last five years in Britain, while 49% said they had been treated unfairly by their employer because of their race.

It’s interesting to look at the figures when it comes to high staff turnover, poor recruitment of talent and talent retention: these are issues a vast majority of businesses experience. 

In line with recent studies, a lack of diversity and inclusion within an organisation may indeed be the leading cause of high staff turnover and poor recruitment of talent. 

In a survey of 1300 full-time employees, conducted by Deloitte found that:

  • 75% of senior managers who responded said they would consider leaving jobs for more diverse and inclusive organisations
  • 80% of the respondents currently in the labour pool, said inclusion is an important factor in choosing a new employer

In fact, if this is slightly surprising, can you imagine the many other areas that are being affected within your business due to a lack of diversity and inclusion?

The more ‘common areas’ that will rightly be affected, include

-workplace culture

-creativity and innovation

-performance

But the lesser-known areas, which are just as, and sometimes even more important to a growing business, is sales, and client relationships. Every business, including yours, likely has a diverse client base. 

A lack of diversity and inclusion in your business can absolutely affect the relationships you have with existing and potential clients, as well as your reputation as a brand. 

We are moving into a new era; societal undercurrents are being exposed and addressed, and people are becoming more conscious of their own actions and those of the businesses and people they support. If employees would leave one employer for another due to a lack of diversity and inclusion; your clients are likely to do so too. 

So with this being said, if businesses want to be the change and use their power for the betterment of society, as well as retain their competitive advantage; their talent and their position in the market; diversity and inclusion needs to be made a priority. 

Going about diversity and inclusion in your workplace 

It’s important to note that diversity and inclusion is a lot more than the representation of black and minority ethnic groups in your business. This is where most organisations get it wrong. While representation is important, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Diversity and inclusion also refers to the opportunities available, amongst others, and extends beyond race. It includes: 

  • Ethnicity
  • Gender
  • Sexual orientation
  • Generation
  • Disability
  • Personality type

…and more

Our diversity and inclusion surveys here at Inpulse look at six key areas including opportunity, leadership, trust, belonging, culture and structure; and we take an industry-leading approach:

  • We’ll involve your minority-group employees during the crafting of survey questions to address the right concerns 
  • We don’t believe in a fixed, one-size-fits-all approach, we believe in DIALOGUE. The entire process is tailored to you and your people.

We certainly take the right, and most rewarding approach to diversity and inclusion, made possible by consulting with minority group employees during the development of our strategy and survey. 

Get in touch and have us help you take the next step in improving diversity and inclusion within your business. 

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