Diversity: BETTER – STRONGER – FASTER

Author: Heath McCarter & Denise Chaffin, President, Talent Acquisition Team Leader

In the 1970s we had a bionic, superhuman astronaut in our living rooms: The $6,000,000 Man. Forty plus years later, we are recapturing this bionic power to build diverse, superhuman workforce teams.

In order to thoroughly understand how a diverse workforce makes us Better – Stronger – Faster, let’s take a deeper look at the multi-layers of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DI&B). We’ll discover how diverse communities can turn our organizations into a bionic, superhuman charged workforce.

What is Diversity?

In an ideal world, the term ‘Diverse’ applies to each of us as employers and employees. Every employee we hire brings a unique and distinctive perspective to our organizations.

The term ‘Diversity’ is an identifier for the under-represented minority groups of people who frequently experience discrimination or conditions that create obstacles to career opportunities.

Increasingly, organizations are embracing ‘Diversity’ and subsequently squashing discrimination and eliminating many obstacles for career opportunities.

What is Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging?

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DI&B) is an inclusive practice that attracts people from a wide-range of communities who are ready and willing to fully participate as members of a united workforce.

What is the difference between Inclusion and Belonging? Some say the Inclusion is being asked to the party. Belonging is being asked to dance.

Following are Examples of DI&B in the Workplace:

Ethnicity/Race:
Determining ethnicity and race can be tricky. With our multi race, ethnic, and cultural society, people may self-identify as one or more races or ethnicities. We cannot identify a person’s race or ethnicity background solely by appearance. Our identities are evolving.

The U.S. Census Bureau acknowledges established racial backgrounds as social constructs rather than as biologically defined categories, and the increasing self-definition of “mixed race” further reinforces the idea. Ethnicity, on the other hand, is based largely on the idea of a shared history, cultural, or geographical background (e.g., Latino or Mexican).

This cultural reference to ethnicity creates a positive atmosphere in the workforce conversation without many of the controversies associated with race.

Companies with racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to perform at a higher level.

Source

Gender:
According to a 2019 Wikipedia report, around 74.6 million U.S. women (compared to the overall population of 123 million women), ages 16 and older, are either working or seeking work.

Regarding education, 34% of women compared to 26% of their male counterparts are earning Bachelor Degrees by the age of 29, according to the U.S Department of Labor.

Female workers still encounter significant obstacles and gaps in pay; as well as, lower leadership opportunities and executive representation – especially in STEM-related fields.

In addition to business challenges, women face issues of bias and harassment. These struggles have been highlighted and heavily publicized with the recent #MeToo movement.

Companies that employ equal numbers of men and women manage to produce up to 41% higher revenue.

Source

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT):
Numerous surveys reveal that LGBT workers continue to experience high levels of discrimination in the workplace, yet the LGBT population represents a powerful part of the consumer market and corporate workforce. According to one study, the buying power of the LGBT community [globally] is roughly $3.7 trillion¹.

Likewise, the LGBT overall influence on the workforce population is significant. A company’s treatment of LGBT workers impacts the view of “allies,” people who are not part of this group but agree with and advocate for the rights of LGBT persons in the community.

Research and data demonstrate the benefits of LGBT inclusivity. Companies that implement inclusive policies see increased stock prices by an average of 6.5% compared to industry peers that are not focused on inclusivity.

Source

Military Veterans:
Veteran hiring represents a significant social need and business opportunity. The U.S. affords veterans official Equal Employment Opportunity status, and the U.S. Department of Labor issues specific veteran hiring benchmarks for federal agencies and contractors based on the percentage of veterans hired or contracted by U.S. companies. This benchmark has hovered roughly around 7% since the guidelines went into effect in 2014 (6.9% in 2017).

Veterans carry many of the valued skills that are in demand today, ranging from leadership and management to engineering and many other STEM related positions. Many organizations strive to employ veterans when they can. Veterans possess a stronger sense of loyalty, a dedication to teamwork; and, strong discipline and problem-solving skills, based on their military training and experience.

Workers with Disabilities:
People with disabilities are recognized as the largest U.S. minority group. The population of people with disabilities is close to 50 million with nearly $200 billon in discretionary spending power. Globally, people with disabilities represent approximately 15% of the total population.

Workers with disabilities differ from other groups in the D&I discussion. They have a greater diversity spectrum within this group. Besides physical impediments, a broader range of disabilities varies significantly and includes vision, movement, thinking, learning difficulties, communication, mental health, and social relationships.

The negative connotations surrounding disabilities are changing. In some cases, people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) bring with them skills that surpass non-ASD workers, notably in the IT world. Companies like SAP, Microsoft, and IBM are implementing programs for hiring people with ASD. The specialized ASD abilities identified for certain roles with these companies are referred to as ‘neurodiverse’ talents or skills, and are being executed with great success.

Age:
By 2024, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects people over age 55 will include 41 million workers or roughly 25 percent of a total 164 million strong U.S. labor force. Unfortunately, older workers are excluded through many types of bias, conscious or otherwise. For example, companies may rely heavily on campus recruiting to fill certain positions, automatically excluding older workers, or job descriptions may skew toward ‘entry level’ cutting off interested older workers who may be considered overqualified.

Younger generations experience age discrimination, too. Youth discrimination occurs when employers use stereotypes including terms like Millennial workers; or organizations that tacitly seek out ‘mature workers’ to fill positions within their companies.

How does diversity help my company?

Diversity in the workplace safeguards a culture of different perspectives.

A diverse organization is inclusive of employees with different characteristics and backgrounds; as well as a variety of different skills and experiences.

Since we just identified seven different types of diversity groups, lets explore how they can make your company

Better – Stronger – Faster

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Better…

Better Company Reputation:
Workplace diversity boosts a company’s reputation and brand.

Companies dedicated to building and promoting diversity in the workplace are viewed as good employers with positive people skills, and socially responsible cultures.

Workplace diversity attracts highly-valued employees who seek compatibility with a company. These employees identify with your culture and brand which opens doors to new markets, customers and business partners.

80% of talent acquisition managers believe that employer branding has a significant impact on the ability to hire great talent.

Source

Better Hiring Results:
Workplace diversity leads to better hiring results.

Diversity in the workplace boosts a company’s employer brand and fosters your company reputation as a more desirable place to work. Workplace diversity is an especially beneficial asset for attracting top talent from diverse talent pools.

67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is important when considering job offers.

Source

Better Employee Retention:

Workplace diversity promotes employee retention and reduced attrition.

Companies with a diverse workforce are generally more inclusive of different individual characteristics and perspectives.

Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in the workplace creates a feeling of acceptance and value for all employees. When employees feel accepted and valued, they are happier in the jobs and stay longer with a company. As a result, companies with greater diversity in the workplace have attrition rates.

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Stronger…

Stronger Employee Engagement:
Workplace diversity leads to stronger and higher employee engagement.

Workers in highly diverse and inclusive organizations experience a 26% increase in team collaboration and an 18% increase in team commitment. Employees who feel included are more engaged.

Source

Stronger profits:
Companies with greater workplace diversity achieve greater profits.

Gender-diverse companies are 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability; and 27% more likely to create longer-term value than companies that do not have gender-diversity.

Source

Companies with a diverse workforce make better decisions faster, which gives them a significant advantage over their competitors.

Stronger innovation:
Diversity in the workplace leads to higher innovation rates.

Companies with above-average diversity produce a greater revenues from innovation (45%) than from companies with below average diversity (26%).

Source

In a diverse workplace, employees have visibility to increased advancements and worldviews. This visibility inevitably opens doors to new and exciting innovation.

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Faster…

Faster problem-solving
Companies with higher workplace diversity solve problems faster.

Diverse teams are able to solve problems faster than cognitively similar people.

Source

Employees from diverse backgrounds have different experiences and views, which is why they are able to will bring diverse solutions to the table. Thus, the best solution can be chosen sooner, which leads to faster problem-solving.

Faster decision making
Workplace diversity leads to faster & better decision making results.

Teams outperform individual decision makers 66% of the time, and decision making improves as team diversity increases. Compared to individual decision makers, all-male teams make better business decisions 58% of the time, while gender diverse teams do so 73% of the time. Teams that also include a wide range of ages and different geographic locations make better business decisions 87% of the time.

Source

When employees with different backgrounds and perspectives come together, they come up with more solutions, which leads to the more informed and improved decision-making processes and results.

Are you ready?

Diversity & Inclusion is in not a trending phrase of 2020 but good business as proven through years of research.

Do you need to improve your diversity & inclusion programs at your company, do you know need to know where to start?

We have the technology.  We have the capability to build the world’s best organizations. Your company will be that company. Better than you were before.

Better – Stronger – Faster