You may have come across the terms “diversity” and “inclusion” at work before. These two concepts are quite powerful and can bring a plethora of benefits to any organization when embraced. But what exactly are they?
Diversity is about acknowledging, understanding, and respecting differences among people. It’s about creating an environment that celebrates uniqueness and broadens perspectives. Inclusion means actively engaging diverse people in a way that transforms experiences into successes for all involved.
Diversity in the workplace can refer to many different types of characteristics—including race, gender, age, religion, education level, disability status, cultural background, and sexual orientation—just to name a few. In this article, we’ll explore the four primary types of diversity found in most organizations. We’ll also discuss why employers need to prioritize diversity at work and how they can do so effectively using 7 concrete strategies.
The 4 Types of Diversity
Understanding the 4 types of diversity is an important step in understanding how to promote workplace diversity and inclusion.
The four core types of diversity are:
- Cultural—This type of diversity includes various cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as gender, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
- Educational—This refers to differences in education levels among employees, including differences in knowledge, skills and abilities.
- Generational—This type of diversity is based on differences in age and life experience, including millennials, Generation Xers and baby boomers.
- Socioeconomic—This type of diversity involves differences in socio-economic background and status, including income level, wealth and access to resources.
Understanding all four types of workplace diversity will help employers create policies that promote diversity and eliminate any existing prejudices or biases against certain types of people within their workforce. By doing this, employers will be able to foster an environment that is inclusive and free from discrimination towards any group or individual within the organization.
Why Do We Need Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace?
Organizations can benefit in numerous ways from diversity at work. In addition to being a moral obligation and a matter of fairness, investing in diversity makes good business sense. Research has demonstrated that teams composed of individuals from diverse backgrounds, including gender, race, and age, are more effective at decision-making, performance, and profitability.
Here are some additional examples of how diversity can benefit the workplace:
- According to research by Josh Bersin and Deloitte, companies that prioritize inclusion are almost twice as likely to be recognized as innovation leaders in their industry.
- A study of European companies found that those with a higher proportion of women in leadership positions perform better financially, particularly in sectors where creativity, critical thinking, and knowledge work are crucial.
- Diverse teams offer an excellent opportunity for new managers to develop their communication and motivation skills, making them better leaders in the long run.
- Diversity helps upper-level managers stay in touch with the pulse of the company, as they receive direct communication from grassroots-level team members.
Improved Performance
Studies have shown that when businesses prioritize diversity and inclusion, their performance increases. When diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and skills are embraced and integrated, there’s an overall boost in innovation. Everyone at the table can bring different ideas, so teams can come up with more creative solutions to challenges. When everyone is included and treated with respect, businesses can leverage each individual’s talents to make better business decisions.
Increased Engagement
Creating a workplace where everyone is valued can also improve job satisfaction and engagement from employees. People who feel connected to their organization have a greater sense of motivation, leading to higher job satisfaction levels as well as higher retention rates for employees. This is important for businesses looking for long-term success by building a strong culture of trust and respect within the organization.
New Opportunities
In addition to improved performance, diversity and inclusion open up new opportunities for businesses—from exploring new markets to leveraging different customer bases—that they may not have realized before. Organizations that prioritize diversity also benefit from becoming a preferred employer among candidates of all backgrounds looking for an open, progressive working environment.
More Innovation
A study by Forbes found that having diverse employees can lead to more innovation in a company. Diverse employees have different life experiences and backgrounds, which means they can solve challenges or problems in new ways. When different viewpoints are combined, it can out-innovate competitors. Companies that practice diversity are 70% more likely to capture a new market. Intuit and Goodarzi appointed a racial equity director, La Toya Haynes, to lead the Racial Equity Advancement Leadership Team (REAL Team). One of their priorities is to remove 800 phrases and words that may foster a divisive workplace from Intuit’s corporate language by creating an anti-racism guide to educate employees on how to handle racism in the workplace.
Avoiding Groupthink
Workplace diversity can help avoid groupthink, which is a phenomenon where individuals avoid disagreeing or expressing doubt within a group. Even with the best intentions, groupthink can result in behaviors like bullying, rationalizing, and moral lapses. However, having a diverse team with different skill sets, experiences, thinking, behavior, and communication styles can reduce groupthink, promote new ideas, and facilitate growth.
Examples of Diversity in the Workplace
When it comes to diversity in the workplace, there’s a lot of different categories to think about. Here’s just a few examples:
- Gender – this is the traditional understanding of diversity, and refers to the different roles that men and women play across industries and businesses.
- Race – this refers to ethnicity; it can be difficult to discuss race openly in the workplace, but it is essential for creating an inclusive environment.
- Age – age diversity helps bring different perspectives and backgrounds into the workforce, as well as create a more equitable workplace.
- Sexual orientation – this also helps create an equitable workplace; everyone should feel respected and valued regardless of their sexual orientation.
- Religion – this refers to respecting each other’s religious beliefs in the workplace, ensuring everyone feels comfortable and can perform their job duties without any judgment or discrimination.
- Disability – this includes those with physical or mental disabilities, including those with learning difficulties or medical conditions. Employers should strive to create an accessible work environment for everyone, including those with disabilities.
By taking into consideration all these types of diversity when structuring a workforce, employers can build a stronger team dynamic that encourages creativity and innovation.
7 Strategies for Fostering Diversity and Inclusion
Transforming the culture of a workplace can be a difficult but fulfilling endeavor. Many individuals avoid it because they are uncertain of how to start or concerned that they may not be doing it correctly. If an organization has tried but failed to implement a diversity initiative, they may conclude that such efforts are ineffective or not worth the investment.
Nevertheless, there is always a need for inclusive and diverse workplaces. There is no better time than the present to begin, but if prior efforts have failed, the organization must adopt a new approach.
Here are seven ways to begin examining and reshaping your workplace to be more inclusive:
Hiring Practices
Ensure that your hiring and recruitment practices promote diversity by considering talent from all backgrounds. Avoid setting needless entry barriers in the hiring process, such as advanced degrees, costly certifications, or experience with specific firms.
Express your organization’s commitment to inclusive hiring, regardless of background or disability, in job postings. When conducting interviews, ensure that the panel of interviewers is diverse and reflects potential employees’ diversity.
Employee Groups
Your employees are complex individuals, and they bring their entire selves to work each day. There is no way to segregate your work self from your home self. Creating spaces where employees can meet with others from their backgrounds, ethnicity, and/or who share specific interests is a way to ensure that individuals feel included and represented at work.
For example, you might establish employee resource groups that focus on being a female engineer or promoting LGBTQ+ representation in the technology sector. This creates a specific, safe space for underrepresented groups to feel less isolated at work.
Inclusive Leadership
Leaders set the tone for their organizations in numerous ways. Boards that embrace inclusive leadership make better decisions and serve as a potent reminder to the rest of the company of the organization’s values.
Many people from underrepresented backgrounds are concerned about their ability to progress in their careers (the ubiquitous glass ceiling), so seeing someone in the C-suite with whom they can identify reassures them that your organization is a place where they can thrive.
Transparency
Don’t try to foster diversity alone. Be transparent about your efforts and seek input from your teams. One person cannot see or fix everything alone.
Consider holding regular meetings and utilizing feedback mechanisms where your team can report on what they see, what needs to be improved, and discuss any concerns they may have in a neutral environment. Ensure that you acknowledge their concerns and implement meaningful changes.
Allyship
Social justice issues are prevalent, and organizations must not be silent about their stance. There may be no quicker method to lose your employees’ trust than to issue a statement that does not reflect their daily experiences.
Take an unambiguous stand against racism, discrimination, sexism, bias, and harassment. These are human rights issues that affect everyone, not just specific interest groups. Building an environment in which people feel safe and valued necessitates standing up for their rights.
Vulnerability
A diverse workforce means a diversity of ideas. Ask individuals to contribute to the discussion, especially if they have not spoken up previously. Remember that when conversations become too homogeneous (i.e., groupthink), it becomes more difficult for individuals to voice dissenting opinions.
Play devil’s advocate and debate the pros and cons of your own ideas. This demonstrates that you are interested in the best idea, not merely the most popular one.
Research
Share with your team the benefits of diversity. Research continues to demonstrate the advantages of a diverse workplace. Across the board, employees are happier, healthier, remain longer, and are more productive when they feel respected, valued, and included. Inclusivity fosters trust within an organization.
Conclusion
We live in a world of enormous complexity and diversity, and our workplaces should reflect that. To get the most out of our workforce, employers need to understand the importance of creating an environment of inclusion and prioritize the implementation of diversity and inclusion policies and practices.
Workplace diversity and inclusion are not solely about meeting quotas, but about fostering an environment where everyone feels welcome, valued, and respected. It is about creating a workplace that recognizes, responds and best utilizes the differences in perspectives and skills of people from a variety of backgrounds.
Creating an inclusive workplace not only improves morale and productivity, it is also good for business. It opens up new ideas, perspectives, and opportunities that aren’t accessible in a homogenous workplace. By embracing diversity, employers can truly unlock the potential of their workforce.