The importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Introduction

People often use the terms diversity and inclusion interchangeably. This can cause confusion in the workplace. But HR pros know these terms have specific meanings and vital jobs.

To help employers keep it all straight, here’s a quick review of their definitions and how to implement them.

Diversity

Diversity is a set of traits, experiences and characteristics that make one person different from another. Usually, when talking about diversity in the workplace, the emphasis lies on the visible specter of diversity such as race, gender or age. 

However, that’s only one aspect of diversity. Broadly speaking, there are four categories of diversity.

Inclusion 

Inclusion is the process of welcoming, accepting and providing a comfortable workplace to all of your employees. That’s why a place can be diverse, but not inclusive. The company can have practices with which they employ diverse individuals, but not have practices that include those employees in the workplace. 

An inclusive workplace is respectful, affirming and welcoming to employees regardless of their diversity. 

A great workplace would have both a diverse workforce and inclusive practices that would welcome that diversity. These two concepts work perfectly with one another, complementing each other and dealing with each other’s blind spots. 

Companies that conflate diversity and inclusion can create plenty of problems. 

The risks of conflating diversity and inclusion

Even though the terms diversity and inclusion are closely related, they shouldn’t be treated as the same thing. 

If a company treats diversity and inclusion as the same thing, but only focuses on diversity, it can create the following scenarios: 

·         Hiring diverse people to fill the quota, but not doing anything to include diverse people in the workplace, or

·         Having diverse hiring practices, but not having inclusive cultural practices.

If a company treats diversity and inclusion as the same thing, but only focuses on inclusion, it can create the following scenarios:

·         Having inclusive practices, but not investing in hiring people with diverse backgrounds, and

·         Having a single-minded workforce which can lead to a lack of innovation and creativity.

So companies need to work both on diversity and inclusion and treat them as two separate elements in the workplace

How diversity and inclusion work together

Diversity and inclusion aren’t “nice to have” things in the workplace; they’re essential for a successful business. They positively impact so many different elements in the workplace such as: 

As the above-mentioned statistics show, there are so many benefits to having diversity and inclusion in the workplace. All companies should work on their diversity and inclusion processes because they can produce massive returns on investment.

Creating a diverse and inclusive workplace

For all companies that want to improve diversity and inclusion in their workplace, they should look into the following processes: 

Implement diversity, inclusion and equity in the workplace 

Diversity and inclusion are practices that provide great returns on investment for every company. No matter the industry, the company should try to implement diversity and inclusion processes in its workplace

Conclusion

In conclusion, embracing diversity and promoting inclusion in the workplace is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic advantage. By harnessing the power of diversity, organizations can drive innovation, enhance employee satisfaction, and achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

References

• Rankin-Gomez, K., 2011. Managing workplace diversity: the importance of diversity and inclusion (Doctoral dissertation, Davenport University).
• O’Donovan, D., 2018. Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. Organizational behaviour and human resource management: A guide to a specialized MBA course, pp.73-108.
• Kirton, G., 2020. Diversity and inclusion in a changing world of work. In The future of work and employment (pp. 49-64). Edward Elgar Publishing.
• Garg, S. and Sangwan, S., 2021. Literature review on diversity and inclusion at workplace, 2010–2017. Vision, 25(1), pp.12-22