A diverse workforce offers many benefits to your firm, yet many businesses struggle to build diversity into the business in a meaningful way. It’s not enough to hire people of different races and genders, you need to make sure these employees feel like they belong.
For instance, I taught at Howard University, a historically black institution, for many years. Since I taught digital marketing, I encouraged graduates to consider tech firms like Google and Apple once they graduated. Finally, several students who did summer internships at the firm confessed they didn’t feel comfortable there due to the lack of people who looked like them and were, thus, rejecting offers made by the tech giants.
There are plenty of benefits for your company you create a diverse workforce, including those shown above. If you’re looking for more information on establishing a diverse workforce or want some tips on how your business can benefit from diversity training, keep reading!
Creating a diverse workforce
First, I thought I’d share some statistics related to why you need a diverse workforce. These come from a study by Glassdoor:
- Groups formerly seen as “minorities” may reach majority status by 2044. In other words, the white, non-Hispanic population currently considered the majority is declining while minority groups are increasing through a combination of birth rates and immigration to the point where they become dominant.
- 48 percent of Generation Z are racial or ethnic minorities
- Diverse companies enjoy 2.3 times higher cash flow per employee
- Diverse management increases revenue by 19 percent
- Gender-diverse companies are 15 percent more likely to beat industry median financial returns
- More than 3 out of 4 workers prefer diverse companies
- Racial and gender inequity still exists with
- unemployment rates among Black hovered around 8.5% by the 3rd quarter of 2021, compared with 6.2% of Hispanics, and 4.7% for white, non-Hispanics. Unemployment rates for disabled workers, veterans, and members of the LGBTQ community were much higher [source]
- the wage gap between men and women remains, although it closed somewhat over the decades so it now stands at $0.84 for every dollar earned by a man. Wage gaps by race show Indigenous people face the largest gap when compared with white wage earners [source]
- men are 2X more likely to get a job offer than a woman despite blind hiring favoring women based solely on their credentials
- women and people of color don’t often make it into C-suites and are less likely to make it into other management positions
- Hiring temporary workers from outside the US became increasingly challenging during recent years
Now that you have some recent stats, let’s dig into the specific rationale for creating diversity in your workplace.
Increase creativity and innovation
Diversity is one of the most effective ways to increase creativity in your business. Diverse teams represent different problems, needs, and desires, which means they have different ideas for new products as well as a different take on your existing products. Diverse teams can come up with creative solutions on how best to approach problems based on different perspectives from people who live unique lives due to their differences. For instance, Mexican and Asian food are now mainstays for the entire population wrought by immigrants who brought their cultural traditions with them.
Thus, the benefits of a more diverse workforce go beyond the financial returns generated by innovation. Leading not only to greater prosperity for all stakeholders-employees, customers, and shareholders alike but also opening up new opportunities that would never have been considered otherwise!
Problem-solving
When you can look at the same situation through another person’s eyes, it gives everyone involved more insight into the ideas and solutions. Diverse workers teach people new ways of looking at problems so that we don’t fall back on their own personal biases as often. Instead, workers rely more on logic and reasoning – two critical skills for businesses trying to solve significant issues quickly!
In addition, diverse workers allow staff members who previously felt undervalued or unheard to share their ideas and contribute more fully to the company. This creates a work environment where all employees feel respected and appreciated, which can lead to more trust and respect among co-workers, making it easier for everyone to work together in the long run.
Boost your company’s reputation and brand
Diverse workers help employees feel more included and comfortable within the company culture. This, in turn, creates a more positive image of your company to customers and other stakeholders, especially younger workers. Younger consumers might not trust brands or buy from ones that lack diversity since diversity is a significant part of corporate social responsibility. Younger consumers will even pay more for brands that reflect their values.
Diversity can also help improve communication between different groups of consumers. Inauthentic efforts to attract consumers from different ethnic or lifestyle groups damages your reputation. For instance, a cigarette company attempted to develop a product specific to the Black community. The effort backfired when Black churches pointed out to members that the company was underestimating their intelligence by selling a dangerous product in their communities as white consumers quit smoking. Having a diverse workforce and hiring agencies with a diverse workplace provide insights on how to reach these diverse communities effectively.
Reduce employee turnover
Employee turnover is costly as replacing employees is expensive and productivity declines until new workers gain experience. Hence, employers need to consider how they will keep employees on board long-term. One way that an employer can do this is by bringing diversity into the office. This minimizes biases, which ultimately leads to low retention rates of minority groups and, as mentioned earlier, 3/4 of workers prefer a diverse workforce.
To bring all sorts of diverse groups together as one unit, managers should look beyond traditional hiring practices when filling open positions within their organization because these techniques may lead them down a narrow path where only individuals similar – not necessarily alike – but similar enough to those who are already in the workforce are hired.
Diversity; the future
Diversity is more than just a buzzword; it’s the future. By embracing diversity in all forms, we can create a more inclusive and equitable community and workplace for everyone.
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