Diversity & Inclusion

What is workplace diversity?

Workplace diversity is understanding, accepting, and valuing differences between people including those:
of different races, ethnicities, genders, ages, religions, disabilities, and sexual orientations
with differences in education, personalities, skill sets, experiences, and knowledge bases
Interestingly, research by Deloitte finds that diversity is perceived differently by generations. Millennials view workplace diversity as the combining of different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, and they believe taking advantage of these differences is what leads to innovation.

What is inclusion?

Inclusion is a collaborative, supportive, and respectful environment that increases the participation and contribution of all employees.

What is diversity and inclusion?

Diversity and inclusion is a company’s mission, strategies, and practices to support a diverse workplace and leverage the effects of diversity to achieve a competitive business advantage.

Diversity and inclusion best practices

A survey of 330 HR executives by Professor Roberson found that diversity and inclusion best practices include:

fair treatment
equal access to opportunity
teamwork and collaboration
a focus on innovation and creativity
organizational flexibility, responsiveness, and agility
conflict resolution processes that are collaborative
evidence of leadership’s commitment to diversity (e.g., appointing a Chief Diversity / Equality Officer)
representation of diversity at all levels of the organization
representation of diversity among internal and external stakeholders
diversity education and training

The interesting thing to note is that employees perceive their company as diverse and inclusive based on practices that aren’t even directly related to diversity such as a focus on innovation and creativity. Instead, these best practices are ones that are desired by everyone in the workplace.

Diversity and inclusion strategies

Creating a focus and strategy at the CEO/COO/CHRO level
Assigning a top executive the responsibility for leading and sponsoring the diversity and inclusion program
Creating behavioral standards and holding leaders accountable for results
Training people at all levels on topics like unconscious bias
Integrating diversity and inclusion strategies in recruitment, performance management, leadership assessment, and training
Creating employee networks (e.g, employee resource groups, community outreach groups)
Creating an externally visible scorecard to measure progress including metrics for recruiting, promotion rates, compensation levels, turnover, participation in ERGs, and supplier diversity

Diversity and inclusion success metrics

The most popular success metrics are:

77% said employee productivity
67% said employee morale
58% said employee turnover

Senior executives are being held accountable for their diversity and inclusion programs performance through:

66% said performance reviews
51% said bonuses
48% said business/department reviews
42% said salary increases
41% said promotions

The takeaways

Diversity and inclusion is a company’s mission, strategies, and practices to support a diverse workplace and leverage the effects of diversity to achieve a competitive business advantage.
The top diversity and inclusion priority is recruitment of diverse employees.
Approximately 50% of diversity and inclusion best practices are not directly related to diversity per se but are practices desired by everyone such as fair treatment and organizational flexibility.
To be successful, diversity and inclusion has to be a top-to-bottom business strategy and not just an HR program. However, 65% of senior executives believe it’s HR’s responsibility to implement diversity and inclusion programs.
The majority of companies measure the success of their diversity and inclusion efforts with metrics such as employee productivity and turnover.

Diversity and inclusion are top of mind these days and will only grow in importance as companies continue to invest in their diversity and inclusion programs.

Strategic Marketing Partners Group works diligently to implement best diversity hiring practices and strategies outlined here, you’ll be giving yourself one of today’s biggest competitive advantages.