Are You Hiring Someone Just To Tick The Diversity Box? Why Businesses Must Be More Inclusive In 2022

A diverse workforce equals happier and healthier employees, more appreciated customers, and managers with more access to the talent and skill sets required for their enterprises to prosper. According to a Harvard Business Review study, organisations that welcome diversity had a 10-20% higher revenue. Despite these advantages, many organisations have been slow to incorporate diversity into their ranks. This hesitation could be related to a misunderstanding of what inclusion means and how it enhances all elements of your operations.

When individuals feel included, valued, and respected for their distinct differences, they are more engaged, collaborative, and perform better. Increased productivity and performance result in a more efficient and successful firm. Companies are finally seeing the triple bottom line benefits of a diverse and inclusive culture, not just in terms of business innovation and profitability, but also in terms of team morale. When an inclusive approach is lacking, it may indicate problems in the organisation's underlying culture and leadership.

To understand if a business is inclusive or not, a place to start would be their yearly reports and particularly their approach to ESG (if any). Businesses with poor ESG performance can be considered as a red flag by customers, investors, and stakeholders since it frequently indicates that the company's mission is not aligned with the interests of society as a whole. As a result, it can call into doubt a company's long-term viability.

ESG refers to a corporation's influence on the environment and society, as well as its governance in terms of company leadership, CEO remuneration, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.It assesses how your company integrates environmental, social, and governance practices into its operations, as well as its business strategy, impact, and sustainability.

In contrast, when an organisation has a strong ESG profile combined with an inclusive culture, its brand and reputation are boosted. They become more appealing to potential investors, lenders, employees, and customers, ensuring their long-term viability.

McKinsey discovered that organisations with more diverse top teams were more likely to be top financial performers after evaluating 180 companies in Europe and the US. According to the same source, organisations in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams are 25% more likely to be profitable than companies at the bottom of the diversity spectrum. Statistics reveal that great progress has been made toward enhancing workplace diversity and inclusion in 2022. However, there is still a long way to go. Some statistics show that:

• Women make up only 19.7% of employees on corporate or organisational boards.
  
  
• Only one in every sixteen top management jobs in the UK is held by an ethnic minority employee.
  
  
• 29.8% of LGBTQ+ employees reported at least one sort of workplace discrimination.
  
  
• Autistic adults have a 78% unemployment rate in the United Kingdom
  
  
• People from working-class origins who receive greater grades than
  their richer colleagues are nonetheless less likely to pursue careers in medical, finance, and law.