5 reasons to develop your diversity, equity and inclusion agenda… and one not to
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is an ever-important topic for employees all the way up to senior management – and it isn’t going away.
In developing our innovative experience we did extensive research to ensure our experience truly reflected the real life workplace experiences. We spoke to a range of talented and informed experts, clients and individuals, from these conversations we’ve identified five key reasons why D, E & I is high on their agenda and one important consideration before you start a new programme.
1. The bottom line speaks for itself
The evidence speaks for itself – diversity, equity and inclusion is no fad. With diverse management groups reporting a 19% higher revenue on average, amongst a plethora of other business cases for supporting diversity, there is no better time than now to bring in new tactics to create an open, inclusive workplace.
2. It drives innovation
A diverse, inclusive team does not just drive sales, it also drives new ideas. Harvard Business Review reports that a company with an inclusive culture empowers employees and leads to companies being 3.5 more likely to come up with innovations.
A diverse group benefits from a much broader range of perspectives and experiences allowing a company to come up with innovations that stand out from the crowd.
3. It brings in new talent… and keeps existing talent
As mentioned, new talent would rather work for a company with a positive D,E&I policy, but this is equally true for your existing team members.
We would all like to benefit from a strong team culture in the workplace and diverse and inclusive teams benefit from social cohesion, trust, and effective information sharing.
If you are looking to develop your teams further, our module ‘Unlock the values of a high-performing team’ might be for you.
4. The discrimination stats are surprising
It might surprise you to hear that over a third of employees in the UK say they have suffered discrimination at some point in the workplace. Building in a strong D,E&I policy correctly will help avoid such incidents within your workplace which can severely impact your team’s cohesion – not just amongst the affected parties but the whole team.
As discussed, if you want to retain talented staff, ensuring you develop a culture of inclusion within the workplace is essential.
5. Your customers are looking for it
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity are increasingly becoming more important amongst your customers. Recent global events have brought the importance of diversity and inclusion to the forefront of people’s minds and whether you are a B2B or B2C company, buyers will take your policies into consideration.
And they are not just looking for quick wins but want to see continual progression. Forbes highlights that 71% of customers prefer buying from brands that align with their own values and will continue following brands they trust.
There are numerous cases of brands deviating from their announced values of diversity that, in extreme cases, has led to boycotting and public apologies from the brands in question.
Why should you NOT adopt a diversity, equity & inclusion policy?
If you are not ready to engage employees and take them on a journey to inclusivity it could have the opposite effect. A Harvard Business Review report shows the damage that approaching D,E&I through negative messaging, such as ‘discriminate and you and the company will pay the price’ and prescriptive hiring procedures can lead to alienating your teams and create further friction internally. Initiatives need to drive inclusivity through creating a feeling of belonging, and changing behaviour by helping people identify simple adjustments they can make when communicating across the organisation
The Method’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: The Immersive Experience presents powerful, real “page turning” DE&I stories that illustrate how someone has said or done something in a way that has upset someone else – BUT in each story participants can’t easily condemn the person, the stories are not about blatant or bigoted prejudices but are designed to heighten individual awareness about how the unconscious biases we can all carry can sometimes reveal themselves, and the effect that can have on others.
The experience is ideal whether your workforce is already engaged with D,E&I or if your workforce feels that D,E&I is moving too quickly and they have yet to get a handle on it.
