Diversity and inclusion are terms we’re hearing more and more these days. The world is more welcoming than ever before, and businesses must pay heed to these shifting attitudes. Even if business owners don’t have diversity in mind when they are recruiting for the nobility of it, there are a lot of regulations in place to ensure it happens, or businesses will suffer fines.
Recruitment is a complex process that needs to be done correctly. Your staff define your business and can be the deciding factor between success and failure. But there are a lot more reasons why diversity is important in the workplace, and why ultimately it is better for the company and the workplace culture. So, what are these reasons, and why should you diversify your workforce? Find out here.
Brand Image
While the world is taking steps towards being more diverse and inclusive, there’s still a long way to go. You only need to look at women in tech statistics to understand how much work still needs to be done.
That, coupled with the fact that Gen Z and modern social media users are more active than ever, making for a generation of users that will look you up on social media and will Google your company to ensure that you have a welcoming work culture, and if they don’t like what they see, they will let you know and review bomb and boycott you.
As a business, the image you convey to consumers and partners is critical. How your business is perceived can affect your sales and your long-term potential. By diversifying your workforce and promoting inclusion and acceptance at all levels of your business, your company will appear modern and forward-thinking. This is key and will give your business a fantastic foundation upon which to build.
Attract The Best Talent
If you want your business to grow and succeed, you must be able to attract the brightest and best talent in your industry. This is easier said than done; the best candidates will have all of the top companies fighting for their signatures.
According to a recent survey, 80% of employees want to work for a company that prioritizes diversity and inclusion. Having a diverse workforce means your business will attract the very best talent, giving you an edge over the competition and establishing your company as a major industry player.
Plus, there is the idea that you are severely limiting your recruiting pool by letting elements like race, sexuality, disability, nationality, etc. get in the way. Once you add them all up, with things like rates of openly LGBT+ community members going up year over year, that’s a very small drop left from what would have been an ocean.
Improve Performance
Businesses that are more diverse have been shown to perform better across a range of metrics and key performance indicators. If you want to take your business to the next level, diversifying your workforce can be an extremely effective approach.
As a business owner, your team is there to guide you as you make decisions and move the business forward. A diverse team will have the experience and knowledge necessary to help you navigate the business world and make the best decisions for the company. They can offer new perspectives and new ideas that will take your business into the future.
Get A Fresh Perspective
Innovation is key to success. If you can think of new ways to do things and come up with brand-new products and services, your business will quickly eclipse the competition. Businesses today need to be dynamic and malleable.
They must be willing and capable of changing to meet shifting market trends and consumer preferences. Diversifying your workforce will allow you to establish a team from a range of different backgrounds.
Collectively, they will be able to draw on their different experiences to innovate and generate completely fresh ideas about how your business should operate. This is key, it will prevent your business from becoming predictable and repetitive and will ensure you are always at the forefront of your industry.
Compliance And Training
There are a lot of regulations in place by the government and authorities that are designed to ensure that no company is fostering a work environment that isn’t welcoming to everyone. And there are a range of consequences for not complying with them, too.
Your company might have to go through retraining to learn how to better behave around their colleagues, which can be time-consuming and expensive. But there are also cases where companies have been offered large fines for failing to comply with employment regulations and worse, plenty of stories have hit the news which has tarnished their reputations, like Activision Blizzard and Twitter.
Conclusion
Diversifying your workforce can improve your brand image, help you attract the best talent, boost performance levels, and will give you a fresh perspective and innovative ideas.
