Exhaustive research conducted by companies of repute reveals, quite unambiguously, that embracing Diversity & Inclusion as a top-to-bottom business strategy translates into a healthier bottom line. Suneeta Kaul explores the functional significance of the concept in conversations with companies that are leveraging the benefits of a diverse workforce.
Diversity. Inclusion. Gender parity. Cultural integration. Disability inclusion. And the like. How many times have we heard these buzzwords being bandied about? But are companies adopting Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) for the sake of political correctness, or are they truly embracing the concept in its entirety?
In today’s global and highly competitive corporate ecosystem, companies can no longer afford to not be diverse and inclusive in a meaningful manner. D&I is a business imperative, nothing less, and companies that build a truly inclusive work culture with a diverse employee base will outperform their peers. This has been revealed with abundant clarity by various research reports spanning the best of global companies.
For instance, McKinsey, in its 2015 report, Why Diversity Matters, says: “Companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are more likely to have financial returns above their national industry medians.” The report adds that gender-diverse companies are 15 per cent more likely to outperform their peers, and ethnically-diverse companies are 35 per cent more likely to do the same.
Similarly, research conducted by Deloitte Australia shows that inclusive teams outperform their peers by 80 per cent in team-based assessments; in its findings, Catalyst says companies with more women on the board statistically outperform their peers over a long period of time.
One can safely conclude that companies that practice effective D&I measures have a definitive edge over their counterparts. The ability to attract and engage people of all ages, cultures, backgrounds, and types is paramount to success in the corporate world. Companies that can successfully embed inclusion and diversity into hiring, performance management, succession management, leadership development, and so forth, will be the winners.
And several companies are already on the winning path, practicing D&I in their own unique way. For instance, Costa Coffee is providing mainstream employment to hearing-impaired people across its outlets, Ericsson is aggressively hiring women in its core operations, a function that has been male-dominated for decades, Barclays is making waves with its maternity transition and career continuity programme, Capgemini’s disability inclusion is being hailed as something worthy of emulation, Vodafone is building toilets for its female field staff, EY India is going out of its way to promote cultural diversity. And there are a number of other happy stories.
“ In fact, 2016 might well turn out to be a year of diversity and inclusion in business.”
