Diversity and inclusion are not passing fads. These are topics that must be addressed by the top employers in order to attract and retain the top talent in the market.
In this short video, we share insights into how D&I should be embedded within your organisation and recruitment practices.
Diversity and inclusion is a hot topic at the moment, and it’s here to stay. It is not a passing fad, and it is an important organisational consideration if you want to continue to position yourself as an employer of choice, particularly if you want to attract and retain top talent.
Embedding your diversity and inclusion into your business also makes strategic sense. Australian businesses are finally understanding that D&I can be a source of competitive advantage. In fact, Boston Consulting Group found in a recent study that diverse teams have 19% higher innovation revenues. It’s no surprise that we are seeing our clients take a good hard look at their D&I initiatives. In every area of their business, especially recruitment.
To start the conversation, let’s define diversity and inclusion. It’s important to understand you can’t have one without the other. And diversity counts for very little without inclusion.
Diversity is any dimension that can be used to differentiate groups and people from one another. It can include inherent differences like ethnicity, age, and gender, as well as acquired differences such as personality style, industry experience, and career path. All of these things are the dimension of diversity.
Inclusion, on the other hand, brings it all together, and it’s an organisational practice in which different groups or individuals have different backgrounds and are culturally and socially accepted as well as welcome.
The global diversity practice report says that having an openness to diversity widens our access to the best talent and inclusion. It allows us to engage talent effectively. Together, this leads to enhanced innovation, creativity, productivity, engagement, and results.
Diversity is the mix and inclusion is getting the mix to work well together. Diversity inclusion is not just about gender mix, although it is one important component.
McKinsey reports that businesses with a healthy balance of men and women are 21% more likely to outperform their competitors. These figures highlight the potential value of team diversity as a practical tool for an uplift in performance capabilities. Diversity and inclusion are firmly on the agenda for job seekers too.
78% of candidates seek inclusion within their environment. It’s time to start looking at your offerings and incorporate them into your website, media, policies, and addressing the diversity and inclusion deficiencies within your organisation.
We’re not suggesting that achieving greater diversity is easy. But as the diversity and inclusion case becomes more compelling, we must take full advantage of the opportunity that it offers, particularly when it comes to attracting, developing, mentoring, and retaining the next generation of global leaders at all levels of your organisation.
Now you can do a lot of this yourself, all leverage of the research and processes we’ve already developed to serve your human capital needs. None the less, some key D&I initiatives include creating space for diversity and inclusion within your workplace. This has a proven outcome. Getting management buy-in to set qualitative and quantitative D&I targets, and of course, embedding D&I into your recruitment strategy.
Given the high returns that diversity is expected to bring, it comes as no surprise that it’s better to invest now. Activating your diversity and inclusion offering now means you’ll pull further ahead whist your competitors fall behind.
How to Improve Your Hiring Processes to Achieve Your Diversity and Inclusion Goals
