In recent years, more and more companies are realizing that having a diverse workforce is not only the right thing to do, but also good for business.
Not only does a greater range of perspectives lead to more creative and innovative decision-making, but consulting firm McKinsey & Company found that companies with gender-diverse leadership teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability for their sector – which rose to 36%. If their executive team is also ethnically diverse. The more women and ethnic minority people, the greater the likelihood of outperforming, with companies in the US earning 0.8% more for every 10% increase in racial and ethnic diversity among their top management.
Dr Olivia Tomlinson, Associate at the University of Birmingham’s Center for Responsible Business, and Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Strategy, Enterprise and Sustainability at Manchester Metropolitan University, explains that the importance of diversity goes beyond just the legally protected characteristics of race and gender. disability, age, and sexual orientation. Less obvious diversities such as class, neurodiversity, and parentage are often overlooked, yet the skills, knowledge, and experience of people from a range of backgrounds add value to a company. Researchers have found time and again that companies that go beyond diversity and actively promote an agenda of inclusion—where every employee feels part of a safe and respectful workplace in which they can be openly—attract top talent, achieve better employee satisfaction, and improve overall performance.
Unfortunately, a shocking YouGov survey – commissioned by Business in the Community in 2021, in response to the Baroness McGregor-Smith Review on race in the workplace – shows that many UK employers still have a long way to go. Of the 24,600 people who responded to the Race at Work survey, many reported pervasive discrimination, racial harassment, bullying, and inequality in their workplaces. Far from initiating the transition from mere diversity to inclusion, racism appears to remain an ongoing, routine and systemic feature of working life in Britain, contributing to the internalized harm faced by ethnic minority workers.
A consistent theme in the survey data is that workers of black, mixed Asian, and ethnically diverse background feel they need to “work twice as hard to get half the distance,” suggesting that even with a clear business case for increasing diversity at the top level, it is expected that Workers contribute at least double the time and effort of white employees in order to be considered for promotion. The survey also captured the alarmingly wide range of different sources of racial harassment and bullying that ethnic minority workers regularly encounter, including from clients, colleagues, the public and wider business networks. Of concern, the most reported perpetrators were senior leaders.
The repercussions of these personal experiences or witnesses of racism are, of course, very devastating. Respondents described negative impacts on their mental, emotional and psychological health and career prospects, such as opportunities for training and career advancement. As a result, it is understandable that many employers view diversity and inclusion initiatives for employers as mere “lip service,” “done just for show,” “profitable exercises,” and “public relations stunts.” Instead, respondents said they wanted employers to be more transparent and accountable with regard to wage gap reporting, decision-making, hiring, advancement and any interventions in response to incidents of harassment and bullying. An employer’s recognition of their employees’ experiences with racism and discrimination was also considered important, as was increasing allies for non-marginalized colleagues.
These insights – while shocking – should be invaluable to any business leader concerned about these issues in their workplace and the best ways to mitigate them. But one strategy that has proven effective, particularly in terms of hiring and advancement, is to designate (ideally senior) advocates within the company for diversity and inclusion. A 2006 study of 708 private sector companies showed that traditional diversity training and assessments for managers were the least effective in bringing more women and ethnic minority candidates into managerial roles. The best approach was to create dedicated employee roles or committees that would be responsible for achieving diversity goals. It has also been found to improve the effectiveness of any diversity training, assessment, networking, and mentoring plans run by the company as well. business in the community The racing charter in action It provides a good template for such an approach, as well as resources for creating various goals that are most likely to work.
However a company chooses to do so, the result should be the proactive embedding of inclusivity into the day-to-day operations of the business, from board-level commitments and HR metrics to individual managerial responsibilities and supply chain policy. Only then can workplace culture truly transform, since the ingrained and often implicit norms of any organization’s culture have a habit of stubbornly reproducing themselves regardless of executive decrees from above. It will also have the added benefit of making the business more flexible and responsive to the ever-growing and ever-changing expectations of the wider community, avoiding potential disagreements that could seriously affect people’s trust in the company.
To echo the words of MacGregor Smith’s review: “Now is the time to act.” But the work must be genuine and get to the root of the problem. It’s not enough for a company to celebrate its diversity if its racially diverse Black, Asian, and mixed-race employees are overlooked for promotion and senior roles in favor of their white colleagues. Employers have nothing to lose by making sure their diversity and inclusion programs make a meaningful difference, but they have everything to gain. Otherwise, as one respondent rightly warned, “If we keep doing the same thing, we’ll end up with the same results.”
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Having a diverse workforce is not only right, but good for business