Diversity - nice to have or a business imperative?

When it comes to defining Diversity there are a multitude of definitions on the intranet but there is always a common thread, difference. Difference in the sense that we as human beings are an amazing complex of skills, life experiences, characteristics and backgrounds. It’s not about equality it’s about maximising and celebrating the differences that we all bring to our world of work.
If you take it to its positive outcome, it is about employers enabling employees with varied diversities to be able to make a contribution to their work place goals and targets. Their experiences add a richness and creativity that makes for a rewarding and engaging workplace to be.
So what is the link to business performance?
If your diverse workforce is motivated, able to contribute each of their uniqueness, feel that what they contribute is valued and their voice is heard then it would follow that you have a more engaged workforce.
When researching this blog I scoured the internet for some data to support this statement. I came across a variety of data some of which applies to the US and some to the UK and whilst I have included a mix here I cannot think that US vs UK would be too far different.

• 70% of employees are not engaged
• 89% of employers think that their staff leave for more pay, 12% actually do
• 75% of employees quit their bosses not their jobs
• 90% of employers think an engagement strategy will impact business success, 25% actually have one
• 43% of engaged employees receive weekly feedback, 18% of low engagement do
• Companies with engaged employees achieve 2.5 times more revenue than their competitors whose employees are less engaged
• Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave
• 41% of employees felt aligned to their organisation’s goals
• 36 % leave in the first year
• 23% of employees felt that the Senior Management Team contributed to a negative atmosphere
• 33% felt engaged
• 80% of engagement is due to the line manager
• 50% of organisations with high engagement retain 80% of their customers

Phew, that’s some pretty sobering stats! But I can say as an HR professional of 35 years’ experience and a coach for the last 10 years this is absolutely no surprise to me. In fact it is a drum I have been banging for years. I can think of a well-known department store and food retailer where my consumer experience has always been positive and so they are my preferred go to business, similarly I can think of another company where I was poorly treated as a customer who I would not as a matter of principle give my business again. I work hard for my money and when I spend it I want to have a pleasurable and rewarding experience, as I suspect most of us do.
There are senior leaders in the UK and US who increasingly are speaking out about Diversity and Inclusion in fact Bernard J. Tyson (Kaiser Permanente) said, “We’ve evolved from equality to equity. Equality says everybody gets equal. Equity says no, everybody gets what they need. Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg jolted the gender debate when she invited more men to talk about gender, arguing “that's what it will take to make change at the top”, and finally Susan Wojcicki of YouTube said that “diversity is necessary for preventing homogeneity, falling behind, and losing their competitive edge”.
So let’s say that you have a diverse workforce, all contributing of their best, motivated, and creative and engaged in what they do, able to achieve a balance of work and home life what might be the impact on the bottom line?
Judith Leary-Joyce in her book Becoming and Employer of Choice identifies 5 key areas that support the business case for generating an employment culture where all staff can engage. Maximising the benefits of a diverse workforce and their impact on the bottom line are now well documented but it is useful to look the key areas here:

• Easy recruitment
  • It follows that your greatest marketers for potential employees are your staff. If they speak well of their employer and hold them up as a great place to work then they are doing a lot of your work for you.
• Powerful retention
  • People want to stay where they are valued and able to make a great contribution, where they are listened to, developed and managers are genuinely interested in their career
• High levels of creativity and innovation
  • When employees feel they belong and that they are challenged and supported their creativity will increase. Creativity translates to innovation and that in turn impacts business performance and success
• Improved customer service
  • When an employee does not have anything to give because they are not getting what they need to thrive then they have nothing ‘real’ to give to the customer relationship
• A great workplace that customers like too
  • It’s a tough world out there and if customers, whatever service they are commissioning, don’t get the standard that they want (my comment about the retailers applies) then they will take their business elsewhere

And so it goes on, there is reduced trust from your workforce as they have to look after themselves as you don’t; employee turnover increases and we all know that generally it costs 4 times an annual salary to recruit (actual costs and lost opportunity cost); communication falters and so what you really need to know about your business doesn’t filter through to you; and finally poor leadership can be disastrous, remember the stat about 75% of people quitting their bosses and not their jobs.
I expand on this for pages, but I think you get the picture.
In a future blog I will look at some initiatives that organisations have taken to increase diversity and inclusion with some reflection on what has worked and what has not.
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