It seems that diversity training is a big catchphrase, for the last few years especially. Making sure that a company is diverse is critical! But, what does “diversity” mean? How can a company attain it? And why should you even care about diversity in the workplace?
Introduce New Perspectives
When you’re looking around in the workplace, a team who works well together is what you want, but not a homogenous viewpoint. Most predominantly, if your team is made up of young, white men, this can close off your viewpoints significantly! While there’s certainly nothing wrong with being young (or Caucasian), it’s a sincere mistake to not include women, minorities, and LGBT+ perspectives in particular. What are you missing by not including those voices? You can’t possibly know, until you ask them, and listen to their voices.
Better Performance
How can having diversity improve your business? Your brand depends upon being modern and diverse, and upon having ideas from all ranges of life and culture in America. Regardless of what demographic you want to engage, diverse teams and companies increase profits. Statistics have proven that having a company that represents the populations which it serves increases profits considerably. For example, women in leadership positions can improve your business outcomes. In national studies between 1997 and 2017, companies who had female leadership had higher profit margins than those without. Similar studies are ongoing about when other inclusivity is involved, but so far they show increases as well.
Disability Matters
Whereas before the pandemic, many companies had pretended that their work could not be done remotely, Americans have now learned that it is possible to do many jobs remotely. A great volume of disabled individuals who have previously had complications working full time in an office setting might now have the chance to rejoin the workforce. Considering this priority group can increase your ability to comprehend a demographic often overlooked by the nation. These perspectives can lower stigma bias on other groups as well.
When your team already understands varying perspectives, half of your research is already done! Your company wants to be well-formed in this new century, and able to facilitate various viewpoints that before you might not have considered. This is the essence of marketing, and business—learning from other perspectives so that you can become a stronger, more profitable company.
Read this next: The Top Questions to Ask When Hiring New Employees
