"Diversity" is an increasingly popular term in the workplace, and for a good reason. Adding more women, LGBTQ and ethnically diverse members to your team is crucial to your growing success in the future. While the list of reasons why your company should encourage diversity is seemingly endless, here are 3 big themes which prove that diversity should be a priority in your hiring process.
1. New hires are actively searching for more diverse teams
Diversity in the workforce is increasingly important to potential hires, especially those in the younger generations. According to research by Glassdoor, a full 67 percent of people searching for a job consider the company's diversity levels a critical factor in their final decision.
To attract these hires, companies should be vocal about their value of diversity. Social media is a great outlet for this, and you can even allow your employees to "take over" the channels to showcase their experiences within your company. By showcasing the different identities on your team, you'll become more attractive to the new generations in the workforce.
2. Diversity improves your bottom line
In addition to being something that attracts potential hires, a diverse team actually has significant benefits to your overall economic performance. Time and time again research has demonstrated that companies with higher amounts of diversity perform better than their counterparts.
McKinsey's research into the subject revealed that companies with higher levels of gender diversity were 15 percent more likely to outperform their peers than those with less representation on their teams. The same was true for companies with more ethnic diversity, but the likelihood of outperforming peers jumped up to 35 percent.
Catalyst also produced a report on the subject with some original research and found that companies with higher numbers of women on their boards tended to outperform those with fewer women. To be specific, they found that:
- Return on equity was higher by 53 percent
- Return on sales was higher by 42 percent
- Return on invested capital was higher by 66 percent
3. Diversity breeds creativity
A diverse team means that you have a multitude of experiences to draw from when making decisions about where to take your company next. By combining the creativity of different cultures and backgrounds, there is so much more room to explore new possibilities in your business trajectory.
This fact might be part of the reason that the Harvard Business Review found that companies with diverse teams are 70 percent more likely to capture new markets. Companies that encourage team members that come from diverse backgrounds to speak up are better drivers of innovation.
Final thoughts
Overall, there is a growing business case for encouraging diversity in the workplace. Companies should actively seek out opportunities to meet with candidates who fit these profiles and should also strive to provide new hires with the support if they are part of a minority group.
One way to ensure strong diversity within your company is to bring in executive leaders from a variety of backgrounds. These individuals can help new hires feel comfortable in their working environments and promote inclusivity at all levels in the workplace.
At YES Partners, we're proud to help build diverse teams for companies. To see some of the roles we have already successfully placed, click here.
Finding people is easy, but finding the RIGHT people is not. YES Partners helps companies FIND the right people for all company functions, across many industries.
