The commitment By Keith M. Horton, MD, FSIR, and Derek L. West, MD, MS The business case for diversity in IR I
n Hawaii, McDonald’s serves spam for breakfast. It’s a menu item that would raise eyebrows anywhere else, but not in Hawaii, where state consumption of Spam is higher than anywhere else in the United States. The McDonald’s Spam breakfast meals have been so successful that competitors like Burger King have added Spam to their local menus as well.1
The net result is beneficial all
around: Hawaii residents can enjoy a beloved food, and fast-food chains can enjoy the financial benefits of that love.
This mutually beneficial situation wouldn’t have happened without the knowledge and advice of Hawaii residents. Without their insight into Spam, McDonald’s would not have been able to identify this potential market. Hawaii, McDonald’s and Spam is a key example in how including differing perspectives is good for your bottom line—one of hundreds of examples proving that, when companies diversify their products and staffing, financial benefits follow.
The diversity bonus A 2015 study by McKinsey & Company found that, when companies are gender-diverse, they are 15% more likely to outperform competitors. When a company is ethnically diverse, they are 35% more likely to outperform.2 Diverse workforces, the study’s authors hypothesize, are better at talent acquisition, customer service and flexible decision-making, factors that all lead to greater financial reward.
The impact of diversity on finances makes perfect sense when you think of the workforce like a toolbox: Every tool has a purpose and design that makes it optimal for certain jobs. If your toolbox is full of only Phillip’s head screwdrivers, you’ll never be able to work with a flat head screw.
16 IRQ | FALL 2021
A diverse workforce will result in better service. Both studies and personal experience show that patients react better to doctors of their own gender and ethnicity and go so far as to seek out doctors of their own race.
Google has tailored its hiring practices with this impact in mind. Instead of hiring from the same top schools, Google hires from across the country, looking at different curricula to ensure a broad set of knowledge.3
Pulling
staff from the same demographics, the same schools and the same programs will result in a homogenous workforce. The same holds true in medicine: If our doctors come from the same programs, they will all have the same education. For example, a major hospital may find itself with IRs skilled at interventional oncology but with no
practical knowledge of musculoskeletal interventions. Because our current workforce is racially homogeneous, it doesn't employ the full set of skills, experiences and perspectives needed for a full toolbox.
Benefits to the patient A diverse workforce will result in better service. Both studies and personal experience show that patients react better to doctors of their own gender and ethnicity and go so far as to seek out doctors of their own race.4
This is a powerful metric in favor of a more
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