Understanding The What & Why Behind Diversity & Inclusion
By Imran Gill
Diversity and inclusion: two terms we’re constantly hearing in the media, educational institutions, conferences, and our own workplaces. We’re told our organizations and institutions need to be more diverse, but we rarely understand what this means and why it’s important. Some may even feel threatened by the term. Do we need to hire more Diversity requires the understanding that each individual is unique and brings their own perspective to an organization. While many or- ganizations primarily focus on race and gender, diversity encompasses age, political, or religious beliefs. Historically, it’s no secret that insti- tutions haven’t been set up in a way to allow for diverse perspectives and voices. As the world has changed and globalization has increased, we’ve slowly started to see organizations become more - munities they serve. Nevertheless, this progres- sion has been slow which can be attributed to a variety of factors: an unconscious bias to hire those who are similar to us. Discrimination keeping certain groups out. Lack of access to basic edu- role.
While inclusion of all groups is simply the right thing to do, those
organizations who have led the way by hiring a more diverse workforce at all levels of their entities have proven that it is simply good for busi- • Companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are
national industry medians.
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industry medians. • Companies in the bottom quartile both for gender and for ethnic-
- - • In the United States, there is a linear relationship between racial
-
“If you’re on the leadership team in your organization and you aren’t pushing your organization to be more diverse, then you aren’t doing what’s best for business. And how often does accepting the status quo ever result in success?”
ecutive teams corresponded to the highest performance uplift in our data set: for every 10 percent increase in gender diversity, • The unequal perfor- mance of companies in the same industry and the same country implies that diversi- - tiator shifting market share toward more diverse com- panies.
While this article won’t go into how one can begin to create and implement policies that drive diversity, there are a number of or- ganizations that are leading the way including Johnson &
Johnson, Cisco Systems, and Proctor & Gamble. In the simplest terms, number of other studies, a diverse organization is more competitive level. If you’re on the leadership team in your organization and you aren’t pushing your organization to be more diverse, then you aren’t doing what’s best for business. And how often does accepting the status quo ever result in success? FM
Imran Gill is manager, marketing and communications, at the Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
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