10 Business Benefits Of Workplace Inclusion

Gallup studies have found that diverse workgroups have higher profits. They also found companies that emphasized diversity in the workplace had employees that were more likely to stay at the company. Creating an environment of inclusion is a must in the workplace that results in a happier, healthier company and community.

How can you incorporate diversity into your organization?

Below, 10 thought leaders talk about the benefits they see at their companies as a result of diversity within the workplace.

Co-creation as the foundation of innovation is the ultimate ‘killer app’ in any company. Co-creation means collaborating and bringing different experiences, thoughts, and ideas to the table, each one valid for brainstorming to be effective. Diversity is the secret ingredient that enables co-creation to exist. It is embracing differences that fuel disruptive thinking, a different view of customer experience, a business process, and a new business venture.

-Kate King, Beni.fit

You can’t build an evolving organization without a diverse collection of people who can adapt to the changes in the workplace. That’s the benefit I find from diversity: the ability to adapt. Individuals can change when they want to and having diverse workgroups helps influence and accelerate positive change.

-Ryan Nouis, Executive Staffing Agency

When a candidate steps into the office and looks around, they take note of the people working there. They naturally ask themselves a series of questions like “Do I see myself fitting in here?” The question becomes a lot easier to answer if there’s someone already at a desk that mirrors a candidate in some way. That could be gender, race, age or another attribute that helps ease those candidate concerns of “Will I be safe here? Can I be myself at work? Will I be able to connect with my coworkers?” A diverse set of employees helps attract the right candidates, and recruiting becomes just a little easier.

-Brett Farmiloe, Markitors

We are big believers in diversity. In October, we just celebrated our fifth annual Diversity & Inclusion career event and have an ongoing list of ideas to promote inclusion and workplace diversity. As the founder of the most respected workplace award program in the Southwest, we have seen that the biggest benefit of diversity is employee retention. You can sense it in surveys and you can see it in statistics. Plain and simple: the best companies prioritize diversity because they recognize employee retention positively impacts their bottom line.

-Denise Gredler, Best Companies Arizona

A diverse workgroup is more likely to be characterized by a complex skill set because people with different backgrounds bring along different experiences and lessons. Diversity in the workplace is essentially the glue that brings all the pieces together and makes magic happen.

When it comes to age, we found that all generational groups bring something valuable to the table also, making them irreplaceable. Specifically, Gen Z is the one who can understand programming the best, while Millennials have idea-generation abilities and are more creative. On the other hand, Gen X has greater complex problem-solving abilities while Baby Boomers are emotionally intelligent.

The fact that each demographic group is characterized by unique skills is proof that diversity is an asset that makes a team complete and organizations cannot afford to neglect it.

–Stavros Triseliostis, CareerAddict

Our experience is that working diligently to hire diverse employees from different backgrounds and walks of life, not only promotes productivity and creativity but also sets the standard for what kind of company you are. Actively seeking diverse employees can improve your company’s reputation and let people know that if they are searching for an accepting and diverse employer, you are it! People will begin to start seeking you out.

-John Yardley, Threads

As a husband and wife team, we have over 35 years of combined experience and 15 years of experience working together. We met in the courtroom when I was a defense attorney and Michelle was a prosecutor. Our collective diversity not only gives us perspective in terms of being male and female but it really brings a different level of emotional connection, empathy, and compassion for our clients.

My wife, Michelle, is an expert negotiator. I love taking cases to trial. Together, we have been able to successfully resolve thousands of cases and believe that we are going to get clients the best outcome possible because of our partnership.

-Court Will, Seattle Personal Injury Attorney

Diversity makes it harder to enter a self-reinforcing echo chamber. A wide spectrum of opinions gives us more data points to triangulate the best course of action.

-Lukas Ruebbelke, BrieBug

Recruiting for diversity has been, and remains, the number one source of my success in leading teams and delivering business results. The variety of ideas, the learning that comes from incorporating ideas and the ability to mirror the population you’re trying to serve are key. Diversity comes in all forms: background, ethnicity, religion, gender, generation and lifestyle. It’s hard, it’s fascinating and it’s the best thing I’ve ever done for my personal leadership growth. Even for the development of my kids, as many team meetings were at my home.

-Tracy L. Bullock, Sandler Training

We have employees from a variety of different backgrounds and life experiences. While it makes us stronger as a company in general, it also makes us more appealing to potential clients. We have people who better understand certain communities and how to market to them. When they’re in charge of acquisitions for those communities, we see a much higher rate of conversion. -Dan Bailey, WikiLawn

This article was written by Brett Farmiloe and originally appeared on SCORE.