diversity in the workplace case study

Diversity matters even more: The case for holistic impact

Diversity Matters Even More

Diversity Matters Even More is the fourth report in a McKinsey series investigating the business case for diversity, following Why Diversity Matters (2015), Delivering Through Diversity (2018), and Diversity Wins (2020). For almost a decade through our Diversity Matters series of reports, McKinsey has delivered a comprehensive global perspective on the relationship between leadership diversity and company performance. This year, the business case is the strongest it has been since we’ve been tracking and, for the first time in some areas, equitable representation is in sight. Further, a striking new finding is that leadership diversity is also convincingly associated with holistic growth ambitions, greater social impact, and more satisfied workforces.

About the authors

This article is a collaborative effort by Dame Vivian Hunt, representing views from UnitedHealth Group, and Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle , Celia Huber , María del Mar Martínez Márquez , Sara Prince , and Ashley Thomas , representing views from McKinsey.

At a time when companies are under extraordinary pressure to maintain financial performance while navigating a rapidly changing business landscape, creating an internal culture of transparency and inclusion, and transforming operations to meet social-impact expectations, the good news is that these goals are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, our research suggests a strong, positive relationship between them. And in an increasingly complex and uncertain competitive landscape, diversity matters even more .

For this report, the fourth edition of Diversity Matters , we drew on our largest dataset yet—spanning 1,265 companies, 23 countries, and six global regions, and multiple company interviews. We also extended our research and interview focus beyond the relationship between diversity and financial performance, for the first time exploring the holistic impact  of diversity on communities, workforces, and the environment.

The most compelling business case yet

There have been far-reaching changes in the business environment over the past few years, yet, companies with diverse leadership teams continue to be associated with higher financial returns. Our expanded dataset shows this is true across industries and regions, despite differing challenges, stakeholder expectations, and ambitions.

The business case for gender diversity on executive teams 1 The business case is the percent difference in likelihood of outperformance between companies in the top and bottom quartile for a characteristic. Outperformance is calculated as the likelihood to place above the median profitability of other companies in the same industry and region. For more information on our calculation of the likelihood of outperformance analysis, see “Methodology for financial performance.” has more than doubled over the past decade. Each of our reports—2015, 2018, 2020, and now 2023—has found a steady upward trend, tracking ever greater representation of women on executive teams. At each time point we have assessed the data, the likelihood of financial outperformance gap has grown: Our 2015 report found top-quartile companies had a 15 percent greater likelihood of financial outperformance versus their bottom-quartile peers; this year, that figure hits 39 percent (Exhibit 1).

A strong business case for ethnic diversity is also consistent over time, with a 39 percent increased likelihood of outperformance for those in the top quartile of ethnic representation versus the bottom quartile. This has persisted even with eight new economies added in our analysis of 2022 financial data. 2 Our 2023 report draws on data that was collected in both 2021 and 2022. For this analysis, we used data collected in 2022.

The penalties 3 Rewards and penalties refer to the likelihood of outperformance, or underperformance, on profitability compared to companies in the other three quartiles. for low diversity on executive teams are also intensifying. Companies with representation of women exceeding 30 percent (and thus in the top quartile) are significantly more likely to financially outperform those with 30 percent or fewer. Similarly, companies in our top quartile for ethnic diversity show an average 27 percent financial advantage over others (Exhibit 2).

Both forms of diversity in executive teams appear to show an increased likelihood of above-average profitability. Companies in the top quartile for both gender and ethnic diversity in executive teams are on average 9 percent more likely to outperform their peers. (This gap has closed slightly since our previous report.) Meanwhile, those in the bottom quartile for both are 66 percent less likely to outperform financially on average, up from 27 percent in 2020, indicating that lack of diversity may be getting more expensive.

Our latest analysis shows that companies with greater diversity on their boards of directors are more likely to outperform financially. For the first time, this correlation is statistically significant for both gender and ethnicity. Companies in the top quartile for board-gender diversity are 27 percent more likely to outperform financially than those in the bottom quartile. Similarly, companies in the top quartile for ethnically diverse boards are 13 percent more likely to outperform than those in the bottom quartile. These findings support the hypothesis that diversity benefits extend across top corporate leadership to boards, where DEI policy decisions for the whole organization are often made. We also examined diversity in emerging and advanced economies, finding that while advanced economies see a much higher likelihood of outperformance for executive gender diversity, emerging economies have shown meaningful progress in recent years and may have the most to gain from increasing diversity.

Equitable representation at the top is within reach

Since McKinsey first started tracking data on representation in 2015, women have made substantial gains in the workplace and in leadership. The current global dataset shows that one-fifth of executive team members are women, a third higher than reported in 2020. Eight in ten surveyed companies now have at least one woman on their executive team (up from fewer than two-thirds), while seven in ten have more than 10 percent. Since 2020’s Diversity Wins  (and with an expanded dataset), we have now seen the highest increase in diversity in a decade and more representation at the highest levels than ever before (Exhibit 3).

Because each region has a unique ethnic makeup and cultural norms, we have assessed rates of ethnic representation by evaluating equitable representation levels—how closely leadership mirrors regional demographics. 4 Equitable representation refers to the level at which a leadership team's diverse representation matches the level of representation of historically underrepresented ethnicities within a given region’s population. US companies are currently the closest to representing the population at 20 percent ethnic representation, but still lag behind the population share of 41 percent.

We have continued to look at boards, given the association of diverse boards with better financial performance and inclusive growth 5 Companies in the top quartile of board-gender diversity are 27 percent more likely than those in the bottom quartile to outperform financially, and companies in the top quartile for ethnically diverse boards are 13 percent more likely to outperform than those in the bottom quartile. We tested a variety of inclusive growth metrics, including social and environmental impact. For every woman added to a company board with ten directors, there was on average a two-point increase in holistic impact scores. Additional detail located in “Diversity supports inclusive growth” section. ; even more than executive teams, they can also be a strong positive influence on the societal disposition of a company. This year we once again found that financial impact is linked to increased representation of women on boards. For the first time, we also see a significant association with ethnic representation.

Over the past eight years, we have tracked over 330 companies’ progress on representation and diversity in leadership, and segmented these companies into five cohorts based on both 2015 levels of executive-team diversity and progress since then: Diversity Leaders, Fast Movers, Moderate Movers, Resting on Laurels, and Laggards (Exhibit 4).

It has been particularly inspiring to find that Diversity Leaders have attained gender parity and equitable ethnic representation, showing that equitable representation at the top is not just a lofty dream but a realistic goal. Further, our Fast Movers demonstrate that change can happen at speed and scale, with gender representation reaching 32 percent—the first time we’ve seen such a promising outcome in this cohort. These companies have raised the bar to keep pace with the changing landscape of diversity representation in leadership. Their strong performance prompted us to raise the improvement thresholds for companies from our 2020 Diversity Wins  report to reflect the gains seen in top-performing quartiles (five percentage points for gender and ten percentage points for ethnicity).

Companies in our top cohorts have shown rapid, groundbreaking growth in representation, with some even attaining gender parity. In fact, diversity-leading companies in the United Kingdom have reached an ethnic-representation average, at 28 percent, that exceeds the region’s general population. Diversity-leading US companies have reached 50 percent representation of women on executive teams. In addition, leading companies in the United States now have on average 39 percent of executives from historically underrepresented ethnicities.

Considering the dataset as a whole, however, there is still a substantial gap in ethnic representation at top levels. For companies included in both our 2020 and 2023 reports, only 16 percent of leaders on executive teams belong to historically underrepresented ethnicities. 6 Historically underrepresented group refers to populations who have historically not been represented within leadership teams at the same rate that they exist within the general population. These gains have slowed since 2019. At the time of Diversity Wins , 61 percent of companies had at least one person in leadership from a historically underrepresented group; this figure has grown only slightly (68 percent).

While there is some good news on progress in the area of equitable representation, across most geographies, significantly more work is needed. Diversity Leaders are beacons for other companies, demonstrating that scaling and institutionalizing policies that promote multiple forms of diversity can move the needle on representation.

Diversity supports inclusive growth

While year over year financial performance remains critical, businesses are increasingly aspiring to have positive, long-term impact on all stakeholders—the core tenet of stakeholder capitalism. This emphasizes the interests and needs of a wider set of stakeholders, including employees, customers, and investors, prioritizes social and environmental goals, and drives towards sustainable, inclusive growth—in short, what we refer to as holistic impact.

In many parts of the world there is a growing call for organizations to consider their holistic impact, not only within their own business environment, but on a wider scale, both locally and globally. Our research points to five main areas of holistic impact : financial and operational, capabilities, health and workforce, and environmental and social. In this report, we broaden the lens of our research, placing particular focus on environmental and social-impact elements.

Our findings are striking. Across all industries surveyed, more diversity in boards and executive teams is correlated to higher social and environmental impact scores.

We recognize that creating social impact, alongside other business priorities, is a challenging task, even for companies who have strong intentions to do so. Yet, over half of sampled companies in our dataset perform well in community involvement. 7 Defined as scoring above 75 on the community measure. We find that diverse leadership teams could help to bolster community involvement, positively impacting ethical disposition, community orientation, and the general image of a company.

We examined how leadership diversity could be linked to three components of holistic impact—community, workforce, and environment—which all have particularly close connections with employee and community well-being. The results were pronounced: across all three components, we found positive correlations with gender and ethnic leadership diversity (Exhibit 5).

We also found a link between greater diversity in leadership roles and diversity across the organization. 8 Organization-wide and management diversity is a workforce submetric score within the social pillar. These data points were then compared against our dataset for executive teams. For a 10 percent rise in women’s executive representation in our 2019 dataset, we see on average a 2.1 increase in the percentage of both women employees and women managers in 2021. A similar, if somewhat smaller, effect holds with ethnic representation. 9 We recognize that there is, naturally, a degree of overlap in these scores. When there is a path for women and ethnic minorities to step into the highest roles, it suggests that there are inclusive practices at play, making it possible for all to succeed.

Overall, there is a strong correlation between diversity in influential company leadership roles and multiple indicators of holistic impact across workforce, community, and environmental components. These relationships hold across sectors.

Five levers for change

The last decade has been a period of notable progress on equitable representation in leadership. Yet representation alone is an insufficient and unsustainable outcome. Since Why Diversity Matters in 2015, our thinking has evolved with continued engagement in this field. From our initial focus on diverse representation in leadership, we added a perspective on the practical steps companies can take to increase leadership diversity. From there, we broadened our focus to highlight the importance of inclusion and equity.

Now, we are beginning to distill the essence of holistic impact, and the role that leaders play in cultivating visionary workplaces. By building inclusive and supportive workplace cultures where diverse leaders and allies are truly heard, companies can chart a path towards impact beyond financial performance.

Leveraging our company interviews as a valuable source of refreshed insight, our data shows that the more diverse the leadership team, the more likely they are to have made public, mature commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their decision-making strategies. Transforming this commitment into bold action is the natural next step. To facilitate this transformation, we conducted interviews with diversity leaders who shared invaluable insights. These interviews surfaced five strategies to effectively turn words into action:

• Commit to a systematic, purpose-led approach to benefit all stakeholders. Companies should frame and pursue their DEI aspirations—internally and publicly—as core to their mission and embedded into their strategic goals. Having diverse perspectives and backgrounds may be uniquely helpful, as suggested by the relationship between ethnic and gender diversity and companies’ inclusive-growth performance.
• Embed your strategy in company-wide business initiatives while tailoring to local context. While DEI strategy is typically shaped at the top, giving local teams license to tailor to local contexts is key to building ownership and local impact. Agilely launching test and learn cycles for DEI initiatives in specific localities before rolling them out corporate-wide can also support larger DEI goals. In crafting a “global-local” approach to establishing their DEI strategy and values, leaders should build open lines of communication to develop a deep understanding of their workforce, community, and customers. This ensures DEI moves from abstract ideals to concrete actions. 10 Ella Washington, “The five stages of DEI maturity,” Harvard Business Review , November 1, 2022.
• Prioritize belonging and inclusive practices to unlock performance. Diverse representation will have the most impact within a culture that fosters inclusion and belonging—which also facilitates retaining diverse talent, innovation, and customer centricity. This support should include making inclusive leadership the norm through management training and accountability, as well as providing high-impact support to affinity and Employee Resources Groups (ERGs) to boost employee satisfaction.
• Embolden and activate champions and allies by providing adequate resources and support. DEI efforts of individual leaders, particularly women, are often less high-profile or officially rewarded, including their contributions to inclusive leadership, allyship, and employee well-being. Companies that recognize these efforts and provide a supportive environment can help these leaders thrive. This support could include mentorship and sponsorship, as well as encouraging and celebrating allyship. Leaders could be measured on their contributions to DEI and employee wellness in their performance evaluations.
• Act on feedback, including dissenting voices. A culture of feedback on DEI strategy from the workforce and wider stakeholders can provide valuable insights, identifying both strengths and opportunities for change. Leaders can use routine company pulse surveys to collect feedback internally, and social listening externally. It is important for dissenting voices to also be heard to pinpoint root causes of any roadblocks and contribute towards optimizing impact of the DEI strategy.

Despite a challenging business environment, the business case for diverse leadership teams is clear and growing stronger. In this report, our findings also show a statistically significant link between diverse boards and executive teams and higher holistic-impact scores, including on environmental and social measures.

To achieve lasting impact along these dimensions, companies must move boldly beyond increasing diverse representation to integrating DEI in a purpose-driven approach, broadening the company’s positive impact across stakeholders, employees, the external community, and the environment.

Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle is a senior fellow in McKinsey’s London office; Celia Huber is a senior partner in the Bay Area office; María del Mar Martínez Márquez is a senior partner in the Madrid office; and Sara Prince is a senior partner in the Atlanta office, where Ashley Thomas is a client delivery director. Dame Vivian Hunt is the chief innovation officer at UnitedHealth Group and a McKinsey alumna.

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T he recent civic unrest in the United States following the death of George Floyd has elevated the urgency to recognize and study issues of diversity and the needs of underrepresented groups in all aspects of public life.

Business schools—and educational institutions across the spectrum—are no exception. It’s vital that educators facilitate safe and productive dialogue with students about issues of inclusion and diversity. To help, we’ve gathered a collection of case studies (all with teaching notes) and articles that can encourage and support these critical discussions.

These materials are listed across three broad topic areas: leadership and inclusion, cases featuring protagonists from historically underrepresented groups, and women and leadership around the world. This list is hardly exhaustive, but we hope it provides ways to think creatively and constructively about how educators can integrate these important topics in their classes. HBP will continue to curate and share content that addresses these equity issues and that features diverse protagonists.

Editors’ note: To access the full text of these articles, cases, and accompanying teaching notes, you must be registered with HBP Education. We invite you to sign up for a free educator account here . Verification may take a day; in the meantime, you can read all of our Inspiring Minds content .

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace

A majority of u.s. workers say focusing on dei at work is a good thing, but relatively small shares place great importance on diversity in their own workplace, table of contents.

• The value of DEI efforts at work
• The importance of a diverse workforce
• DEI measures and their impact
• How gender, race and ethnicity impact success in the workplace
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand how adults in the United States think about diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the workplace. This analysis is based on survey responses from 4,744 U.S. adults who are working part time or full time, are not self-employed, have only one job or have multiple jobs but consider one their primary job, and whose company or organization has 10 or more people. The data was collected as part of a larger survey of workers conducted Feb. 6-12, 2023. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Read more about the questions used for this report and the report’s methodology .

References to workers or employed adults include those who are employed part time or full time, are not self-employed, have only one job or have multiple jobs but consider one their primary job, and whose company or organization has 10 or more people.

References to White, Black and Asian adults include those who are not Hispanic and identify as only one race. Hispanics are of any race.

References to college graduates or people with a college degree comprise those with a bachelor’s degree or more. “Some college” includes those with an associate degree and those who attended college but did not obtain a degree.

References to disabled workers include those who say a disability or handicap keeps them from fully participating in work, school, housework or other activities.

All references to party affiliation include those who lean toward that party. Republicans include those who identify as Republicans and those who say they lean toward the Republican Party. Democrats include those who identify as Democrats and those who say they lean toward the Democratic Party.

Workplace diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, or DEI, are increasingly becoming part of national political debates . For a majority of employed U.S. adults (56%), focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. But opinions about DEI vary considerably along demographic and political lines.

Most workers have some experience with DEI measures at their workplace. About six-in-ten (61%) say their company or organization has policies that ensure fairness in hiring, pay or promotions, and 52% say they have trainings or meetings on DEI at work. Smaller shares say their workplace has a staff member who promotes DEI (33%), that their workplace offers salary transparency (30%), and that it has affinity groups or employee resource groups based on a shared identity (26%). Majorities of those who have access to these measures say each has had a positive impact where they work.

Related : How Americans View Their Jobs

This nationally representative survey of 5,902 U.S. workers, including 4,744 who are not self-employed, was conducted Feb. 6-12, 2023, using the Center’s American Trends Panel . 1 The survey comes at a time when DEI efforts are facing some backlash and many major companies are laying off their DEI professionals .

Some key findings from the survey:

• Relatively small shares of workers place a lot of importance on diversity at their workplace. About three-in-ten say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (32%) or ages (28%). Roughly a quarter say the same about having a workplace with about an equal mix of men and women (26%) and 18% say this about a mix of employees of different sexual orientations.
• More than half of workers (54%) say their company or organization pays about the right amount of attention to increasing DEI. Smaller shares say their company or organization pays too much (14%) or too little attention (15%), and 17% say they’re not sure. Black workers are more likely than those in other racial and ethnic groups to say their employer pays too little attention to increasing DEI. They’re also among the most likely to say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing (78% of Black workers say this), while White workers are the least likely to express this view (47%).
• Women are more likely than men to value DEI at work. About six-in-ten women (61%) say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing, compared with half of men. And larger shares of women than men say it’s extremely or very important to them to work at a place that is diverse when it comes to gender, race and ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation.
• There are wide partisan differences in views of workplace DEI. Most Democratic and Democratic-leaning workers (78%) say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing, compared with 30% of Republicans and Republican leaners. Democrats are also far more likely than Republicans to value different aspects of diversity. And by wide margins, higher shares of Democrats than Republicans say the policies and resources related to DEI available at their workplace have had a positive impact.
• Half of workers say it’s extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities. About three-in-ten workers (29%) say this is somewhat important to them, and 21% say it’s not too or not at all important. A majority of workers (76% among those who do not work fully remotely) say their workplace is at least somewhat accessible for people with physical disabilities.
• Many say being a man or being White is an advantage where they work. The survey asked respondents whether a person’s gender, race or ethnicity makes it easier or harder to be successful where they work. Shares ranging from 45% to 57% say these traits make it neither easier nor harder. But far more say being a man and being White makes it easier than say it makes it harder for someone to be successful. Conversely, by double-digit margins, more say being a woman, being Black or being Hispanic makes it harder than say it makes it easier to be successful where they work.

A majority of workers (56%) say focusing on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion at work is mainly a good thing; 28% say it is neither good nor bad, and 16% say it is a bad thing. Views on this vary along key demographic and partisan lines.

Half or more of both men and women say focusing on increasing DEI at work is a good thing, but women are more likely than men to offer this view (61% vs. 50%). In turn, men are more than twice as likely as women to say it is a bad thing (23% vs. 9%).

About two-thirds or more of Black (78%), Asian (72%) and Hispanic (65%) workers say that focusing on DEI at work is a good thing. Among White workers, however, fewer than half (47%) say it’s a good thing; in fact, 21% say it’s a bad thing. But there are wide partisan, gender and age gaps among White workers, with majorities of White Democrats, women and those under age 30 saying focusing on DEI at work is a good thing.

Workers under 30 are the most likely age group to say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing. About two-thirds (68%) of workers ages 18 to 29 say this, compared with 56% of workers 30 to 49, 46% of those 50 to 64, and 52% of those 65 and older.

Views also differ by educational attainment, with 68% of workers with a postgraduate degree saying focusing on DEI at work is a good thing, compared with 59% of those with a bachelor’s degree only and 50% of those with some college or less education.

Democratic and Democratic-leaning workers are much more likely to say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing (78%) than to say it is a bad thing (4%) or that it is neither good nor bad (18%). Views among Republican and Republican-leaning workers are more mixed: Some 30% say focusing on DEI at work is a good thing, while the same share (30%) say it’s a bad thing, and 39% say it’s neither good nor bad.

A majority of workers say their employer pays the right amount of attention to DEI

When it comes to the focus of their own employer, 54% of workers say their company or organization pays about the right amount of attention to increasing diversity, equity and inclusion. The remainder are divided between saying their employer pays too much (14%) or too little attention (15%), or that they’re not sure (17%).

Women are more likely than men to say their employer pays too little attention to increasing DEI (17% vs. 12%). In turn, men are more likely than women to say too much attention is paid to this where they work (18% vs. 10%).

Black workers (28%) are the most likely to say their company or organization pays too little attention to increasing DEI, compared with smaller shares of White (11%), Hispanic (19%) and Asian (17%) workers who say the same.

Views on this question also differ by party. While half or more of both Republican and Democratic workers say their company or organization pays the right amount of attention to DEI, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say their employer pays too little attention to it (21% vs. 7%). In turn, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say their employer pays too much attention to DEI (24% vs. 6%).

While a majority of workers say focusing on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion at work is a good thing, relatively small shares place great importance on working at a place that is diverse when it comes to gender, race and ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation. About three-in-ten workers say it’s extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (32%) and ages (28%), while 26% say the same about having about an equal mix of men and women. And 18% say this about having a mix of employees of different sexual orientations at their workplace.

Women are more likely than men to say it’s extremely or very important to them to work at a place that is diverse across all measures asked about in the survey. For example, there are 11 percentage point differences in the shares of women compared with men saying it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that has a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (37% vs. 26%) and about an equal mix of men and women (31% vs. 20%).

Black workers are among the most likely to value racial, ethnic and age diversity in the workplace. Some 53% of Black workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere with a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities, compared with 39% of Hispanic workers and 25% of White workers who say the same; 43% of Asian workers say this is important to them. (There is no statistically significant difference between the share of Asian workers and the shares of Black and Hispanic workers who hold this view.) And while 42% of Black workers highly value working somewhere with a mix of employees of different ages, smaller shares of Hispanic (33%), Asian (30%) and White (24%) workers say the same.

When it comes to diversity of sexual orientation, 28% of Black workers and 22% of Hispanic workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is diverse in this way; 15% each among White and Asian workers say the same.

Workers under age 50 are more likely than those 50 and older to say racial and ethnic diversity in their workplace is extremely or very important to them (35% vs. 26%). Workers younger than 50 are also more likely to say having about an equal mix of men and women is important to them, with workers ages 18 t0 29 the most likely to say this (34% vs. 26% of workers 30 to 49, and 20% each among those 50 to 64 and 65 and older).

There are also differences by educational attainment, with larger shares of workers with a postgraduate degree than those with less education saying it’s extremely or very important to them that their workplace is diverse across all measures asked about in the survey. For example, 44% of workers with a postgraduate degree say having a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities is extremely or very important to them, compared with 34% of those with a bachelor’s degree only and 27% of those with some college or less.

Democratic workers are much more likely than Republican workers to say working somewhere that is diverse when it comes to gender, race and ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation is extremely or very important to them. In fact, about half of Democrats (49%) place great importance on having a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities where they work, compared with 13% of Republicans. And there are differences of at least 20 points between the shares of Democrats and Republicans saying it’s extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that has about an equal mix of men and women (39% of Democrats say this vs. 12% of Republicans) and a mix of employees of different ages (39% vs. 17%) and sexual orientations (27% vs. 7%).

Overall, a majority of workers say their workplace has a mix of employees of different ages (58% say this describes their current workplace extremely or very well). Smaller shares say their workplace has about an equal mix of men and women (38%) and a mix of employees of different races and ethnicities (46%) and sexual orientations (28%). These assessments do not vary much across demographic groups.

Half of workers place great importance on working at a place that is accessible for people with physical disabilities

Half of workers say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities; 29% say it is somewhat important and 21% say it is not too or not at all important to them.

Highly valuing an accessible workplace varies by gender, race and ethnicity, and party, but there is no significant difference in responses between those who do and don’t report having a disability.

About six-in-ten women (58%) say it is extremely or very important to them that their workplace is accessible, compared with 41% of men.

Black workers are more likely than workers of other racial and ethnic groups to place great importance on their workplace being accessible: 62% of Black workers say this is extremely or very important, compared with 51% of Hispanic, 48% of White and 43% of Asian workers.

A majority of Democrats (59%) say it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities; 40% of Republican say the same. Some 27% of Republicans say this is not too or not at all important to them, compared with 15% of Democrats.

There is no statistically significant difference in the shares of workers who have a disability and those who do not saying it is extremely or very important to them to work somewhere that is accessible for people with physical disabilities. But workers who do not have a disability are more likely than those who do to say this is not too or not at all important to them (21% vs. 15%).

Among those who don’t work fully remotely, about three-quarters of workers (76%) say their workplace is at least somewhat accessible for people with physical disabilities, with 51% saying it is extremely or very accessible. Some 17% say their workplace is not too or not at all accessible, and 8% are not sure.

When asked whether the company or organization they work for has a series of measures that are typically associated with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, a majority of workers say their employer has policies that ensure everyone is treated fairly in hiring, pay or promotions (61%), and 52% say there are trainings or meetings on DEI where they work.

Smaller shares say their workplace has a staff member whose main job is to promote DEI at work (33%), a way for employees to see the salary range for all positions (30%), and groups created by employees sometimes known as affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs) based on shared identities such as gender, race or being a parent (26%).

Responses do not vary much by most demographic characteristics. However, workers with at least a bachelor’s degree are consistently more likely than those with less education to say each of these five measures is available where they work.

Workers tend to see positive impact from policies and resources associated with DEI where they work

Among those whose workplace offers each policy or resource, a majority of workers say each measure has had a somewhat or very positive impact where they work. About a third or fewer workers say each resource has had neither a positive nor negative impact, and about one-in-ten or fewer say each of these has had a somewhat or very negative impact.

Democrats and Republicans are about equally likely to say their workplace has these measures in place, but Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say the impact of each has been positive by margins ranging from 10 to 32 points (among those who say their workplace has these measures). For example, 66% of Democrats who say their workplace has a way for employees to see the salary range for all positions say this has had a somewhat or very positive impact, compared with 56% of Republicans who say this. And while about three-quarters of Democrats (74%) say having a staff member whose main job is to promote DEI at work has had a positive impact, fewer than half of Republicans (42%) say the same.

Women are more likely than men to say each of these policies and resources has had a very or somewhat positive impact where they work. This is mainly driven by gender differences among Republicans: There are double-digit differences in the shares of Republican women and Republican men who say many of these resources have had a positive impact. For example, 58% of Republican women say having a staff member whose main job is to promote DEI at work has had at least a somewhat positive impact where they work, compared with 31% of Republican men who hold this view. The same share of Republican women (58%) say having affinity groups or ERGs has had a positive impact, compared with 38% of Republican men who say the same.

Among Democrats, majorities of both men and women offer positive assessments of these resources in their workplace, but Democratic women are more likely than Democratic men to say having trainings or meetings on DEI at work have had a positive impact (72% vs. 65%).

While there are differences by race, ethnicity and age on overall attitudes about DEI in the workplace, there are no consistent differences along these dimensions in how workers with access to these policies and resources at their workplace assess their impact.

About half of workers who have participated in DEI trainings in the last year say they’ve been helpful

Out of all workers, about four-in-ten (38%) have participated in a DEI training in the last year. A similar share (40%) did not participate or say their workplace does not offer these trainings, and 21% are not sure if their employer offers these trainings.

Looking only at those whose company or organization has trainings or meetings on DEI, about three-quarters (73%) say they have participated in such trainings in the past year. And assessments of these trainings tend to be positive, with 53% of workers who’ve participated saying they were very or somewhat helpful. About a third (34%) give a more neutral assessment, saying the trainings were neither helpful nor unhelpful, and 13% say they were very or somewhat unhelpful.

While men and women are about equally likely to have participated in trainings on DEI in the past year, women are more likely than men to say the trainings have been at least somewhat helpful (60% vs. 46%).

Republicans and Democrats are also equally likely to say they’ve participated in these trainings in the past year, but Democrats are far more likely than Republicans to say the trainings have been helpful (66% vs. 36%). About one-in-five Republicans say they’ve been unhelpful (19%), compared with 9% of Democrats.

While both Democratic men and women offer similar assessments of the DEI trainings they’ve participated in, there are gender differences among Republican workers. Republican women are more likely than Republican men to say the trainings they’ve participated in have been helpful (47% vs. 28%). Conversely, 22% of Republican men, compared with 14% of Republican women, say the trainings have been unhelpful.

Few workers are members of affinity groups or ERGs at work

While 26% of workers say there are affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs) where they work, members of these groups account for a very small share of workers overall. Just 6% of workers say they are members of an affinity group or ERG, with 58% of workers saying these groups are either not available at their workplace or that they aren’t a member. Another 37% say they are not sure if their workplace offers these groups.

Among workers who say there are affinity groups or ERGs at their workplace, 22% say they are personally a member. Women are more likely than men to be members of these groups (28% vs. 16%). And 28% of non-White workers say they are a member of an affinity group or ERG, compared with 18% of White workers. 2

When asked about the impact a person’s gender, race or ethnicity has on their ability to succeed at work, workers tend to say these characteristics neither make it easier nor harder to be successful at their workplace.

Still, when it comes to gender, workers are more likely to say being a man makes it easier to be successful where they work than to say it makes it harder (36% vs. 6%). In contrast, a larger share says being a woman makes it harder to be successful than say it makes it easier (28% vs. 11%).

Men and women have different views on the impact gender has on a person’s ability to succeed where they work. Some 44% of women say being a man makes it at least a little easier to be successful, including 24% who say it makes it a lot easier. This compares with 29% of men who say being a man makes it at least a little easier to be successful.

Similarly, 34% of women say being a woman makes it harder to be successful where they work, compared with 21% of men.

Women under age 50 are especially likely – more so than women ages 50 and older or men in either age group – to say being a man makes it easier to be successful where they work and that being a woman makes it harder. For example, 38% of women ages 18 to 49 say being a woman makes it harder to be successful where they work. This compares with 29% of women 50 and older, 25% of men younger than 50, and an even smaller share of men 50 and older (13%).

When it comes to views about how race or ethnicity affects people’s ability to succeed at work, 51% of Black workers say being Black makes it harder to be successful where they work. This is significantly higher than the shares of Asian (41%), Hispanic (23%) and White (18%) workers who say the same about the impact of being Black.

Similarly, about four-in-ten Asian workers (39%) say being Asian makes it harder to be successful in their workplace, a higher share than workers of other racial and ethnic groups who say the same about being Asian.

Hispanic, Black and Asian workers are about equally likely to say being Hispanic makes it harder to be successful where they work. A smaller share of White workers say the same about being Hispanic.

When asked about the impact of being White in their workplace, workers across racial and ethnic groups are more likely to say it makes it easier than to say it makes it harder to be successful. This is especially the case among Black and Asian workers. About half of Black (52%) and Asian (51%) workers say being White makes it easier to be successful where they work, compared with 37% of Hispanic and 24% of White workers who say the same about being White.

Previously released findings from this survey found that Black workers are more likely than White, Hispanic and Asian workers to report that they have experienced discrimination or have been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring, pay or promotions because of their race or ethnicity at some point in their careers (though not necessarily where they currently work). Women are also more likely than men to say they’ve experienced such discrimination because of their gender.

There are large partisan gaps in views of whether gender, race or ethnicity make it easier or harder to be successful at work. Some 47% of Democratic workers say being a man makes it at least somewhat easier to be successful at their workplace, compared with 25% of Republican workers. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to say being a woman makes it harder to succeed (37% vs. 17%).

Democratic and Republican women are more likely than their male counterparts to say being a woman makes it harder – and being a man makes it easier – to be successful where they work. The differences between Republican women and Republican men are particularly striking. About a quarter of Republican women (26%) say being a woman makes it harder to be successful, compared with 10% of Republican men. And while 36% of Republican women say being a man makes it easier to be successful where they work, just 16% of Republican men say the same.

Democratic workers are more than three times as likely as Republican workers to say being White makes it easier to succeed where they work (48% vs. 13%), and they are also more likely than Republicans to say being Black, Hispanic or Asian makes it harder. About four-in-ten Democrats (39%) say being Black makes it harder for someone to succeed at their workplace, compared with just 9% of Republicans. Similarly, 30% of Democrats say being Hispanic makes it harder to succeed, compared with 8% of Republicans. And while smaller shares in both parties say being Asian makes it harder to succeed, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say this (16% vs. 6%). These partisan differences remain when looking only at Democrats and Republicans who are White.

• For details, see the  Methodology  section of the report. The analysis in this report is based on U.S. workers who are employed full time or part time, who are not self-employed, and who have only one job or have multiple jobs but consider one their primary job (99% of workers who are not self-employed have one job or a primary job). Additionally, the analysis is restricted to workers at companies or organizations with at least 10 employees as certain federal requirements such as non-discrimination mandates apply to larger workplaces. ↩
• Non-White adults include Black, Hispanic, Asian and other races besides White, as well as people who identify as more than one race. The sample sizes among Black, Hispanic and Asian workers who have affinity groups or ERGs at work are too small to analyze separately. ↩

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The business case for diversity in the workplace is now overwhelming

More innovative, more profitable ... greater diversity isn't just a moral imperative. Image:  REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

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Stay up to date:, future of work.

We live in a complex, interconnected world where diversity, shaped by globalization and technological advance, forms the fabric of modern society. Notwithstanding this interconnectedness, there is also growing polarization – both in the physical and digital worlds – fuelled by identity politics and the resurgence of nationalist ideals.

Not surprisingly, our workplaces tend to mirror the sociocultural dynamics at play in our lives outside work. Having built and scaled a multinational enterprise over nearly two decades, I’ve learned that diversity in the workplace is an asset for both businesses and their employees, in its capacity to foster innovation, creativity and empathy in ways that homogeneous environments seldom do. Yet it takes careful nurturing and conscious orchestration to unleash the true potential of this invaluable asset.

In this era of globalization, diversity in the business environment is about more than gender, race and ethnicity. It now includes employees with diverse religious and political beliefs, education, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientation, cultures and even disabilities. Companies are discovering that, by supporting and promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace, they are gaining benefits that go beyond the optics.

Business has the transformative power to change and contribute to a more open, diverse and inclusive society. We can only accomplish this by starting from within our organizations. Many of us know intuitively that diversity is good for business. The case for establishing a truly diverse workforce, at all organizational levels, grows more compelling each year. The moral argument is weighty enough, but the financial impact - as proven by multiple studies - makes this a no-brainer.

Have you read?

The future of jobs report 2023, how to follow the growth summit 2023, disruption and innovation.

The coming together of people of different ethnicities with different experiences in cities and societies is a key driver of innovation. The food that we eat every day is a result of this blending of cultures. The most successful musical genres, such as jazz, rock’n’roll or hip-hop, are the products of cultural amalgamation.

If we look at the most innovative, disruptive and prosperous urban centres in the world – New York, Dubai, London and Singapore – they all have one thing in common. They are all international melting pots with a high concentration of immigrants. Research shows that there is a direct correlation between high-skilled immigration and an increase in the level of innovation and economic performance in cities and regions.

Singapore makes a great case study. This tiny South-East Asian island nation, with a population of just over five million, is today one of the globe’s heavyweight financial centres. It scores highly in international rankings for areas as diverse as education and ease of doing business, and has been recognised as the world’s most technology-ready nation. Singapore is also highly multicultural, with an ethnic mix of people of Chinese, Malay and Indian descent, and large populations of different religious faith groups including Buddhists, Christians, Muslims and Hindus.

When Singapore achieved independence in 1965, its founding fathers instituted measures that would not leave racial harmony to chance . Singapore aggressively promoted racial and ethnic integration. One important measure was its housing policy, which ensured that every public housing complex followed a national quota of racial percentage. This forced people of different ethnicities to learn to live with each other, and broke up all the ethnic ghettos that were prevalent at the time of independence.

These seemingly autocratic measures have served the small island nation well in producing a well-integrated populace that values meritocracy more than race or religion. Singapore’s ethnic and religious diversity has proven to be an asset to the country, and the result is relative racial harmony – something the US would do well to learn from.

In neighbouring Malaysia, my home country, ethnic, cultural and religious diversity has always been promoted. By the time I was 18, I could speak five languages and had friends from the Chinese, Indian, Malay and Eurasian communities, who between them hailed from several religious backgrounds. Malaysia has one of the world’s most diverse cultural and ethnic mixes and has outperformed most of its regional partners, with a high annual GDP growth since its independence . The multilingual workforce has given us Malaysians an edge in the workplace.

Diversity and business performance

There is substantial research to show that diversity brings many advantages to an organization: increased profitability and creativity, stronger governance and better problem-solving abilities. Employees with diverse backgrounds bring to bear their own perspectives, ideas and experiences, helping to create organizations that are resilient and effective, and which outperform organisations that do not invest in diversity.

A Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues due to innovation. This finding is significant for tech companies, start-ups and industries where innovation is the key to growth. It shows that diversity is not just a metric to be strived for; it is actually an integral part of a successful revenue-generating business.

While most of these studies are conducted in the western world, Asian countries are engaging in the equality debate at their own pace. Cultural shifts over the last 40 years mean that South-East Asia currently has a female workforce participation rate of 42% – higher than the global average of 39%.

According to the 2018 Hays Asia Diversity and Inclusion report, improved company culture, leadership and greater innovation were the top three benefits of diversity identified by respondents. However, there was a perception among a significant proportion of participants that access to pay, jobs and career opportunities for those of equal ability could be hampered by factors such as age, disability, ethnicity, gender, family commitments, marital status, race, religion and sexuality.

More than ever, flexibility and versatility are becoming the key to success for individuals, companies and countries alike, and a culturally diverse environment is the best way to acquire these qualities. Assumptions need to be challenged, conversations need to be had and corporate culture needs to be updated so that the modern workplace can accurately reflect and support the population of the region.

The millennial quotient in business diversity

By the year 2025, 75% of the global workforce will be made up of millennials - which means this group will occupy the majority of leadership roles over the coming decade. They will be responsible for making important decisions that affect workplace cultures and people's lives. This group has a unique perspective on diversity. While older generations tend to view diversity through the lenses of race, demographics, equality and representation, millennials see diversity as a melding of varying experiences, different backgrounds and individual perspectives. They view the ideal workplace as a supportive environment that gives space to varying perspectives on a given issue.

The 2018 Deloitte Millennial Survey shows that 74% of these individuals believe their organization is more innovative when it has a culture of inclusion. If businesses are looking to hire and sustain a millennial workforce, diversity must be a key part of the company culture. This 2016 survey shows that 47% of millennials are actively looking for diversity in the workplace when sizing up potential employers.

Women in the workplace

Gender equality remains a major issue in the corporate world. Despite an abundance of research confirming that companies with more women in the C-Suite are more profitable , there is still a gender gap in the vast majority of companies . Women remain significantly underrepresented in the corporate pipeline, with fewer women than men hired at entry level, and representation declining further at every subsequent step.

Companies need a comprehensive plan for supporting and advancing women. This requires a paradigm shift in the corporate culture which will include investing in employee training and giving employees greater flexibility to fit work into their lives.

A survey conducted by Pew Research Centre lists several areas where women are stronger in key areas of both politics and business. Survey respondents noted that women are:

• 34% better at working out compromises
• 34% more likely to be honest and ethical
• 25% more likely to stand up for their beliefs
• 30% more likely to provide fair pay and benefits
• 25% better at mentoring

Forward-thinking companies should be looking for ways to employ and empower more women at work – not just as a moral obligation, but also as a sound business strategy. McKinsey’s most recent Delivering Through Diversity report found corporations that embrace gender diversity on their executive teams were more competitive and 21% more likely to experience above-average profitability. They also had a 27% likelihood of outperforming their peers on longer-term value creation. Different perspectives on customer needs, product improvements and company wellbeing fuel a better business.

It has been estimated that closing the gender gap would add $28 trillion to the value of the global economy by 2025 – a 26% increase. Put simply, companies and societies are more likely to grow and prosper when women gain greater financial independence.

Taking a stand for diversity in business

It is important for corporations to step up and advocate for diversity and tolerance on a public platform. A great example of this is Nike’s support of American football quarterback and rights campaigner Colin Kaepernick . More than a marketing exercise, it showed the world that one of America’s best-known corporations was willing to stand alongside one man in his battle against racial injustice and intolerance.

Procter & Gamble’s (P&G) ‘ We See Equal’ Campaign , which was designed to fight gender bias and work towards equality for all, depicted boys and girls defying gender stereotypes. The company has a history of promoting the issue, and also records 45% of its managers and a third of its board as women. P&G’s clear dedication to equality within its own workforce meant that the campaign came across as authentic and as a genuine push for change.

Why getting workplace diversity right isn't for the faint-hearted

Beyond diversity: how firms are cultivating a sense of belonging.

There is much to learn from leaders in diversity and inclusion, but it is important to remember that every company’s initiatives will look different. Diversity means different things to different people, and organizations must apply those definitions to their companies accordingly.

Diversity and inclusion cannot be a one-time campaign or a one-off initiative. Promoting them in the workplace is a constant work-in-progress, and should be maintained and nurtured to guarantee effectiveness. Empathetic leadership is key to this transformation. For real change to happen, every individual leader needs to buy into the value of belonging – both intellectually and emotionally.

The business world must come together and be more engaged and vocal than it has been to promote the message of a diverse and tolerant society. It is an uphill battle, but peace, prosperity and advancement depend on it.

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Diversity And Inclusion: Best Practices And Case Studies

A  company culture where employee s  feel empowered to use their voice is the  most  crucial  talent imperative  facing workforce planners  today .  A   Gallup  poll  revealed that only 55% of  US workers feel that their organization prioritizes Diversity & Inclusion (D&I)  policies.   

This low figure is especially worrying when contrasted with the  percentage of new-age workers (64%) for whom diversity is a crucial factor before accepting a job offer.   

Achieving diversity in the workplace is not just a n  ethical me tric that needs to be ticked off to placate stakeholders. It is also a fiscally important metric.   Companies in  the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity   experience ~40% more profitability than those in the bottom fourth quartile.   

We have covered these benefits in detail in our discussion on   Measures to Implement Diversity & Inclusion.  

In this post, we will focus our discussion on highlighting some  best  practices when  it  comes to implementing D&I through some exceptional case studie s .  

Outreach Programs Should Be Your First Step  – IBM    

Nothing shows the world that  you’re  serious about your D&I program than a fully-fledged outreach program.  These outreach initiatives show that you are actively seeking to incorporate diversity into your company ethos and are willing to go the extra mile to make people feel more inclusive.   

A great example of this is IBM’s Girls’ Outreach  Program .  Started in 2008 to mitigate the  declining  pipeline  of female tech talent,  the program encourages girls to think seriously about a career in tech and business.  The highly successful program targets girls in the 15-16 years age range and offers them a chance  to shadow senior employees and gain practical experience to increase their knowledge and skills.  This has a direct correlation with the number of girls  expressing interest in taking up an apprenticeship  or participating in future placement drives.  

Since 2012, the program has shifted focus to schools with a high percentage of  Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic (BAME) students.  

Set Ambitious Goals & Achieve Them  –  Accenture  

Accenture was ranked no 1 in the Thomson Reuters’ 2018 D&I index. They were ahead of their peers by a large margin. Their secret?   

The company set a n  ambitious  challenge to achieve 50/50 gender balance by 2025  and have women comprise 25% of their managing directors by 2020.   

To achieve this, the company has  taken  several  steps ,  including:  

• Setting clear & measurable diversity targets  and publishing its workforce demographics across countries like the US, India, Japan,  & South Africa.  
• Driving initiatives that provide women with training for in-demand skills like AI, Analytics, Cloud etc.  
• Collaborating across business and government to further gender equality in the workplace.  

Suffice to say,  by  attuning  the entire organization towards achieving this goal, Accenture has completely overhauled its hiring and promotion strategies.   

Other t op IT enterprises are actively  hiring   diverse  talent across  different  sexual orientation s , ethnicit ies  & physica l disabilities as well.  

Set Up Empowerment Programs for the Marginalized – GAP  

The garment industry is notorious for exploiting cheap  labour  in third-world countries. Most of the clothes available in the Western world are often spun by underpaid ,   female  workers in  countries like Bangladesh and India.   

Launched in 2007 by apparel giant GAP,  the  Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement (PACE)  program is actively imparting women with foundational life skills, technical  training  and  support to help them advance in their professional and personal lives.  

In 2016, GAP expanded the program to include adolescent  girls as  well. As of 2020, over 500,000 women in 17 countries have undergone this life-changing program.   

Empowerment programs can even be something  like   creating health insurance coverages for transgender folks as well. Most of us take our health coverage for granted. However, traditional coverages often leave out conditions that are uni que to the transgender community. The Lalit Suri Hospitality  G roup in India has taken their inclusi vity measure to the next level by not only hiring trans individuals but also providing them coverage for Sex Affirmation surgeries in their  medi -claim.   

Best Practices  To  Ensure D&I  

While the above case studies have been eye-opening  in regards to  how far some companies are willing to go to create an inclusive atmosphere, they are simply not practical for enterprises operating  at a smaller scale.   

Draup has curated the following list of best practices to help workforce planners  ensure that the workplace does not leave a  particular community  behind.   

• First & foremost, perform a thorough  audit of your existing diversity scenario.  The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging it.  
• Ensure that everyone, from the janitor to the CEO, is  committed to upholding diversity values.  This  has to  be ensured right at the onboarding process itself.   
• Opt  for transparency wherever possible.  It’s  one thing to boldly proclaim that you are inclusive, and another to publicly display the numbers to back your claim. This diversity dashboard  should be accessible at all times  and visible to every stakeholder.  
• Develop a D&I roadmap.  This could be something as simple as committing to hire women to a certain percentage of leadership roles or even something as like  committing to create safe spaces & environments for minorities to air their grievances.  
• Monitor & report on progress.  Ideally, every  company  wo uld have a Chief Diversity Officer to take care of this. If not, there should be a SPOC for all diversity-related matters.  

You can also make use of third-party consultants or tools like  Draup’s  Diversity Navigator to help your enterprise achieve its diversity goals.   

Using the Diversity Navigator, you can recruit candidates with queries such as  “female data analyst in the  B ay  A rea”, “Black female data scientist in New York ” or “Transgender Sales Executive in  Denver.”  

The tool also features a Hiring Opportunity Index and provides a deep dive into their skill sets while also ranking them in  terms of New-Age skills set.  

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Inclusivity and diversity at work case studies

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Elizabeth Transcript

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Pensi Transcript

Why celebrate our differences?

No one is the same, and think how mundane life would be if that wasn’t true? Everybody is unique and therefore has different qualities to offer. We may differ from others due to the attributes we have, for example race, gender, ethnicity or sexuality.

Diversity and inclusion is all about making sure everyone is valued, respected and able to participate equally regardless of the different attributes they may have. Our differences are something to celebrate; not only does doing this help individuals to flourish and be themselves in everyday life and the workplace, but it also benefits organisations. Having inclusive cultures and diverse teams helps build relationships, gather more ideas, develops our confidence and skills and empowers us to bring out our best, most authentic selves to everything we do.

Five brilliantly unique stories

Get inspired to let your differences shine by listening to other people speak about their experiences. These are in relation to their personal attributes, diversity and inclusion in their place of work and how overcoming challenges has led to positive outcomes. Each story takes on a different topic, covering gender, LGBTQ+, age, culture and disability.

Case study: Gender

Hear from Pensi around her career in engineering, which is typically seen as a male dominant environment.

Case study: Age

Gary describes his experience around reverse mentoring and the value he has brought to someone more senior.

Case study: LGBTQ+

Harry explains the benefits of working for a company who supports employees to bring their true selves to work.

Case study: Multicultural

Hear from Elizabeth and how she has championed diversity and inclusion within the workplace.

Case study: Disability

Alasdair shares what he’s overcome with a disability and his experience of applying and starting a job.

More from I want to develop my mindset and skills for work

Listening and problem solving skills can be essential in the workplace

See how these skills can be vital in different work place situations and how you can master them and develop other key skills with LifeSkills

Growth mindset for students – what is a growth mindset?

Find out about growth mindset, what it means and how it can help you to get ahead at school, college, university or in everyday life.

6 stages of problem solving

Check out this fun animation that explains the six simple steps to help you solve your problems and get on with things

Best practice case study project

We are promoting and showcasing the best examples in recruitment and retention where initiatives and schemes have successfully improved the diversity of the workforce, in particular the representation of women, disabled people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Our best practice case studies include case studies from Atkins, BAE Systems, B-MEntor, BT, Caterpillar, the Department of Health, FDM, IBM, Jaguar Land Rover and Microsoft; as well as North Energy Associates. The next call for submissions will open in Autumn 2015.

Atkins “Atkins’ endeavours have demonstrated that we are prepared to push ahead and offer something new to prospective employees, which should stand us out from our competitors.”  Read the case study (PDF)

BAE Systems “At BAE Systems we value diversity because it benefits our people and helps our business grow. There are many ways in which we are supporting a more diverse and inclusive environment, and one such opportunity we saw was to create an additional route into our summer internship programme for individuals who are female and/or from a Black, Asian or minority ethnic group.” Read the case study (PDF)

B-MEntor B-MEntor is a cross-institutional mentoring scheme to support BME early career researchers and is run by 3 London based universities: University College London (UCL), Kings College London and Queen Mary University of London. B-MEntor was launched in 2012 and some of its aims include encouraging BME staff to take on leadership and decision-making roles and to make a positive difference to BME staff with sustainable outcomes. Read the case study (PDF)

BT “BT is very proud of its well established and diverse networks for employees. The networks create a communication channel between members and the business; create developmental opportunities for members; enhance the corporate brand and work with our Inclusion team to plan and implement our diversity and inclusion strategy” Read the case study (PDF)

Caterpillar "Caterpillar recognises that one of its key competitive edges, and therefore the reason for its success as a business, is its employees and the talent they bring to the organisation." Read the case study (PDF)

Department of Health The Department of Health (DH) currently has 11 recognised staff networks spanning most of the protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010. The networks in DH cover: Disability, Race, LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender), Religion, Women, Maternity and Flexible working. DH also has a number of Staff Groups that provide targeted support to staff, such as domestic abuse, health and wellbeing and dyslexia. Read the case study (PDF) 

FDM “Only 17% of IT professionals in the UK are women; FDM is committed to addressing this imbalance!” Read the case study (PDF)

IBM –  The Girls’ Outreach Programme “Girls consistently outperform boys in IT related subjects at school yet they rarely continue with these studies or choose careers in technology. The Girls’ Outreach Programme was established to address this declining pipeline of female talent.” Read the case study (PDF)

Jaguar Land Rover “Jaguar Land Rover has created the Women in Engineering Sponsorship Scheme- a unique scheme to support the training of female engineers alongside their degree.” Read the case study (PDF)

Microsoft “Confidence is key for women progressing within IT so by bringing the components of role models, inspiration and sponsorship together we hope to create interest in women to follow a career path they might not previously had the opportunity to follow and to tap in to the huge number of women who are qualified to work in IT but have never pursued it.” Read the case study (PDF)

Individual case studies 

Charlotte Hatto –  Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Consultant and Life Cycle Assessment Practitioner, North Energy Associates “With a physics degree and research experience from UMIST, I felt that I had much to offer potential employers, but had virtually given up hope of ever finding a job to suit my lifestyle and interests.” Read the case study (PDF)

Helen Wilson – Reader in Mathematics, University College London “Since my first maternity leave I have been appointed Deputy Head of Department; since my second, things have really taken off for me and I have been appointed to a surprising number of national and international bodies. There are times when the demands of two small children and a full-time job feel too much; but my institution is really doing its best to make things work for me.” Read the case study (PDF)

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Managing Diversity at Workplace: a Case Study of HP

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Diversity is now a significant human resources management topic due to numerous dynamics producing aspirations of added diversity in people management. Organization management must value the advantages of diversity and this demands noticeable endeavour and understanding merited by both the employees and the organization. It could emphasise several actions that truly value and breathe diversity throughout. This paper puts forth some possibilities including: valuing diversity, achieving people commitment, encouraging inclusion, assistance in family spirit, augmenting people empowerment, unique recruitment and selection schemes, excellent orientation programmes, trainers and mentors with elevated compassionate and social abilities, internal training of human capital, clear performance management plans, career development, instant correction of non performance based workforce assessments, organization strategies that incorporate diversity and diverse top management. Except organization management is concerned with employees' best interests, effective diversity management becomes impossible therefore, they must somewhat wheel their focus increasingly to provide for organization members.

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In the era of globalization, workplace diversity in all forms of organizations, including higher educational institutions, financial institutions, is now a fact of life and a trend that will continue for a long time and ignoring the implications of workforce diversity can affect productivity and performance as well as undermine the overall goal of business and because of the importance of diversified workforce now-a-days managers are responsible for leading employees and responding to the needs of customers who are more ethnically and culturally diverse. Leaders in both the public and the private sectors are focusing more attention on the issue of diversity. The one-size-fits-all approach to management that was effective 30 years ago is arguably no longer an appropriate strategy for ensuring maximum employee performance in modern business world and the most related issue around to this is diversity management that includes acceptance and respect, acknowledging that individuals are unique and different from each other,. Moreover, the globalization of business and the changing demographics of labor markets around the world have driven much interest in the areas of diversity and diversity management among management scholars and practitioners. While diversity refers to differences among members of a group or organization on any characteristic, most diversity management efforts are focused on diversity in demographic characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, gender, and age. Interestingly, a diverse workforce may include a multitude of beliefs, understandings, values, ways of viewing the world, and unique information and rapid internalization and globalization has increased the significance of workforce diversity to a great extent as well as has posed a common thread for many multinational organizations to manage those diversified workforce.

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This article provides an empirical study on effects of diversity management and inclusion on organisational outcomes. The importance of diversity management and inclusion on organisation is of immense benefit especially in a Multinational Corporations, where diversity and inclusion are parts of their core values. However, in our context, which had been identified as the most diverse country in Africa, there is need to establish how the management and inclusion of these diverse workforce would benefit organisational activities, coupled with the fact that, there is dearth of research on these constructs in extant literature. This study investigated the effects of diversity management and inclusion on organisational outcomes (job satisfaction and job performance) among Shell Corporation employees. Pen and paper questionnaire of 384 copies were administered to the Lagos Branch employees of Shell Corporation. Cross-sectional research design was adopted. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)...

juthika konwar

This paper critically reviews the literature on managing diversity through human resource management (HRM). We discuss the major issues and objectives of managing diversity and examine the state of human resource diversity management practices in organizations. Our review shows that inequality and discrimination still widely exist and HRM has focused mainly on compliance with equal employment opportunity (EEO) and affirmative action (AA) legislation. Less attention has been paid to valuing, developing and making use of diversity. Our review reveals limited literature examining how diversity is managed in organizations through effective human resource management. We develop a framework that presents strategies for HR diversity management at the strategic, tactical and operational levels. Our review also discusses the implications for practice and further research. Introduction Workforce diversity acknowledges the reality that people differ in many ways, visible or invisible, mainly age, gender, marital status, social status, disability, sexual orientation, religion, personality, ethnicity and culture (Kossek, Lobel and Brown 2005). However, the predominant diversity issues in each country are different. While gender inequality is the oldest and most common diversity issue worldwide, religion and ethnicity separate people in India and Middle East and household status (hukou) differentiates off-farm migrants from urbanites in China. Chinese rural migrants are routinely looked down on by urbanites and mistreated at the workplace and in society. Multiculturalism has always been the most important dimension of diversity in Western countries, including the EU nations, Australia and New Zealand, where there are a large number of international migrants with diverse cultural backgrounds. Racial equality appears to be the predominant issue in both USA and South Africa where there has been a long history of systematic discrimination against blacks and other ethnic minorities. Although researchers have examined several aspects of diversity, no comprehensive model exists. In this paper we review the literature on diversity practices in the area of human resource management (HRM). We also develop a conceptual framework which will help organizations develop HRM strategies and policies to manage diversity effectively. Our framework will also help researchers identify key areas for future research and guide practitioners to formulate and implement diversity appropriately. A diverse workforce comprises a multitude of beliefs, understandings, values, ways of viewing the world, and unique information. Rapid internationalization and globalization

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Abstract: Workforce diversity issue is major concern of today’s business organization. The human resource function is most likely to hold the main responsibility for the people planning within an organization and thus for policies and procedures concerning equality and diversity issues. There are interesting debates about the extent to which the human resource function can be the main driver of progressive change regarding diversity and equality issues. This paper attempt to discuss diversity issues and the capacity of human resource management to advance equality, looking in more detail at specific policy areas. 1. Introduction: Workplace diversity is the issue of people, focus on the differences and similarities that people bring to an organization. We are live in an increasingly multicultural society. It is a melting pot or a stew. Successful organizations recognize the need for immediate action and are ready and willing to spend resources on managing diversity in the work place. 2. Literature Review: Human resource management (HRM) has been one of the most popular management concepts of the 1990s; evidenced now by the proliferation of texts bearing the title and the number of university and management training courses on the subject. However, equality and diversity issues are often absent from the debate, where the theory, policy and practice of HRM tend to assume the ‘generic’ universal employee (Dickens, 1998; Benschop, 2001) . This gap is significant because the human resource function is most likely to hold the main responsibility for the people planning within an organization and thus for policies and procedures concerning equality and diversity issues. There are interesting debates about the extent to which the human resource function can be the main driver of progressive change regarding equality issues (Cockburn, 1991; Cattaneo et al., 1994; Gooch and Ledwith, 1996; Gooch and Blackburn, 2002) . Many writers agree that there is considerable ‘fit’ between the developments of HRM and diversity approaches to equality. Indeed, Miller states that ‘Managing diversity can arguably be classed as the HRM approach to equality initiatives in the workplace’ . In the Personnel Journal’s end of year summary of the ‘100 toughest challenges facing human resource practitioners’ for 1995, diversity appears high on the list . Certainly, as even a cursory glance through issues of the journal People Management will indicate, nearly 10 years on, diversity issues have become a central part of human resource management. Indeed, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development proclaims ‘Managing diversity is central to good people management’ (CIPD, 2004). Moves to diversity approaches to equality match moves in thought about people management. Thus the scene is set for a discussion of what HRM offers to the diversity within organizations. Specific policy areas of HRM will be analyzed. Potential advantages and benefits for equality and diversity will be discussed. 4. Workforce Diversity: Similar to globalization, diversity and social issues have had a dramatic effect on the study and application of management and organizational behavior. In the past, diversity was treated as a legal issue; that is for well over 45 years it has been directly against the law to discriminate against any one, on any basis. Now organizations are becoming to realize that diversity is not just something to deal with, but instead a reality to build on to make a stronger more competitive enterprise. Until recently, organization took a “melting-pot” approach to personnel diversity assuming that people who were different would somehow automatically want to assimilate. But today’s managers have found that employees do not set aside their cultural values and lifestyle preferences when they come to work. The challenge, therefore, is to make organization more accommodating to diverse group of people by addressing different lifestyles, family needs and work styles. The melting pot assumption is being replaced by recognition and celebration of differences. Increasingly those who celebrate differences are finding their organization’s profit . As noted in a report on needed strategic initiatives to succeed in the new global economy, “Diversity must be recognized and nurtured as the organization’s greatest assets, and the ability to attract and work with diverse talent must be seen as a critical competitive advantage . Diversity now much more than ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation and Society of Human Resource Management has identified outcomes for effective diversity management as follows: Effective management of human resources is directly linked to business success. Beer et al. (1984, 1985) place an emphasis on human resource policies such as employee influence, human resource flow, reward systems and work systems, which should be designed to promote the development of flexible, adaptable and highly committed employees. Perhaps most significantly, however, from equality and diversity perspectives, is the emphasis on the need for policies to be integrated within the overall organizational strategy. This has echoes of the mainstreaming approach to equality, except that here it is a concern for the human resource that should be mainstreamed (of which equality and diversity should be part) throughout all policy decisions. In addition, a concern for equality and diversity issues is an explicit element of the model. Beer et al. (1984) point to the positive long-term consequences that HRM could have for individuals and for society. Managers are advised to track the long-term trends in the labor market that will indicate potential opportunities and difficulties in the acquisition of skills in the future. As part of this, equality/diversity issues are highlighted and managers are advised to take account of the increased participation of women and minority ethnic groups in the labor force, as well as an ageing population. In addition, managers should recognize the changing values and aspirations of the workforce through education and training, which make employees more resistant to arbitrary authority (Beer et al.,1984: 31). While the primacy of the manager is clear in this conception of HRM, it also explicitly recognizes the importance of different stakeholder interests, potentially offering space for equality/diversity issues to arise. In other words, management needs to mobilize the support of various stakeholders, including shareholders, employees, unions, government, customers and community groups. There are other features of HRM which diversity approaches share. Most significant of these is the individualistic focus of HRM. The onus of policies within HRM is directed towards the individual employee, a harnessing of individual commitment and talents, rather than seeing employees as part of a collective (either trade unions or social group membership). Consequently HRM in its ideal has commonly been viewed as denying a role for trade unions (Guest, 1987), and indeed exemplars of HRM practice have commonly been non-union firms such as Marks and Spencer or IBM . 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Disability Employment: How Assistive Technologies Are Transforming the Modern Workplace

2024-05-21 | By Orcam Staff

In the modern workplace, diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords. They are essential components of a successful business strategy.

Assistive technologies play a pivotal role in this context. They empower employees with disabilities, fostering an inclusive and productive work environment.

These technologies range from adaptive hardware to software solutions. They are designed to accommodate the unique needs of individuals, enhancing their ability to perform tasks effectively.

However, the adoption of assistive technologies is not just about compliance with legal requirements. It's about creating a culture of inclusivity, where every employee feels valued and can contribute their best.

In this article, we delve into the transformative impact of assistive technologies in the workplace. We explore their role in promoting employment equity, workforce diversity, and inclusive hiring practices.

Join us as we uncover how these technologies are shaping the future of work, empowering accessibility, and driving business success.

The Imperative of Assistive Technologies in Employment

The importance of assistive technologies in employment cannot be overstated. They serve as a bridge, enabling individuals with disabilities to access and excel in the workplace.

These technologies are not just tools. They are catalysts for change, driving a shift towards more inclusive and equitable employment practices.

Assistive technologies help to level the playing field. They allow individuals with disabilities to perform tasks that might otherwise be challenging or impossible.

Moreover, these technologies foster a sense of independence and autonomy. They empower individuals to take control of their work, boosting their confidence and job satisfaction.

In essence, assistive technologies are a critical component of employment equity. They are key to unlocking the untapped potential of individuals with disabilities in the workforce.

Legal Framework and Compliance

The use of assistive technologies in the workplace is not just a matter of good practice. It is also a legal requirement under various international laws and regulations.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), for instance, mandates reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. This often includes the provision of assistive technologies.

Similarly, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) emphasizes the right to work on an equal basis. Assistive technologies play a crucial role in realizing this right.

In essence, compliance with these legal frameworks is not just about avoiding penalties. It's about fostering a culture of respect and equality in the workplace.

Statistics: The Employment Gap

Despite progress, a significant employment gap persists between individuals with disabilities and those without. Assistive technologies are key to closing this gap.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the employment-population ratio for persons with a disability was 19.3 percent in 2019. In contrast, the ratio for those without a disability was 66.3 percent.

This stark disparity underscores the urgent need for more inclusive hiring practices. Assistive technologies can play a pivotal role in this regard.

By enhancing accessibility, these technologies can help to break down barriers to employment. They can open up a world of opportunities for individuals with disabilities, contributing to a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Defining Assistive Technologies and Their Scope

Assistive technologies encompass a broad range of tools and devices. They are designed to support individuals with disabilities in performing tasks that might otherwise be difficult or impossible.

These technologies can be hardware, software, or standalone devices. They can be customized to meet the unique needs of each individual.

For instance, assistive technologies can help individuals with physical disabilities to navigate their work environment. They can also support those with visual or hearing impairments in accessing information.

Moreover, assistive technologies can aid individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities in processing and understanding information. They can also support those with communication difficulties in expressing their thoughts and ideas.

In essence, the scope of assistive technologies is vast. They can support a wide range of functions, from mobility and communication to learning and task management.

Examples of Adaptive Technology in Action

Consider the example of screen readers. These software applications convert text into speech, enabling individuals with visual impairments to access digital content.

Similarly, speech recognition software can transcribe spoken words into text. This can be invaluable for individuals with physical disabilities that affect their ability to type.

For individuals with hearing impairments, assistive listening devices can amplify sound. These devices can make it easier to participate in meetings and conversations.

Moreover, for individuals with cognitive or learning disabilities, there are tools that can simplify complex tasks. These include graphic organizers, predictive text software, and text-to-speech applications.

In essence, these examples illustrate the transformative potential of assistive technologies. They show how these tools can empower individuals with disabilities to thrive in the workplace.

The Role of Assistive Devices in Fostering Inclusive Hiring

Assistive technologies play a crucial role in fostering inclusive hiring practices. They enable individuals with disabilities to perform tasks and roles that they might otherwise be unable to do.

By providing the necessary support, these technologies can level the playing field. They can ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal opportunities to contribute and succeed.

Moreover, assistive technologies can also support the recruitment process. They can make job advertisements, application forms, and interview processes more accessible.

In essence, assistive technologies can break down barriers. They can open up a world of opportunities for individuals with disabilities in the workplace.

Case Studies: Success Stories of Workplace Inclusion

Consider the case of OrCam, a company dedicated to transforming lives through innovative assistive technologies. OrCam has made significant strides in fostering an inclusive workplace by implementing a range of technologies to support employees with disabilities.

Empowering Employees with Visual Impairments

One of OrCam’s flagship products, the OrCam MyEye, uses artificial intelligence to provide real-time audio descriptions of the visual world. This technology is invaluable for employees with visual impairments, enabling them to navigate their work environment independently and access information with ease.

Supporting Neurodiverse Employees

OrCam has also focused on supporting neurodiverse employees. The OrCam Read device, for instance, helps individuals with reading difficulties by instantly converting printed and digital text into spoken words. This tool has been particularly beneficial for employees with low vision, enhancing their productivity and job satisfaction.

Creating an Inclusive Culture

These case studies illustrate the transformative potential of OrCam’s assistive technologies. By providing the right tools and support, OrCam has fostered an inclusive and diverse workplace where every employee can thrive.

The Business Case for Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords. They are key drivers of innovation and business performance.

A diverse workforce brings together a variety of perspectives, experiences, and skills. This diversity can fuel creativity and drive innovation.

Moreover, an inclusive workplace can boost employee morale and job satisfaction. It can foster a sense of belonging and community among employees.

In essence, diversity and inclusion can enhance a company's reputation. They can make a company more attractive to top talent and customers alike.

Innovation and Performance Benefits

Research has consistently shown a positive correlation between diversity and innovation. Diverse teams are more likely to generate novel ideas and solutions.

For instance, a study by Boston Consulting Group found that diverse companies produce 19% more revenue. This is attributed to innovation.

Moreover, assistive technologies can further enhance this innovation. They can enable employees with disabilities to contribute their unique perspectives and skills.

In essence, diversity, inclusion, and assistive technologies can be a powerful combination. They can drive innovation and business performance to new heights.

Overcoming Barriers: Integrating Assistive Technologies

Despite the clear benefits, integrating assistive technologies can be challenging. These challenges can range from financial constraints to lack of awareness or technical expertise.

For instance, small businesses may struggle with the initial investment required for assistive technologies. However, government incentives and subsidies can help offset these costs.

Moreover, there can be resistance from employees due to unfamiliarity with the technology. This can be addressed through comprehensive training and support.

In essence, while there are challenges, they are not insurmountable. With the right strategies, businesses can successfully integrate assistive technologies.

Strategies for Effective Technology Integration

Successful integration of assistive technologies requires a strategic approach. This includes understanding the needs of employees, choosing the right technology, and providing ongoing support.

Firstly, it's crucial to involve employees with disabilities in the decision-making process. Their input can ensure the chosen technology meets their needs and enhances their productivity.

Secondly, businesses should consider the interoperability of assistive technologies with existing workplace tools. This can ensure a seamless integration and user experience.

Lastly, ongoing training and support are key. They can ensure employees are comfortable using the technology and can troubleshoot any issues.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Assistive Technology in the Workplace

The future of assistive technology in the workplace is promising. With advancements in technology, we can expect more innovative solutions that cater to a wider range of disabilities.

For instance, the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning can lead to more personalized and adaptive technologies. These can better cater to the unique needs of each individual.

Moreover, the shift towards remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of digital accessibility. This trend is likely to continue, further driving the demand for assistive technologies.

In essence, the future workplace will likely be more inclusive and accessible, thanks to assistive technologies.

Emerging Trends and Ethical Considerations

While the future of assistive technology is exciting, it also brings new ethical considerations. For instance, data privacy and security become paramount as more technologies collect and process personal data.

Businesses must ensure that the use of assistive technologies respects the privacy of employees. They must also have robust data protection measures in place.

Moreover, there's a need for ethical design in assistive technologies. This means ensuring the technology is not only functional but also respects the dignity and autonomy of the user.

In conclusion, as we embrace the future of assistive technology, we must also navigate these ethical considerations with care.

Conclusion: A Call to Action for Employers and Policymakers

The transformative power of assistive technologies in the workplace is undeniable. They not only empower employees with disabilities but also foster a more inclusive and diverse work environment.

However, the adoption of these technologies requires commitment from employers. It also calls for supportive policies from government and regulatory bodies.

In conclusion, assistive technologies are not just tools for accessibility. They are catalysts for change, driving us towards a more inclusive and equitable society. Let's embrace them and work together to create a workplace that truly values diversity and inclusion.

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EEOC Republican Casts Doubt on ‘Business Case’ for Workplace DEI

By Khorri Atkinson

EEOC Commissioner Andrea Lucas said she has doubts about studies finding that workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts boost corporate profitability, arguing on Wednesday that DEI driven by profit motives in reality risks harming the traditionally marginalized workers it claims to help.

Lucas, a Republican on the five-member US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said at a conference hosted by New York University School of Law that DEI programs are “check-the-box” efforts that employers implement in response to demands from investors and activists to meet regulatory requirements or enhance public image.

These efforts don’t genuinely seek to foster inclusivity and equity, ...

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Stop Making the Business Case for Diversity

• Oriane Georgeac
• Aneeta Rattan

Eighty percent of Fortune 500 companies justify their interest in diversity with some form of a business case — but a new study suggests that can seriously backfire.

Eighty percent of Fortune 500 companies explain their interest in diversity by making some form of a business case: justifying diversity in the workplace on the grounds that it benefits companies’ bottom line. And yet, in a recent study, the authors found that this approach actually makes underrepresented job candidates a lot less interested in working with an organization. This is because rhetoric that makes the business case for diversity sends a subtle yet impactful signal that organizations view employees from underrepresented groups as a means to an end, ultimately undermining DEI efforts before employers have even had the chance to interact with potential employees. Based on their findings, the authors suggest that if organizations must justify their commitment to diversity, they should do so by making a fairness case — that is, an argument based in moral grounds — but to achieve the best results, they should consider not making any case at all. After all, companies don’t feel the need to explain why they believe in values such as innovation, resilience, or integrity. So why treat diversity any differently?

Most organizations don’t feel the need to explain why they care about core values such as innovation, resilience, or integrity. And yet when it comes to diversity, lengthy justifications of the value of hiring a diverse workforce have become the norm in corporate America and beyond. AstraZeneca’s website, for example, makes a business case for diversity, arguing that “innovation requires breakthrough ideas that only come from a diverse workforce.” Conversely, Tenet Healthcare makes a moral case, noting in its Code of Conduct that “We embrace diversity because it is our culture, and it is the right thing to do.”

• OG Oriane Georgeac , Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior at Yale School of Management. Her research focuses on organizations’ diversity rhetoric, and perceptions of social progress. She specifically investigates the paradoxical consequences of instrumentality in organizations’ justifications for  why  they care about diversity. She also studies the psychological mechanisms that shape people’s perceptions of social progress. Follow her on Twitter at @oriane_georgeac.
• AR Aneeta Rattan , Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at London Business School. Her research, teaching, and consulting focus on mindsets and diversity — addressing stereotyping, prejudice, and inequity in the workplace. She works to identify messages that improve and equalize the stigmatized groups’ belonging at work, and to illustrate how mindsets can improve people’s responses to and experiences with overt and subtle biases at work.

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Reviewed 23 May 2024

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