According to a 2015 McKinsey study, a diverse workforce performs at least 35% better than their homogeneous counterparts. As Steven R. Covey said in book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, “Strength lies in differences, not similarities.”
With a growingly diverse nation, it is important that companies display and promote equal opportunities. Diversity in hiring is beneficial for a company’s bottom line, to keep up with competition, and for brand reputation.
A diverse company demonstrates commitment to embracing differences and change, which in turn makes the company better able to attract a wider pool of qualified applicants due to a flourishing reputation, ultimately leading to increased profitability.
A business that boasts diversity also often faces a whole host of benefits, such as many different strengths, challenges and ways of working. Employees can learn from each other’s separate styles, and there is also plenty of opportunities for promotion and employee development.
Older and younger workers can also learn from each other’s generational differences, such as a committed, intuitive attitude of an older worker compared to a quick-paced, tech savvy newer generation worker.
When recruiting for a company, hiring professionals might look at what benefits the marketplace might reap from candidates who possess diverse language skills and multicultural understanding to build profit.
Forbes Insights ‘Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workplace’ report on global diversity and inclusion concludes that diversity and inclusion concludes that diversity and inclusion is critical for business success.
The report found that the responsibility for the success of diversity initiatives lies with senior management, and their commitment, accountability and oversight is required to achieve true diversity.
Not every company takes diversity hiring seriously or even practices it, because it can be difficult to achieve, and takes support from the whole workforce to ensure that the work environment not only welcomes all people but supports them and helps them to develop.
As workforce demographics shift and global markets emerge, businesses who dramatically shift to embrace differences and change long term will see positive results from their outreach and recruiting efforts.
