What Are Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace?

What are diversity and inclusion in the workplace_

What are diversity and inclusion?

Diversity and inclusion in the workspace refer to how a group of unique individuals work together as a cohesive unit. Diverse teams often consist of team members who have different perspectives, needs, and skills. 

Companies that promote diversity and inclusion often outpace competitors since their employees feel valued, motivated, and are eager to succeed.

But diversity and inclusion go beyond programs, headcounts, and workplace policies – it’s about building a transparent work environment where employees can be their authentic selves and trust the company.

This blog post will cover everything you need to know about workplace diversity and inclusion.

What is Diversity and Inclusion?

Put simply, diversity in the workplace refers to a work environment that employees people from different demographics. For example, different races, skills, genders, backgrounds, and interests. 

Additionally, diversity encompasses everything that makes individuals different from one another. As a result, it goes beyond general factors like gender, race, age, and more. 

In other words, diverse work environments reflect the society they operate in.

Companies that prioritize diversity can create more tolerant, accepting, and welcoming onboarding processes and overall work environment.

Although diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, inclusion is quite different from diversity.

SHRM defines inclusion as the ability of a work environment to treat its employees fairly, equally, and respectfully. This way, individuals get equal access to resources and opportunities. 

Moreover, inclusion allows marginalized groups to feel equal and accepted in the workplace. For example, marginalized genders, races, and those with any physical or mental disability will be given equal opportunities to succeed in the workplace. 

What is the difference between diversity & inclusion?

Although diversity and inclusion are definitely interconnected, these two terms are far from interchangeable. 

Diversity is about representation and how well different groups of people integrate and are valued in a work environment. This way, people with different genders, races, nationalities, sexual orientations, and identities are present in the work environment.

When it comes to inclusion, companies need to work towards making the work environment inclusive, not only diverse. 

As a result, a company can try its best to “check all the boxes” for diversity by recruiting people based on surface characteristics like gender diversity and ethnicity. But if these employees feel ostracized or “othered” in the work environment, then the workplace isn’t truly inclusive.

Companies can create an inclusive workplace by creating employee resources groups and by hosting information sessions that educate employees and managers about the importance of diversity and inclusion.

Why is diversity & inclusion in the workplace Important?

Here are four benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace:

  • Increases profitability: Statistically, companies that invest in creating a diverse and inclusive workplace are more profitable and experience higher revenue. In fact, a 2015 McKinsey report found that highly diverse organizations were 35% more likely to exceed median earnings in their industry.
  • Improves company culture and image: Companies that prioritize hiring, welcoming, and promoting unique employees from different backgrounds are more likely to create a productive, collaborative, and inclusive workplace. This, in turn, also impacts how employees, investors, and the general public view the company.
  • Retains and attracts talent: Inclusive and diverse workplaces appear more attractive to job seekers. As a result, workplace culture plays a major deciding factor for potential employees. Moreover, BetterUp found that employees with the highest levels of belonging are 34% more likely to stay at their jobs than those with low levels of belonging. 

If you want to improve your company’s workforce diversity and inclusion, visit the Corporate Class website today. 

We over bespoke services that allow you to support your commitment toward greater diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Contact us today to learn more about what is diversity and inclusion.

The Top 3 Tips for Emerging Female Leaders

The Top 3 Tips for Emerging Female Leaders

Emerging female leaders face challenges that male leaders don’t face. Discover the top three tips for emerging female leaders here.

1. Practice Resilience

Life has a habit of throwing us curveballs. Despite the best laid plans, everyone goes through ups and downs – from everyday struggles to catastrophic incidents that reverberate longer-term. Every shift has a different impact on people, bringing with it a unique set of perceptions, powerful emotions, and uncertainties. While these difficulties are undoubtedly painful and challenging, they do not have to define you.

As defined by psychologists, resilience is the capacity to handle difficulties mentally or emotionally and quickly return to pre-crisis status. By readily overcoming the stress of tragedy and trauma, adversity, threats, or failure, resilient women not only recover, but often emerge stronger on the other side.

While there is a genetic predisposition to resilience, psychologists have noticed various characteristics common to resilient people, including:

  • Optimism and a positive outlook
  • An internal locus of control – belief that you are the author of your destiny.
  • The ability to regulate emotions
  • The capacity to view failure as valuable feedback.

Follow these best practices to develop your resilience:

  1. Beat the negative impact of stress with good nutrition, sufficient sleep, regular exercise, and mindfulness or other spiritual practices. Building your body’s reserves helps you avoid unhealthy outlets such as drugs and alcohol.
  2. Develop and nurture relationships with people who are trustworthy and kind and who acknowledge your feelings.
  3. Practice introspection and emotional intelligence. Be proactive in looking for ways to deal with the issue, learn from your past behavior, and constantly refer to your moral compass and personal values.

2. Have Humility

Not to be confused with being meek, submissive, or lacking self-confidence, humility is “absence of vanity or excessive pride”. As part of a leadership style, humility is an attribute of great leaders.

The positive impact of female leaders redirecting positive attention from themselves to the performance of the team inspires increased employee engagement, greater job satisfaction, and lower staff turnover rates. These successful leaders treat everyone with respect, admit their mistakes, share the credit for successes, and grow by learning from what others have to offer.

If one of your professional goals as part of the next generation of women leaders is to heighten your humility, here is an action plan:

  • Listen. Spend time actively listening to others. Be open-minded and curious rather than protective of your point of view. Not only will others feel heard and valued, but you will also gain a better understanding of organizational needs. Hearing the insights of your team members will help you to make better decisions about performance and new opportunities.
  • Acknowledge. Gratitude lets you channel your drive back into the organization and leads to an optimistic, humble state of being.
  • Ask. Humility includes acknowledging that you don’t have all the answers. Women leaders who are humble ask for help, are open to innovative solutions, and seek feedback regarding their performance. This further serves as inspiration for a culture of personal development in the workplace.
  • Reflect. Review your actions to keep yourself in check. Those in top leadership positions are often mentors and coaches. You may find yourself slipping into those roles in situations when allowing rather than pushing would be more appropriate.
  • Accept. Women’s leadership ambitions focus on constant improvement. As valuable as that is, there is also a need to accept what is without judgement. Move from “seeking approval to seeking enlightenment”. Only once you dispassionately recognize your strengths and weaknesses can you appreciate and dovetail the competence and contributions of peers and employees.

3. Play to Your Strengths (Not Your Weaknesses)

Following on from the last action above, berating yourself for your shortcomings is counterproductive. But that does not mean that you shouldn’t strive to do better.

Globally, business leaders agree that focusing all your energy on fixing your weaknesses is a distracting and frustrating use of your time. Identifying what strengthens you and then cultivating your strengths will empower you. Playing to your strengths helps you to flourish and build a successful career in your leadership role.

If you want to step into your power with confidence, join fellow emerging female leaders for our Women in Leadership Masterclass. Contact Corporate Class Inc. for more information.