Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion has been around for a few decades, but emerged recently as a hot topic, with consumers, investors, and increasingly with clients demanding that companies act in a way that goes beyond box ticking and actively serves their communities and stakeholders with genuine ethical actions. Words are no longer enough. Society expects more from its leaders, especially those leaders running the organisations outside of political domains.

Diversity: This is who is represented within the workforce on a number of dimensions, like age, gender, race/ethnicity and cultural background, sexual orientation, disability and, increasingly, neurodivergence. Diversity within an organisation is easily measured, benchmarked and tracked. Equity: This is not to be confused with equality, as equity takes into account every person’s individual needs and circumstances when dictating practices and social norms. Equality, on the other hand, assumes the same treatment for everyone which is not, by definition, always equitable. Inclusion: This is how the workplace is experienced internally by employees, particularly in relation to their sense of belonging and ability to make meaningful contributions.

Talent and clients are voting with their feet, and inclusion has emerged as a key differentiator, with a shift in focus from the characteristics of the employee (diversity) to the characteristics of the workplace, and an organisation’s culture (inclusion).

Inclusion Is Diversity’s Multiplier

While a diverse workforce brings different perspectives and experiences, it’s how individuals feel valued and heard that unlocks true potential. Inclusion, not just diversity, makes them feel like they can contribute their unique talents to the team’s success.

While data that benchmarks and tracks organisational diversity through a variety of indicators is important, the idea that you can increase diversity and automatically improve financial performance is misleading. You can’t turn a cake into a cheesecake by simply adding cheese – you need to carefully choose your ingredients. Unless individuals feel heard, genuinely valued for their differences, and trust that they are able to meaningfully contribute to discussions and decision making processes within the workplace, putting a diverse group of people together may do the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve, instead creating tensions and misunderstandings.

So if you really want to succeed in implementing your diversity, equity, and inclusion plans, you should be aiming for inclusion that is underpinned by an authentic desire to create an environment that delivers equity, removes barriers to advancement, encourages people to listen and share, and where differences are celebrated and baked into your organisational culture.