The benefits of inclusion in the workplace
A diverse and inclusive environment establishes a sense of belonging among employees.
An inclusive workplace environment generally means that our colleagues feel more empowered and comfortable to bring their whole selves to work.
When our employees feel more connected and valued at work, they tend to work harder and smarter, producing higher quality work. As a result, organizations that adopt an inclusive culture see huge gains in the form of business results, innovation, and decision-making.
What are the benefits of inclusion in the workplace?
A bigger talent pool
Being inclusive begins with the way that we recruit talent. Expanding our recruitment searches to more diverse candidates—including background, ethnicity, age, etc.—widens the talent pool and increases the chances of finding the best hire.
Increased employee engagement and trust
When employees feel included, they’re more engaged. Highly engaged employees go the extra mile for the organization. This higher engagement has a ripple effect on profitability, team morale, and retention. People working in inclusive workplaces also tend to have better physical and mental health and take less leave for health issues. When companies support inclusive initiatives, a staggering 83 percent of millennials are actively engaged in their work.
New perspectives and innovation
Organizations have a much higher chance of coming up with fresh ideas with a more diverse group. The Harvard Business Review found a statistically significant relationship between diversity and innovation outcomes. Diverse teams are better at identifying products and services that fit the needs of emerging customer profiles. Many diverse employees have unique lived experiences. Often, they’ve been met with challenges created by a non-inclusive world. These challenges have forced diverse employees to hone their expertise and develop excellent problem solving skills.
Better decision-making
Diverse teams make better decisions. Cloverpop, an online decision-making platform, examined 600 business decisions made by 200 teams. They found that diverse teams have a 60 percent improvement in decision-making. Organizations that actively seek minority voices learn about the issues that diverse employees face. As a result, leaders gain new perspectives and inspire employees to make a difference.
Stronger business results and profits
Inclusion is obviously beneficial to employees’ mental health, but it also has downstream impacts that are good for business. In fact, Harvard Business Review found that organizations who actively promote an inclusive environment report 19 percent higher revenue. Great Place to Work assessed hundreds of publicly traded companies before, during, and after a recession. Highly diverse, inclusive companies experienced a 14.4 percent gain while the S&P 500 saw a 35.5 percent decline in stock performance.
What's next?
Now that you know the benefits of creating a truly inclusive workplace, why not keep reading and discover lots of ways to enhance workplace inclusion in your organization.
Inclusive recruitment and onboarding
Explore how to create a recruiting and onboarding process that's accessible and inclusive to all people, and flexible to different needs. You’ll also discover ways you can nurture your diverse talent and help every employee to thrive.
Inclusive organizational culture and values
Discover what having a truly inclusive organizational culture really means. Explore many ways to make your culture more inclusive of every employee as well as reading success stories from some of our partners.
Employee Resource Groups
Learn about the purpose of ERGs, how to set them up, and read about our own ERG journey. Discover how creating safe spaces for employees to express themselves can benefit your business.
Get inspired
We’re constantly inspired by our clients and their efforts to promote inclusion. We’ve also detailed some of the things we do here at Texthelp which helps with employee engagement and boosts our inclusive culture.