How Diversity in the Workplace Can Make Your Company Stronger

Cultivating a workplace environment where everyone feels welcomed and valued is one of the critical indicators of a strong company. A team comprised of varying ages, genders, races, cultures, backgrounds, and other diverse traits can deliver powerful benefits. Here are some ways diversity in the workplace can help your business thrive:

1. Increases creativity and innovative solutions
2. Improves employee performance and engagement
3. Boosts your bottom line
4. Fosters your brand’s reputation
5. Reduces employee turnover
6. Leads to better employee recruitment

Learn more about each of these reasons to advocate for diversity, equality, and acceptance at your workplace below.

1. Increases creativity and innovative solutions

When you assemble a team with diverse skills, experiences, and mindsets, more creative and innovative solutions to business problems are likely to emerge. According to a 2015 study, inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovative leaders in their market. Equality at work can foster this innovation and creativity by promoting collaboration among those with differing experiences and thought processes, which can inevitably lead to new ideas and fresh perspectives.

2. Improves employee performance and engagement

Employees who feel accepted and valued are more likely to be engaged in their work. Increased engagement leads to better performance and workplace productivity. According to a 2017 study, ethically and racially diverse companies are 33% more likely to outperform industry standards, and gender-diverse companies are 21% more likely. This finding suggests that investing in recruitment practices that promote diversity can do wonders to improve workplace engagement and performance.

Find out more ways to improve workplace productivity here.

3. Boosts your bottom line

Recent studies indicate that increased diversity in the workplace can generate higher profits. Diverse management teams that foster innovative ideas and team collaboration produce a 19% increase in revenue. By investing in people with different experiences and ideas, you can help grow your business and directly affect its bottom line.

4. Fosters your brand’s reputation

Consumers take notice of companies that are actively dedicated to building and promoting equality at work. Companies who support a diverse work environment are often perceived as socially responsible, a weighty perceptual advantage over many competitors. Similarly, developing a solid reputation for inclusiveness can make it easier for you to attract new customers, business partners, or expand to additional markets.

5. Reduces employee turnover

More than 40% of job turnover happens within the first month of hiring. During this time, new employees will complete onboarding protocol and gain a sense of the workplace environment and culture for themselves. If that experience is poor, they’re more likely to leave, which creates unavoidable economic and labor loss. Investing in diversity amongst your team may be one way to lower these turnover rates. Does your company create an environment of inclusion and innovation? It can increase satisfaction. When people are happy with their job, they are more likely to stay longer at the company – a win-win.

6. Leads to better employee recruitment

A Glassdoor survey found that 67% of people consider diversity an important factor when deciding where to work. If you want to attract top talent to your business, consider making diversity in the workplace a priority. You can infuse your value system into your company culture by instilling diversity into your recruitment practices, being more transparent about hiring criteria, and eliminating inherent biases that may be impacting your candidate selections.

Discover more tips to increase equality at work here.

We are a proud advocate of diversity and equality at work. As a female-owned company with a guiding philosophy that everyone deserves a seat at the table, we are working to fulfill our mission of helping other businesses become more productive and efficient with a no-hassle approach to office supplies.

If you’re not yet an EZ Office Products customer, call our local customer concierge to discuss how we can help your Wisconsin-based business thrive at (608) 310-4300 today.