A diverse workplace is not necessarily an inclusive one, according to new research that says in order to achieve the best possible business outcomes, a workplace must be both.
Conducted by Deloitte Australia and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission, explores a “hunch” that to harness the full potential of a diverse workplace, an equal focus on inclusion is needed.
According to the paper, which is based on a survey of more than 1500 employees, employers are taking an imbalanced approach to diversity and inclusion, prioritising the former over the latter.
This could have significant financial implications, it warns.
“When Deloitte modelled the relationship between diversity and inclusion and business performance, we identified an ‘uplift’ of 80 per cent when both conditions were high,” it says.
“More specifically, employees who perceive their organisation is committed to, and supportive of, diversity and who feel included, are 80 per cent more likely to believe they work in a high performing organisation, in comparison to a workplace perceived as having low commitment and support for diversity and employees not feeling included.”
Deloitte also modelled customer service, innovation and engagement. The result was the same – perceptions of business outcomes were always significantly higher with high diversity and high inclusion.
“Even when there is high diversity and low inclusion, or low diversity and high inclusion, the business outcomes are never as impressive as the high diversity and high inclusion combination,” it says.
But what is inclusion?
The paper defines inclusion as: “an active process of change or integration, as well [as] an outcome, such as a feeling of belonging”.
It says that when an employer adapts its practices or behaviours in response to individuals, those individuals feel included.
“Feelings of inclusion are comprised of perceptions of fairness and respect; and value and belonging.”
The concept of fairness relates to whether an employee’s experience of the workplace – for example, the opportunities available to them or their rate of pay – is comparable to that of other individuals or groups.
“In contrast, the concept of value and belonging focuses more on the uniqueness of each person being known and appreciated by the team, not as an isolated subject matter expert, but one who is integral.”
Inclusion is also about “having a voice and being connected”, the paper says. Relevant factors include whether the employee is part of formal and informal networks, and whether they have a say in decision-making.
The paper says that an employee’s ability to balance their work-life commitments is a key driver for their sense of inclusion.
“It signals that an employee is seen as a whole person with a life within and outside the workplace.
“Work/life balance is also read as a signal of the organisation’s support for diversity,” it says.
Vulnerable moments
The paper notes that the behaviour of leaders in “moments that matter” is critical to the success of an organisation’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, and outlines several “example strategies” to assist leaders in vulnerable moments:
- Not a good fit: Often interviewers use ‘not a good fit’ to explain selection decisions that are based on vague and intangible “gut feel”, that often reflects unconscious biases.
Example strategy: Establish strict and transparent criteria for assessing “a good fit” based on the organisations values. - The squeaky wheel: There is no correlation between the “gift of the gab” and the ability to come up with great ideas, yet those who self-promote often gets ahead.
Example strategy: Introduce a regular mechanism for each team member to share what they are working on and their achievements. - Speech bias and priming: Whoever speaks first will set the tone of the meeting, which can result in an unfair weighting on their point of view and others being influenced. Meetings risk becoming unbalanced. Example strategy: Circulate the agenda and key questions before the meeting and ask all participants to prepare a brief paragraph on their views.
- Strings attached In some cases, flexibility is offered with strings attached such as career cessation, marginalised work or without an adjustment to workload. Example strategy: Periodically review the quality and range of work assigned to flexible and non-flexible employees.
“At these points leaders are more vulnerable to decision-making bias or behaviours that can unconsciously create advantage for some and disadvantage for others and undermine aspirations of diversity and inclusion,” it says.
