As the Association for Talent Development notes, diversity is a key tool for companies to remain competitive. It helps companies attract top-tier talent, inspire their teams, and create a collaborative environment that empowers every employee, while keeping morale high.
These are just a few positive characteristics of a diverse and inclusive workplace. But what does a diverse and inclusive workplace look like? Whether you’re an employee or an employer, it helps to understand some of the top traits of an inclusive workplace. With this knowledge, you can step up and play a bigger role in fostering diversity and inclusion at your current company.
What is workplace diversity?
The term workplace diversity encompasses workforces that contain people from all walks of life. A diverse workplace contains employees of different races, religions, genders, sex, ethnicity, and more.
The characteristics of a diverse workplace include:
- Leadership that supports diversity
- Workforces that feel included and valued
- Accommodating employee spaces
- Commitment to ongoing diversity training
- Diverse employees represented in leadership
1. Leadership that supports diversity
Inclusivity can be challenging. Successful diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives start at the upper level. Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi regularly tells employees that “diversity is a fact, but inclusion is a choice.” All employees throughout the company must be committed to it—from executives to recruiters, managers, interns, and everyone in between.
Some key characteristics of a diverse workplace that champions inclusivity include:
- Everyone is treated with respect.
- Each member of the team feels connected to the organization.
- Resources are allocated toward boosting inclusion and diversity.
- Leaders periodically review progress and practices to create an increasingly inclusive environment.
2. Employees that feel included and valued
As Entrepreneur notes, inclusivity is more than just having a seat at the table. Inclusive workplaces make their employees feel included, and valued and integrated within the company’s culture.
Positive company culture includes additional characteristics of an inclusive workplace, like listening to employee voices and authentically considering their thoughts and ideas.
According to Deloitte Insights, inclusive leaders consider the opinions of those with different views. Not only does this make employees feel valued, but it also helps senior leadership make better decisions.
3. Creating safe spaces for employees
Embracing differences and taking extra steps to ensure every employee is safe and accommodated are essential. A few ways of creating employee-centric spaces include:
- Having group breaks or lunches, allowing everyone to chat and feel connected to others
- Setting aside a room for reflection, meditation, or prayer
- Creation of employee networks to connect a diverse workforce onsite and offsite, which opens dialogue and encourages people to discuss important topics in a safe space
4. Commitment to ongoing diversity training
We all have inherent biases. But an inclusive workplace is led by people who are self-aware and conscious that those biases exist. How do you combat bias? Developing training and education can enhance sensitivity, balance out unconscious biases, and help everyone embrace the value of diversity and inclusion while promoting a growth mindset for all employees.
5. Diverse Employees represented in leadership
The entire process starts at the top. Leaders themselves should be a diverse group. Gender equality and a mix of backgrounds can drive empathy for your customers and empower your company to create solutions that will help your business thrive.
Additionally, workplaces that fuse inclusivity into their company cultures open up high-profile projects and other opportunities that develop everyone’s skills. Open dialogue, clear communication, and information sharing are a few of the benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace. Championing inclusivity can improve morale, increase productivity, and empower your employees on all levels. Talk about a win-win-win.
Benefits of a diverse workplace
Companies who don’t put diversity at the forefront of their corporate culture are missing out. There are more than the obvious benefits of improving morale, making a more positive work environment, and giving employees that “good feeling” about working for your company. Some of them include:
- The collaboration of diverse perspectives leads to higher-quality ideas
- Integrating the thoughts, ideas, and cultures of many different types of people also leads to more innovation
- Solutions to corporate problems become more creative and are implemented more quickly
- More engagement from team members
- Improvement in profit margins
- Higher-quality decisions
- Corporate reputation reaches new heights
At Intuit, we believe that innovation thrives with a workforce that includes employees with a wide range of life experiences. Building a team that puts the characteristics of a diverse workplace at the forefront of its culture allows great ideas to rise to the top. Our mission to power prosperity worldwide is supported by our commitment to creating an inclusive culture where everyone is welcome.
