Diversity & Inclusion: A new Framework to support organisations
26 Apr 2018
Organisations that fully live and breathe Diversity & Inclusion and include it in all aspects of their business are more likely to outperform their competitors.
Every one of us is different from each other in one form or another – this is Diversity. To become an organisation which really values its people, the key is to create a successful, empowered team through acknowledging and respecting peoples’ differences, in whatever form those differences may be. And we all appreciate that valued people = motivated people = happy customers = high performing organisations.
For people to feel acknowledged and respected at work, they need to be in an environment that is collaborative, supportive and respectful, which will in turn increase the participation and contribution of its employees; in other words – Inclusion.
As mentioned, organisations that embrace Diversity and Inclusion are more likely to outperform their competitors, but to live and breathe Diversity and Inclusion, it must start from the top of the organisation. This is not to be seen as an HR project to be implemented. Although it will need to be supported by HR, the ethos must be demonstrated at the highest level to enable it to become embedded into an organisation’s culture. A simple way to test top level commitment is to ask: on the Board Meeting Agenda, along with Finance and IT, is People a standing Agenda item? Commitment and demonstration to people starts at the top and ‘People’ should be heard at the Board!
Organisations that live Diversity and Inclusion and put People at the top of their business agendas on a day to day basis, i.e. as ‘the way we do things around here’, will experience tangible benefits, including:
- Attracting, retaining and developing talent – a reduction in people turnover and a decrease in recruitment costs
- Greater talent within people – an increase in productivity and performance
- Increased people morale – higher motivation which will positively impact on productivity
- Empowered people – involved people, voices being heard, ideas being generated – all leading to greater efficiency
- Leaders and Managers who lead and manage with increased confidence – greater team performance
- Engaged workforce – who will go the extra mile for the organisation
Here at Inspiring, we believe that every employee, or potential employee, has a business wealth that in the right working environment will increase productivity and performance. Our belief is further underpinned by the new BSI Valuing People Diversity and Inclusion Code of Practice – BS 76005. Inspiring is supporting organisations through a package of consultancy that will include accreditation, but more importantly developing plans, policies, processes and of course people in relation to Diversity and Inclusion.
