Why Businesses Should Invest In Diversity And Inclusion

If there’s a word to define what happened in the year 2020, it’s almost certainly unpredictable. The pandemic created a real challenge for public health and the global economy. And political and race-related episodes made it clear what had been there all along: racial inequality around the globe.

Since then, a significant shift has happened in the corporate world. Many businesses began to review their diversity and inclusion actions and ask themselves: Is my company genuinely inclusive? At the same time, as a result of changing work patterns due to the pandemic, with the flux of new start-ups, together with tech start-ups having a real chance to scale up their business, a movement started.

Newly founded companies want to be inclusive from the very start. Employees want to see transparency in their company diversity numbers and gender gap, and consumers expect to see diversity and inclusion applied at the heart of their favourite brands and products.

There is no one-size-fits-all strategy to create a proper D&I environment in your company. But, crucially, it needs to start from the inside. Initiatives need to be, of course, inclusive. That means having your current employees actively participating in the process to create a sense of belonging.

An increase in employee engagement and feedback from your team is the best starting point to push forward a D&I plan and create an inclusive environment. And, if you haven’t yet, you need to have an energetic and creative HR team to help shape these initiatives. If you don’t, outsource it. If you are looking for some inspiration, check out IBM’s Be Equal website.

Not investing in Diversity and Inclusion means being left behind and unable to attract the best talent. It also means losing out on customers and revenue if your competitors are ahead of you in promoting inclusive products.

But what does having a diverse and inclusive brand mean?

The meaning of diversity is widening to include ideas beyond race, such as gender, age and disability. Running an inclusive business and using inclusive language across all platforms means every member of society is — you guessed it! — included.

It means your brand, products, website and apps need to have D&I applied.

One way to start doing that is to ask yourself if your product or brand excludes parts of society. Being user-friendly and inclusive means being considerate of all audiences.

Advertising needs to be diverse, content marketing needs to be inclusive, products need to be reshaped to adapt to a more comprehensive range of options that covers accessibility and usage regarding disabilities.

In terms of the website content, it means that the content you publish must be inclusive and reflect the diversity in society. It’s about having a user-friendly website that every community member can easily navigate and feel represented.

Audiences are important as is increasing your revenue, but nothing is more important than being on the right side of the revolution.

Still not convinced?

Check these diversity and Inclusion metrics from recent reports

If the social responsibility fails to convince you, this UK report reveals how just a 10% increment in gender diversity alone results in a 3.5% increment in the earnings of businesses that prioritise these values.

Another report by Oracle, includes companies like DHL say they measure diversity and track D&I KPIs (key performance indicators). Keeping track of their metrics have allowed them to create data to show the impact on employee engagement, customer satisfaction, and profitability.

Where should I start my business inclusive journey?

● Have a Diverse Team: Diversity creates room for new perspectives in decision making and innovation.

● Create a diverse culture in the company

● Promote diversity in your business

● Include inclusive language into your Editorial Style Guide

● Train your team in Diversity and Inclusion

● Hire a Diversity and Inclusion Consultant

To successfully optimise your website with great inclusive content that respects the scope of diversity, you must possess the skills to identify these diversities to promote them properly. If you don’t have the resources to do that, outsource it. The Writing Box is here to your rescue. Our Diversity and Inclusion Consultancy service will optimise your website content and help you create editorial guidelines so that everyone in your team participates in the D&I journey. For more, get in touch! =)

* Originally published at https://thewritingbox.co.uk