Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: Why They Matter More Than Ever

Let’s be clear—diversity and inclusion aren’t buzzwords. They’re business-critical.

Yes, the legal battles and civil rights wins matter. But real progress? It happens inside organizations, when leaders stop thinking of DEI as a checkbox and start treating it like a growth strategy. Because inclusive teams don’t just feel better—they perform better.

Diverse companies are more innovative, more profitable, and more connected to the world they serve. But getting there takes more than good intentions. It takes action.

Ready to move beyond the basics? Discover what diversity and inclusion really mean today—and how to embed them into the core of your culture.

What Is Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace?

Picture this: your workplace is a toolbox. And in that toolbox, each employee represents a different tool. You’ve got a wrench, a screwdriver, a level, a measuring tape—and yes, even a hammer or two. The more variety you have, the more effectively your team can tackle challenges from every angle.

That’s what diversity and inclusion are all about.

Workplace Diversity

Diversity refers to the unique characteristics, experiences, and perspectives that each person brings to the table. It includes visible differences—like race, age, gender identity, and physical ability—as well as those you can’t see, such as religion, socioeconomic background, sexual orientation, and neurodiversity.

Diverse teams aren’t just nice to have—they’re powerful. Teams made up of people with different lived experiences are more creative, more adaptive, and better equipped to understand and serve a wide range of customers. In fact:

• Companies in the top quartile for gender diversity are 25% more likely to achieve above-average profitability
• Ethnically diverse executive teams are 36% more likely to outperform competitors
• And diverse teams drive higher productivity, according toGartner research

But diversity alone isn’t enough. Having a full toolbox is great. Knowing how to use every tool? That’s where inclusion comes in.

Inclusion in the Workplace

Inclusion is what happens when every employee feels seen, heard, and valued. It’s a workplace culture where people are treated with respect, have equal access to opportunity, and feel empowered to contribute regardless of their background or identity.

It’s not about checking boxes. It’s about building an environment where everyone can thrive.

Inclusion means your team meetings welcome every voice. Your career development tracks are accessible. Your feedback systems reflect fairness. Your company culture champions difference. 

When diversity and inclusion work together, your people feel safer, your culture grows stronger, and your business gets better. Research shows that inclusive companies are:

• 1.8x more likely to be change-ready
• 1.7x more innovative
• 2.3x more profitable per employee

The Difference Between Diversity and Inclusion

The Importance of Diversity and Inclusion

There are many advantages to prioritizing diversity and inclusion in business — for organizations and for employees. Here’s how:

Corporate Benefits of Workplace Inclusion

In most cases, it’s up to the business itself to make diversity and inclusion a reality in the workplace. Thankfully, there’s good motivation to do so (you know, beyond the whole ethical-and-social-responsibility thing). Companies that get diversity and inclusion right tend to experience the following benefits: 

• Improved brand perception. Among companies that have made effective progress in diversity and inclusion, 79% of executives agree that it has become an essential driver of company reputation.
   
• Increased revenue. On average, organizations that increase their number of female leaders by 10% also increased revenue by 10%. Research also suggests that companies with diverse management teams see 19% more revenue than companies with below-average leadership diversity.
   
• Better talent acquisition and retention. Deloitte found that companies with inclusive cultures enjoyed higher employee retention and more success recruiting new employees than companies without inclusivity.
   
• Increased market share. Companies that make it a priority to actively promote a diverse workforce are 70% better at capturing new market audiences. 

Diversity and Inclusion Supports Employees

Is what’s good for the goose good for the gander? Well, regardless of what a gander is, we can say with confidence that when it comes to diversity and inclusion, what’s good for the company is great for the employees. For example:

• Increased job satisfaction. Workers who don’t think that their employees are doing enough to prioritize diversity and inclusion sit nearly 10 points below the average on the Workforce Happiness Index.
   
• Decreased risk of burnout. Employee burnout is (or should be) a major concern for every company, and employees in traditionally marginalized groups are more likely to experience burnout as a result of biased workplace experiences. A greater focus on equality eliminates many of the practices and situations that lead to employee burnout in minority groups.
   
• Improved organizational culture. Approximately two-thirds of job candidates prefer companies with diverse workforces. Why? Because a more inclusive culture is, by definition, nonexclusive. It’s welcoming and open-minded, and that creates an organizational culture that allows employees of all groups to enjoy their work and perform at their best.

And naturally, these company and employee benefits also translate into customer benefits. Improved productivity leads to increased innovation and better service, and a more diverse workforce creates insights into understanding greater and more varied audiences.

Phew. Those are a lot of good reasons to prioritize diversity and inclusion… So how do you go about doing it?

How to Build a More Inclusive and Diverse Workplace

It probably goes without saying, but it takes more than lip service to achieve true diversity in a business. For your inclusion practices and initiative to be successful, you need to start from the ground up to build an inclusive work culture. Here are some suggestions to help you get started:

1. Start with Diversity and Inclusion Trainings

Unfortunately, workplace bias can be well established and deeply ingrained. In many cases, it’s simply not something that can be just ‘turned off.’ To help employees and company leadership recognize and eliminate the partiality that stands in the way of diversity and inclusion, start training. Formal diversity training helps bring exclusive practices to light, provides trainees with specific actions and goals to promote inclusion, and helps formally establish the importance of diversity within your company.

2. Use Inclusive Language

The English language developed naturally over the past thousand or so years, and during most of that time it was firmly rooted in caucasian male superiority. As such, many of the words and phrases we use on a daily basis demonstrate some form of bias. We’re not going to provide you a wordlist here (some of these terms are ones we’d rather not have show up on a Google search result), but we will suggest that as part of your trainings you address common biases and discuss how to improve language in your company to be more inclusive. 

3. Release an Executive Statement

Want to drive home the point that diversity and inclusion are a major focus for your business? Get public backing from the C-suit. An executive statement that addresses the importance of diversity, maps out inclusion initiatives, and establishes metrics and goals will ensure that everyone in the company sits up and takes notice. 

4. Support Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

A lot of the push for diversity will come from company leadership — but not all of it. Employee resource groups (ERGs) are employee lead, completely voluntary groups that exist to promote inclusion within a company. Show support for these groups and encourage your employees in establishing them. With ERGs and C-suite executives all pushing for diversity from different ends, you’ll be more likely to meet in the middle.

5. Improve Your Hiring Practices

Your workforce is only as diverse as the candidates you hire. Be inclusive as you write job descriptions, eschewing gender-based language and industry jargon and instead just focusing on the job itself. Make the career page of your website welcoming and accessible to all candidates. Create a standardized interview process and establish interview panels from a diverse range of genders, ethnicities, etc. Remember: Inclusion starts with inclusive talent acquisition. 

6. Celebrate Diverse Holidays

Christmas is a big holiday, one of the most widely celebrated in the world. But it’s not the only holiday, and it’s not even the only important religious holiday to occur in December! As you determine which holidays you should include in your paid time off (PTO) plan, be respectful of the different preferences and cultural backgrounds of your workforce. This may mean offering PTO for holidays that sometimes get overlooked in traditional business. Better yet, consider offering floating holidays that allow your employee to decide for themselves when to celebrate. 

7. Publicly Promote Diversity

We mentioned earlier that inclusion goes beyond tokenism. Hiring a diverse workforce just so you can flaunt them on social media or your company website undermines real inclusion efforts. But that doesn’t mean you should keep quiet about how your business approaches diversity. Make true diversity and inclusion a key aspect of your brand. Discuss it often. Share your inclusion initiatives and celebrate their successes. Simply put, as long as you follow through and are fully committed to inclusion, being public about it is a great way to inspire others.

Create a Culture Where Everyone Thrives

Business is supposed to be the ultimate meritocracy, valuing and promoting ability over other, less-relevant considerations.

 But for this ideal to become a reality, organizations in every industry have to take more responsibility for providing equal employment and advancement opportunities for marginalized groups. 

When they do, they’ll discover that the business benefits of diversity are essentially limitless. So open up that toolbox and start driving for diversity — your customers, employees, and bottom line will all thank you.

Ready to put your employees’ wellbeing first? Talk to a Wellbeing specialist today!

References

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• Dixon-Fyle, S., Dolan, K., Hunt, D. V., & Prince, S. (2020, May 19). Diversity wins: How inclusion matters. McKinsey. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
• The Evolution of Diversity. (2016, January 27). Sites at Penn State. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://sites.psu.edu/nscivicblog/2016/01/27/the-evolution-of-diversity/
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• Inclusive Mobility: How Mobilizing a Diverse Workforce Can Drive Business Performance. Deloitte. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/Tax/us-tax-inclusive-mobility-mobilize-diverse-workforce-drive-business-performance.pdf
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• Lorenzo, R., Voigt, N., Tsusaka, M., Krentz, M., & Abouzahr, K. (2018, January 23). How Diverse Leadership Teams Boost Innovation. Boston Consulting Group. Retrieved August 31, 2023, from https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/how-diverse-leadership-teams-boost-innovation
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