Diversity and Inclusion are NOT the Same
By Vanishree Bhatt
Recently, diversity and inclusion as corporate agenda have garnered attention at a very vast scale. From being as an essential cultural practice to a global favourite at discussion in international conferences, both, diversity and inclusion warrant serious consideration by employers who haven’t given it much thought!
But in a lay person’s vocabulary, both these terms as serious organizational pursuits often mean the ‘same’ — a set of practices that are aimed at fostering equity, growth and recognition of employees through specific policies and benefits without any biases.
However, not every employer that is inclusive would also have a diverse culture and vice versa.
So, what do they exactly mean, individually? And what’s the difference? Are they interlinked?
The simple answer is no. To understand their meaning independently, let us look at some quick facts from a 2018 survey and relate to where they fall in an employer’s diversity and inclusion playbook:
· Nearly 71 percent of employers have a targeted recruiting strategy for women as a part of their diversity goals in 2018.
· About 44 percent of the new hires were women.
· Companies that conducted equal pay reviews constituted 61 percent.
From the above findings it is evident that they are linked to the practices focused at increasing female population or gender diversity in workplace. Diversity refers to having a talent pool of different age demographics, socio-economic backgrounds, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, culture, etc.
Diversity of any form in an organization is a result of its hiring practices and policies. But to retain and nurture diversity at workplace, every employer must have an inclusive culture.
The recent Deloitte study on diversity and inclusion as transformative forces found that 71 percent of organizations wish to adopt an inclusive culture. Also, in organizations with inclusive cultures the likelihood of exceeding the financial targets, performance and innovation were 2X, 3X and 6X, respectively.
So, to cut down the concept of inclusion, below are some data-backed facts:
· Around 69 percent of the companies provided on-sight maternity rooms and 39 percent had policies that covered gender reassignment treatments.
· Nearly 36 percent of employers gave elder care subsidy or back-up elder care services to their employees.
· The global average for paid parental leave for primary and secondary caregivers is nine and three weeks, respectively.
These findings highlight policies that ensure fair treatment of employees with opportunities, benefits, infrastructure and recognition. But the real emphasis of inclusion inside a corporate model is towards the elimination of any limitation at workplace or in work culture that can hamper performance, employees’ job satisfaction levels, engagement and growth.
To sum it up, an inclusive culture could be best practices and employee policies or benefits that instil ‘a sense of belonging’ by taking that extra stride to make employees comfortable and secure in their job roles and workplace.
We have just scratched the surface of the ever-expanding roles of diversity and inclusion. The upsurge in the demand for hiring for diversity and inclusion positions can be attributed to employers globally welcoming this shift.
In the upcoming blogs, we shall delve deeper with examples of policies that are a must have for every employer to make their workplace diverse and inclusive.
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
