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What are the benefits of managing and valuing diversity?
More and more employers are realising diversity is good for business. It provides a wider choice of employees, more creativity and innovation especially in a global and ever competitive market place.
The marketplace and the workplace are changing rapidly. The critical factors being:
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Globalisation
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Unprecedented technological advances
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Changing demography
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The war for talent
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And increasingly, the significant use of procurement (by public bodies and larger private sector businesses) to drive through compliance and good diversity practice.
In competitive tendering (and where all other things are equal) evidencing a commitment to and an appreciation of diversity and equality beyond compliance is a key differentiator.
Not only is the workplace increasingly diverse, but the expectations of those entering the workplace is also different.
Today's workforce and especially young people have a greater sense of entitlement than their predecessors did; they expect better treatment and conditions, good personal development and a work life balance.
This in turn is raising the bar for other staff and for employers.
Facing the greatest challenge are those operating within candidate driven professional markets where the "war for talent" is greatest. In the workplace good diversity management is crucial and requires the ability to successfully manage the implications of a much wider variety of individual differences and needs.
Evidence shows that salary alone is no longer enough to attract and retain the best people; a workplace that supports individual needs as a matter of course is going to be a workplace that attracts and retains the best of available talent.
Competition, as we know, is stiff.
It is not going to change and will increase exponentially as India, China and other global continue to grow.
In the event of economic downturn in the US and the UK, our ability to compete on the highest quality of service and respond to diverse cultural buying criteria will become even more crucial.
The Business Case
The business case for managing and valuing equality and diversity in UK businesses has been well established. Professional DiverCity encourage businesses to determine their own individual business case and approach to equality and diversity which is compatible with existing values and supports the achievement of existing organisational priorities.
We have found that most successful strategies are built around a business case which acknowledges the:
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Moral case -
it's clearly the right thing to do and be seen to be doing
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Legal case -
cost of discrimination to UK business was £320 million in 2006
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Demographic case -
the ability to attract and retain the best of available applicants and have products and services which are compatible with modern buying criteria
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Economic Case -
access to public and large private sector contracts
Some usefull weblinks for your own research:
Government Research |
