Workplace diversity: More than a box to tick
By Stephanie Oley

Companies that embrace diversity can expect better results in myriad ways: cohesive teams, a better culture, and improved productivity.

Mention Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I), and many of us will instantly think of policies and percentages. How many businesses have such a policy. How well they are meeting on their deliverables. What have the percentage changes looked like. And so on.

Yet in reality, diversity is more than a statistic or a compliance box to tick. Companies that embrace diversity can expect better results in myriad ways. These include more cohesive teams, reduced staffing churn, a better workplace culture and greater productivity, according to research by global consultancy McKinsey.

The principles of DE&I draw on those of emotional intelligence, starting with self-awareness and ending with practical actions that regulate the way team members relate.

Think of it as a health tonic for organisations, not a bitter pill.

Two steps forward, one step back

So, which companies are getting it right? In Forbes magazine’s seventh annual diversity survey in 2024, major US education, pharmaceutical and banking firms once again scored highest for diversity. PayPal, Johnson & Johnson, Citigroup and several universities ranked among them.

In Australia, the public administration and safety industries scored highest for diverse workforces, according to the Diversity Council of Australia’s 2024 Inclusion@Work index. By contrast, despite slight progress being made in reducing discrimination against female workers, slight discrimination increases were reported for First Nations workers, workers with a disability, and flex workers.

However, support for diversity and inclusion is rising among workers – which is why organisations must find the tools to embrace it.

Old habits die hard

As behavioural psychologists have noted for 100 years and counting , many of us are biased to stay with what’s comfortable. Look at most social gatherings, whether in a pub or workplace, and you’ll see likeminded people together. Creatives will bond with other creatives, engineers with other engineers and so on. The same goes for similar generations, genders and cultural groups.

If this tendency is left unmanaged in the workplace, companies run the risk of creating silos that stifle collaboration. Silos exist in less visible ways as well, such as on a cognitive or psychosocial level. Break these up, the results are surprising. For example, a Harvard Business Review article described drastic performance improvements among teams with cognitive diversity such as ADHD.

Start with a collaboration mindset

Companies can begin creating a culture of diversity by encouraging empathy and openness. According to CCE’s Diversity and Inclusion Course facilitators, this in turn can only come from a place of trust.

For example, if a team is being assembled for an exciting new project, there can’t be a sense that the manager will choose his or her favourites – whether a certain gender or an insider group. Inclusion also applies at a team level. For example, if the R&D team is launching a new project, they need to engage the entire firm in a shared purpose – sales, marketing and more.

Employees need to trust that managers and teams will make their decisions impartially, according to what different individuals will bring to the project. However, that admission has to come from a place of confidence in how the other person will react.

How to start building a diversity mindset

Teams often start by exploring their DE&I landscape using a tool called empathy mapping . Participants note their responses in four quadrants to describe what someone might be thinking, seeing, doing and feeling, and actions they might take in response. This can then guide responses including:

• Awareness – being more conscious of bias and its causes.
• Active listening – learning to inquire rather than judge, such as asking a colleague about their early departures from the office each day rather than leaping to conclusions.
• Self-regulation – everything from knowing your emotional triggers, to admitting that you feel vulnerable.
• Seeking feedback – shaping new insights rather than relying solely on familiar knowledge.
• Practice – embedding emotional intelligence into your daily habits, in the same way you might stick with a fitness regime.

As former General Electric CEO Jack Welch once said, ‘Change before you have to.’ Businesses must get to the principle of why we form biases, how we manage them and whether they are affecting our happiness, productivity, morale, attrition or other factors. If you don’t have the tools inhouse, you can take a course and learn how.