Every person and talent executive whom I have spoken with in the past few years has always referenced diversity and inclusion as a key focus area. In my previous book, The Future of Work, I talked about the importance of having more women in senior management and executive roles, but of course, diversity includes more than just gender. Diversity also means
having a diverse group of people based on religion, race, generation, sexual
orientation, and more. The Royal Bank of Canada has a great definition of diversity and inclusion: “In simple terms, diversity is the mix of people;
inclusion is getting the mix to work well together.”10
Forbes Insights published a study called “Global Diversity and Inclusion:
Fostering Innovation Through a Diverse Workforce,” which highlights how diversity affects innovation, productivity, job satisfaction, ability to attract and retain talent, and the like, and being diverse is just the right thing to do and helps contribute to the overall brand image of the organization and hence the overall employee experience. People want to work for
organizations that value diverse thought and people of all backgrounds and beliefs. This is also something that millennials and Gen Z employees care about. A study by PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) called Millennials at Work: Reshaping the Workplace found that “millennials value diversity and tend to seek out employers with a strong record on equality and diversity.”11 Karyn Twaronite is a partner and the global diversity and inclusiveness officer at EY, a multinational professional services firm with over 200,000 employees around the world. In an hourlong discussion I had with her, I asked her what she does, and her response perfectly explains what diversity and inclusiveness is all about. She said, “My role is about our firm
appreciating the unique differences and talents of all our people in the 150+
countries [where they operate] and then allowing our teams to best leverage those collective differences so that they can be higher‐performing teams, provide the best client service, innovate, and deliver better solutions.”
Karyn also shared with me that diversity and inclusiveness is not just about gender, religion, and sexual orientation—but it also includes diversity of beliefs, experience, technical expertise, and pretty much anything else that makes people different. Karyn and her team at EY also tie their diversity and inclusiveness efforts to real business impact. As a result they have seen lower turnover, higher retention, higher revenue growth and gross margin, greater team collaboration, and increased brand favorability.
Kaiser Permanente is a healthcare provider with almost 200,000 employees.
DiversityInc recently ranked it as the number one company for diversity, which is a tremendous achievement. At Kaiser diversity is embedded into every aspect of how the organization operates internally and with suppliers and how it interacts with customers. In fact the chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Bernard J. Tyson, personally signs off on executive
compensation tied to diversity, diversity metrics, and progress, goals, and achievements for supplier diversity. Looking at the Kaiser Glassdoor rankings, it's also quite apparent that this focus on diversity is not only noticed by employees but also extremely appreciated.
Sodexo is a French food services and facilities management company with over 400,000 employees around the world that also has a strong diversity and inclusion effort going on. DiversityInc ranked it the number six
company for diversity.12 At Sodexo 25 percent of the executive team's bonus is tied to how well they perform on their diversity scorecard. For management the percentage is 10 to 15 percent.13 Sodexo credits its diversity and inclusion programs with increasing overall employee
happiness and satisfaction as well as expanding its business development opportunities.
The Sodexo diversity and inclusion effort is based on four things:
1. Connection to the business—Build the value of the brand, attract and retain the best people, drive innovation and productivity, grow new business, and improve customer service
2. Leadership commitment—All executives at Sodexo are expected to show their commitment to diversity and inclusion through their words and actions
3. Top down, bottom up, and middle out deployment strategy—Grassroots efforts, executive role modeling, and the cross market diversity council led by midlevel managers
4. Accountability and measurement—Metrics such as the diversity index, which influences pay (discussed earlier)
These are just a few examples of organizations that believe in diversity and inclusion, which makes it easier for them to attract and retain the best and brightest talent in the world. You can look at table 7.5 to see who some of the highest and lowest scoring companies for this variable are.
What This Measures
Creating an open and welcoming organization
Respect and appreciation for all employees (and people in general) Psychological safety
What You Can Do
Define what diversity and inclusion means to your organization and what it looks like.
Tie the program to something meaningful, such as executive and management compensation.
Make it public for the world to see.
Table 7.5 Believes in Diversity and Inclusion Some Highest‐Scoring
Organizations
Some Lowest‐Scoring Organizations
Apple Berkshire Hathaway
Salesforce.com Perkins Coie
PwC General Dynamics
American Express Arnold & Porter