Creating inclusive culture

Companies are 47% more likely to retain employees at an organization seen as inclusive.

– MCKINSEY

Inclusive workplace cultures are influenced by a wide range of experiences, perspectives, and ways of working. If your company cultivates a culture where everyone belongs, employees will show up in a more authentic way bringing all their passion, creativity, and productivity to their jobs. For the employer, this means elevated employee satisfaction, streamlined processes, better-performing teams, and higher profit margins. 

If your company misses the mark and undervalues the power of workplace inclusion, you’ll face the consequences – excessive turnover, talent burnout, low morale, expensive lawsuits, and missed opportunities for innovation and profit.

So, what kind of culture is your workplace cultivating?

Inclusive Culture Statistics

If you’re cultivating inclusion, you’re in good company and the statistics prove it. Here are some compelling diversity and inclusion studies from workplaces across the U.S.

  • The youngest generations are more diverse than ever. Only 56% of the 87 million millennials in the country are white, as compared to 72% of the 76 million members of the baby boomer generation. (CNN Money)
  • 67% of job seekers consider workplace diversity an important factor when considering employment opportunities, and more than 50% of current employees want their workplace to do more to increase diversity. (Glassdoor)
  • Companies with higher-than-average diversity had 19% higher innovation revenues. (Harvard Business Review)

Definitions and Terms to Know

When people inside your organization talk about DEI and cultivating an inclusive culture, is everyone speaking the same language?  Here are some common terms and definitions that you can use to start communicating and fostering understanding.

  • Quick definitions of diversity, equity, and inclusion. MIT created this guide to concisely explain concepts and what they mean within their inclusive workplace culture.  Does your workplace have a definition guide to keep everyone speaking the same language?
  • What is privilege? Another MIT example, this quick fact sheet defines privilege to the organization’s employee base and give examples of how to foster inclusion with possible (dis)advantages in mind.
  • Defining stereotype threat. MIT also created this is a quick guide explaining how people of color are affected by stereotypes in the workplace. The guide educates and encourages employees to be aware and always fostering belonging for everyone.

Conversation Resources

Discussion drives connection and community, so here are a few resources to help your organization facilitate discussions about diversity, equity, and inclusion.

In a 2021 MMAC survey of 1,600 managers of all races in metro Milwaukee, 82% say their company has made a greater commitment to developing a culture of equity and inclusion in the past two years.

The business case is clear.

“While almost two-thirds of organizations (65%) say DE&I is a high strategic priority, 67% say their organization is, at best, only somewhat successful at creating a workplace that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive”

Harvard Business Review Analytic Services

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