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September 19, 2024
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The month of February always brings an increased focus on diversity and inclusion, but in truth every company could benefit from addressing these issues all year-round. Simply put, today’s employees don’t want to work for a company that only pays attention one month of the year. A recent Glassdoor survey showed that more than half of employees want their employers to improve diversity, and 67% of candidates seek out companies that emphasize it in their culture.(1)
Addressing diversity and inclusion in your workplace isn’t just the right thing for your employees, it can lead to benefits for your overall organization. That’s because teams full of people with different backgrounds who are allowed to be themselves are shown to be more innovative, more engaged, and financially more successful than less diverse teams.
High-functioning diverse teams are more effective - which shouldn’t be surprising - a variety of ethnicities, backgrounds, generations and experiences brings together a greater variety of ideas. Millennials in particular are seeking out companies who emphasize diversity and inclusion. This is the same group who will make up 75% of the workforce by 2025(5), which means looking the other way simply isn’t an option for future success.
Here are few steps you can take to increase inclusivity within your organization:
This month, Navigate’s CEO Troy Vincent sat down with his friend and local leader in Des Moines - Joseph Jones. Jones is not only the Executive Director of The Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement, he’s also a local City Councilman, and an adjunct professor at Drake University. Jones joined Vincent and the Navigate team to talk about all things related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics ranged from what communities like Des Moines can be doing better on these issues, to how companies just like Navigate can do more to both foster an open dialogue with their teams and take meaningful actions to do more to create a diverse, inclusive, and equitable workplace. Check out their conversation here.
Key takeaways from Joseph for organizations and individuals wanting to learn more from our black and minority co-workers, neighbors, and friends:
“Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, step out of your comfort zone, and just try.”
The Harkin Institute’s primary focus includes four of the issue areas important to their founder, Senator Tom Harkin (retired): labor and employment, people with disabilities, retirement security, and wellness and nutrition. Learn more about their good work at harkininstitute.org.
For more specific actions you can take—and how the right wellbeing program can help facilitate your efforts, generate engagement, and more—come back to this space the final week of February for a second blog post on this topic. In the meantime, reach out to Navigate’s business development team and Book a Demo now.
Sources
1 https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/diversity/
2https://joshbersin.com/2015/12/why-diversity-and-inclusion-will-be-a-top-priority-for-2016/
4 https://www.gartner.com/en/human-resources/role/human-resources-leaders
6 https://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2015/02/03/20768/?sh=49226f506490
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