- |
- Sign in
| Learning
Why Is Diversity and Inclusion Important?
Diversity in the workplace statistics
In today’s workforce, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is a top priority. As you’ll see, there are multiple forces elevating the initiative: business performance impact, employee/applicant experience, work culture, and more. Companies are taking DEI more seriously than ever.
And it’s just in time, too. The younger generations—millennials and older Gen Z—prefer diverse companies to buy from and work for.
Here are statistics and viewpoints that illustrate why diversity and inclusion are so important for the success of businesses now, and especially in the near future.
Businesses with higher diversity outperform their peers
More diversity means more breadth and depth of ideas and experience. Research repeatedly shows that businesses that make diversity a priority outperform their peers.
60% of respondents in a LinkedIn study said that diversity within their sales team has contributed to their teams’ success.
Organizations in the top quartile for gender diversity have a +25% likelihood of financially outperforming their peers.
Organizations in the top quartile for ethnic diversity have a +36% likelihood of financial outperformance.
Diverse companies earn 2.5x higher cash flow per employee.
Inclusive teams are over 35% more productive.
Diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time.
Additional Sources: McKinsey, D&I Global Market Report, Peoplemanagement
“Leaders must acknowledge that increasing demographic diversity does not, by itself, increase
effectiveness; what matters is how an organization harnesses diversity, and whether it’s willing to reshape its power structure.”
Diversity in the workplace matters to applicants and employees
Businesses are not only more successful when they embrace DEI initiatives, they also are more attractive to top talent and more likely to retain them. This is especially true for millennial and Gen Z workers.
- Employers that posted about diversity saw 26% more applications from women than employers who posted less.
In a LinkedIn study, companies with a DEI team were 22% more likely to be seen as “an industry-leading company with high-caliber talent” and 12% more likely to be seen as an “inclusive workplace for people of diverse backgrounds.”
76% of employees and job seekers said diversity was important when considering job offers.
60% of employees want to hear business leaders speak up on diversity issues.
80% of survey respondents said they want to work for a company that values DEI issues.
- Posts on LinkedIn about diversity received 1.9x the engagement of other posts in 2020.
According to Aida Fazylova, Founder and CEO of XOR, millennials and Gen Z are redefining diversity in the workplace (via Spiceworks):
“[Millennials and Gen Z] see diversity as the acceptance and embracement of coworkers with differences in
education, personalities, skill sets, experiences, and knowledge bases. So, not only do they see diversity in the
traditional sense, but they are also adding culture and knowledge to the mix.”
Aida Fazylova
Founder and CEO, XOR
Learn more: Defining Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in the Workplace, and How to Practice It
Additional Sources: Glassdoor, CNBC, Spiceworks
The current state of diversity in the workplace
There has been good progress on diversity initiatives over the past few years. However, there is still plenty of ground to cover. Women and minorities are still underrepresented in leadership roles in particular, while many employees feel their organizations aren’t doing enough to support DEI initiatives.
45% of learning & development professionals planned to implement DEI programs in 2022, versus 34% in 2021.
A LinkedIn survey of recruiters and HR professionals found that while 69% said their organizations were committed to more diverse hiring, only 47% are holding hiring managers accountable.
Only 6.6% of Fortune 500 companies have women as CEOs—a figure celebrated as an “all time high.”
The Washington Post found that of the top 50 most valuable public companies, only 8% of top executives were Black. At least 8 companies employed no Black executives.
Over half of employees in a Glassdoor study said their company should be doing more to increase diversity. Over 70% of Hispanic and Black employees said the same.
61% of employees in the same study said they had experienced or witnessed workplace discrimination.
Only 40% of companies in a Beamery survey said they had taken DEI to the C-suite level.
In the same study, less than half of respondents in the U.S. agreed that “our workforce should reflect the communities we serve” and “a diverse workforce is a competitive advantage.”
“Inclusive leadership is not a destination. It's a journey that requires humility, curiosity, and courage.”
Thais Compoint
Global Specialist in Inclusion and Diversity
Sources: Fortune Magazine, Washington Post, Glassdoor, Beamery
A transformational approach to diversity in the workplace
How you can implement it in your leadership development program
How do we solve the disconnect between overwhelming evidence that DEI improves a business and the sentiment that it isn’t a top priority? LinkedIn’s Ty Heath suggests a transformational, rather than transactive, approach to the problem.
Instead of making business benefit the core of a DEI initiative, instead focus on how DEI can transform the business and everyone in it.
“Companies that frame social issues as ‘the right thing to do’ tend to be more successful at promoting desired behaviors. Recent neuroscience research also suggests that compassion is not only transformative for the human brain, but it is also the key to fueling systemic cultural change. We call this making a transformational case. And the transformational case has statistically-significant predictive power.”
Ty Heath
Director, Marketing Engagement, The B2B Institute at LinkedIn
In other words, the business case for diversity in the workplace is clear, but your business is more likely to succeed if you put
transformation at the center of your case for DEI.
Ready to take the next step in creating a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion?
Explore Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion on LinkedIn Learning
- Explore more learning paths in our latest DEI Curated Content guide.
Help your employees develop skills they can use right away.
Contact sales now
An experienced sales specialist is here to help find the best solution for you.
An experienced sales specialist is here to help find the best solution for you.