January 14th, 2021
We were recently invited to a roundtable about Diversity & Inclusion (D&I). It was a very enriching conversation that gave us further insights into the reality of corporate D&I and which we wanted to share the learning from.
By nature, we are a diverse business (woman-led and founded, and our respective highly international backgrounds created an environment that was naturally attracting a more cosmopolitan workforce) but we still had lots to learn… We hope you will too by reading this small piece!
D&I has, of course, always been something that minorities have been fighting for - but, until now, it was mostly overlooked. Let’s face the reality, the “moral compass” didn’t necessarily agree with the “commercial compass” until big consultancies such as McKinsey or Bain & Co started releasing reports on the positive impact of diversity on commercial results. Only then did companies really start to make a D&I effort.
Thankfully for minorities, beyond insights from MBBs helping their business case, recent macro events (the rise of LGBTQ+ movements, the Black Lives Matter movement, and other similar global ‘revolutions’) and trends have further accelerated the need to look into the issue.
When we say trend, we are talking for example about people’s renewed view on jobs – work should be more than something to help pay bills and mortgages. People want to invest their time in the right opportunities and a key part of that is finding a business where they would feel happy to deliver their best work. They will have a very hard time doing so if they feel like they don’t belong in one way or another – so understandably there is a higher attrition of diverse talent in companies these days because a lot feel like they do not belong (try to stand in a meeting room where no one looks like you and do not make any effort to include you and see if you are motivated to keep doing the work...).
Looking at those macro factors and trends, they are here to stay. So companies are right to be delving deep into the subject. Now the question is – are companies taking the right approach?
A genuine intention is the biggest step in the process but it has to be followed through with actions – one does not go very far with intentions only. So where do we start?
Most have been monitoring their actual performance by collecting data (around background, gender, sexual orientation, etc.). This can help identify the areas in which the business is lacking – is it mostly male dominated? Are LGBTQ+ people feeling like they are discriminated against? Are people from ethnic minorities underrepresented? Are neurodiverse individuals’ conditions taken fairly into account? And so forth. From there, how do we move from making D&I a simple statistic and an observation of where the company lacks?
One of the biggest mistakes companies make when they see the results of their surveys is ‘forcing’ the D&I hires. But while the intention is very positive, this is not necessarily the place to start. Before hiring for diversity, companies should audit themselves to answer the following questions:
Are we ready to onboard diversity talent? Do existing underrepresented employees feel like they belong? Would other people like them feel like they belong if they were to join tomorrow? Does the company culture encourage belonging and inclusion?