Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace: A Comprehensive Essay

This essay delves into the critical importance of diversity and inclusion in the modern workplace, emphasizing their significance for organizational success. It defines diversity, differentiating between visible and invisible traits, and contrasts it with the concept of inclusion, highlighting the creation of a fair and respectful work environment. The essay explores the benefits of building a diverse and inclusive workplace, including increased employee retention, a wider customer and supplier base, and enhanced talent acquisition. It also addresses the shift in generational expectations, particularly among Millennials, who prioritize inclusive environments. The essay references research demonstrating the positive impact of diversity on creativity, innovation, and organizational performance. Furthermore, it outlines best practices for diversity and inclusion, such as effective teamwork, diversity training, and equal opportunities. The essay concludes by emphasizing that diversity and inclusion are crucial for improving brand image, boosting employee engagement, and driving long-term success in contemporary companies. References from experts like Henry et al., Corey, Fok and Payne, Sue et al., O’Donovan, McKay and Avery, and Hays-Thomas are provided.

Running Head: DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN WORKPLACE
Diversity and Inclusion in Workplace
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note

1DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN WORKPLACE
In contemporary world, diversity and inclusion has become a CEO-level issue all
across the globe (Henry et al., 2014). The huge numbers of digital organisations of today that
operate as a network of teams basically thrives on open dialogues, empowerment and the
inclusive working styles. This paper shall elaborate on discussing about diversity and
inclusion in workplace and their importance for overall success.
As per Corey, Fok and Payne (2014), diversity can be defined as “collective mixture
of differences and similarities that include organisational and individual values, beliefs,
backgrounds, characteristics, preferences and behaviours”. They have further broken down
the diversity into two more segments and they are visible diversity traits and the invisible
diversity traits. In terms of diversity, it is to note that the visible traits are the ones that are
often what is emphasized more and they include the body type, the physical abilities of the
person, his race, age and gender. On the other hand, the invisible diversity include the things
like socio-economic status, religion, educational background, parental status, sexual
orientation etc. However, it is to note that the concept of “inclusion”, although very closely
related to diversity, is very different from it. According to Shore, Cleveland and Sanchez
(2018) inclusion is “the achievement of a work environment in which all individuals are
treated fairly and respectfully, have equal access to opportunities and resources, and can
contribute fully to the organization’s success”.
It is to note that there are huge range of benefits that could be gained when building a
diverse and inclusive workplace at all the levels of a company. The modern workplaces are
witnessing a departure of the baby boomer generation and the coming of millennial
generation along with certain significant management strategies for the companies. Apart
from the generational changes, researchers have found out that the return on the equity is
about 53percent on an average for the firms that ranks in the top list of the executive board
diversity. As per Sue et al. (2019), the individuals with diverse lifestyles and diverse

2DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN WORKPLACE
backgrounds are able to challenge one other more. Diversity helps in creating a dissent and it
is very necessary as in absence of this, one cannot involve into much deeper breakthroughs or
inquiry.
Furthermore it is to mention that inclusive workplaces, which understands the
requirements of their staffs while ensuring that they are respected and valued has a notable
and profitable influence on the level of employee retention. Recent study on this subject by
O’Donovan (2017) have suggested that the firms that addresses the values of a different and
inclusive workforce openly tend for appealing to a much wide network of supplier and
customer base. As the awareness about diversity and inclusion develops, inclusion and
diversity have become highly important for the talent acquisition as well as to develop
company’ employment brand. There are many companies that operate in an environment of
high level of transparency that the employees demand. For the younger workers, the concept
of inclusion is not just about the as semblance of diverse teams but also regarding connecting
the team members in order to ensure that everyone is respected and heard. This is why, the
modern companies need to align their approach with the expectations of the Millennial and
the others, or else, they are likely to lose the talent.
According to McKay and Avery (2015), if the fact that the modern companies now
operate as networks is to be considered, it has become clearer that both diversity and
inclusion could help in reinforcing the organisational performance. Research by O’Donovan
(2018) have demonstrated that the diverse and inclusive groups of members are more creative
engaged and innovative at their workplace. Apart from this, some of the best practices of
diversity and inclusion as per the survey by Hays-Thomas (2015) include effective team
working and collaboration, diversity training and education, giving equal access to the
present opportunities, ensuring organisation agility, flexibility and responsiveness etc. Even
P&G has become a global leader in this field by means of incorporating commitment towards

3DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN WORKPLACE
inclusion and diversity. Over the last five years, it has spent about 2 billion dollars on an
annual basis for supporting its program of supplier diversity and building a board and
different supplier base that comprise of more than 1500 women and several minority owned
suppliers.
Hence, from the above analysis it is to conclude that diversity and inclusion are the
comprehensive strategies that are woven into each and every aspect of talent life cycle for
improving the brand image, enhancing employee engagement and driving the performance.
They are the key to long term success of modern companies.

4DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN WORKPLACE
References:
Corey, C. M., Fok, L. Y., & Payne, D. M. (2014). CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN
VALUES AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: A COMPARISON OF US AND
PUERTO RICO. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications &
Conflict, 18(2).
Hays-Thomas, R. (2016). Managing workplace diversity and inclusion: A psychological
perspective. Taylor & Francis.
Henry, A. D., Petkauskos, K., Stanislawzyk, J., & Vogt, J. (2014). Employer-recommended
strategies to increase opportunities for people with disabilities. Journal of vocational
Rehabilitation, 41(3), 237-248.
McKay, P. F., & Avery, D. R. (2015). Diversity climate in organizations: Current wisdom
and domains of uncertainty. In Research in personnel and human resources
management(pp. 191-233). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
O’Donovan, D. (2017). Inclusion: Diversity management 2.0. In Managing Organizational
Diversity (pp. 1-28). Springer, Cham.
O’Donovan, D. (2018). Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. In Organizational
Behaviour and Human Resource Management (pp. 73-108). Springer, Cham.
Shore, L. M., Cleveland, J. N., & Sanchez, D. (2018). Inclusive workplaces: A review and
model. Human Resource Management Review, 28(2), 176-189.
Sue, D. W., Sue, D., Neville, H. A., & Smith, L. (2019). Counseling the culturally diverse:
Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons.