Diversity and inclusion in the workplace

Diversity is about recognising difference, but not actively leveraging it to drive organisational success. It’s acknowledging the benefit of having a range of perspectives in decision-making and the workforce being representative of the organisation’s customers.

Inclusion is where difference is seen as a benefit, and where perspectives and differences are shared, leading to better decisions. An inclusive working environment is one in which everyone feels valued, that their contribution matters and they are able to perform to their full potential, no matter their background, identity or circumstances. An inclusive workplace enables a diverse range of people to work together effectively.

Standards, such as the BSI and ISO human resource management suite and Investors in People (IiP), provide principled based frameworks and guidelines to help organisations recognise the actual and potential value of their people and ensure their people polices and working practices are bias free. See more on HR and standards.

Everyone is a unique person. Even though people have many things in common, they are also different in a variety of ways. The concept of ‘intersectionality’ - that we all have multiple, overlapping identities - takes into account this principle. In the UK, age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation, are ‘protected characteristics’ covered by discrimination law to give people protection against being treated unfairly. However, differences also include visible and non-visible factors, for example, personal characteristics such as background, culture, personality, work-style, accent, language and so on.

This means it’s important to recognise that a ‘one-size-fits all’ approach to managing people does not achieve fairness and equality of opportunity for everyone. People have different personal needs, values and beliefs. Good people management practice demands that people propositions are both consistently fair but also flexible and inclusive in ways that are designed to support both individual and business needs.

For example, ‘neurodiversity’ is a growing area of workplace inclusion. It refers to the natural range of differences in human brain function. Amongst employers, it’s used to describe alternative thinking styles including dyslexia, autism and ADHD. ‘Neurodivergent’ individuals can have unique strengths, including data-driven thinking, an ability to spot trends, and processing information at extraordinary speeds. It’s estimated that at least 10% of the UK population is neurodivergent. However, most workplaces are physically and structurally set up for ‘neurotypicals’, so employers are missing out on other strengths.

Together with Uptimize, we’ve produced Neurodiversity at work, a practical guide for employers. It helps remove potential ‘friction points’ in the hiring process and enable employees to play to their strengths. Most adjustments are simple and low-cost, but can make a significant difference to an individual’s working life. 

The social justice case is based on the belief that everyone should have a right to equal access to employment and training and development based solely on merit. Everyone should have the right to be free of any direct or indirect discrimination and harassment or bullying. This can be described as the right to be treated fairly and the UK law, principally in the Equality Act 2010, sets minimum standards.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has published a range of guidance on all aspects of the Equality Act 2010, including a Code of practice on employment. Whilst not legally binding documents, the codes give important guidance on good practice and failure to follow them may be taken into account by tribunals or courts.

For more information on particular aspects, see our various factsheets on age, disability, harassment and bullying, race, religion, sex discrimination and gender reassignment and sexual orientation discrimination.

Our research Diversity and inclusion at work: facing up to the business case highlights that inequality is still widespread in the workplace, and people professionals are in a unique place to champion the importance of diversity and inclusion. It also finds the evidence base on diversity is complex, with context playing a significant role. In other words, organisational contexts must support diverse teams for good outcomes.

HR professionals should also take into account the potential positive outcomes of diversity for individuals (such as impact on well-being). Any business case for diversity must take these human outcomes into consideration and balance them with business outcomes.

It’s important to consider the holistic benefits of diversity and inclusion, because good decisions about people practices benefit workers, wider society, but also organisations as well. In addition to the moral case, there are three main strands to building the argument for going beyond what is required by legislation: talent, market competitiveness, and corporate reputation.

Talent

Research on the psychological contract shows that people want to work for employers with good employment practices. They also want to feel valued at work.

To be competitive, organisations need everyone who works for them to make their best contribution and be valued. Considering diversity and inclusion in its broadest sense helps organisations to develop an open and inclusive working culture.

Increasingly, employers recognise the importance of diversity and inclusion in recruiting and retaining the skills and talent they need. As well as designing appropriate and fair people practices, it’s important to create open and inclusive workplace cultures in which everyone feels valued, respects colleagues, and where their contribution is recognised. See more on avoiding unconscious bias in recruitment in our report A head for hiring.

Market competitiveness

A diverse workforce can help to inform the development of new or enhanced products or services, open up new market opportunities, improve market share and broaden an organisation’s customer base. However people need to feel they have a voice in the organisation if the benefits of different perspectives are to be realised.

Corporate reputation

Businesses need to consider corporate responsibility (CR) in the context of diversity as social exclusion and low economic activity rates can limit business markets and their growth. CR used to be centred on environmental issues, but an increasing number of employers now take a wider view, seeing the overall image of an organisation as important in attracting and retaining both customers and employees.

Overcoming prejudice and changing entrenched negative attitudes about equality and diversity issues can be difficult. To progress diversity, organisations should focus on developing inclusive approaches to employment policies and practices and personal behaviours by managing equality and diversity issues in ways that also support business contexts and circumstances. Ultimately, action should be underpinned by the principles of equal opportunity, fairness and transparency. Organisations need to move from minimal compliance with legal duties. People management practices must also recognise that being inclusive goes beyond policy and ensures that everyone is valued and supported as an individual.

Our report, Diversity and inclusion at work: facing up to the business case highlights touchpoints in the employee lifecycle that may contain barriers to equality and practical recommendations, such as being aware of gendered job adverts that may inadvertently deter candidates from applying. Flexible working and job design are important components of diversity strategies and need careful consideration to attract and retain a wide pool of talented people into the organisation.

As well as targeted initiatives, a coherent strategy is needed to ensure that working practices across the organisation support an inclusive culture which embraces difference. The strategy needs to be supported with a well-communicated value system reflecting the importance of diversity and inclusion. All employees should be trained to understand and engage with this in the way they do their jobs and work with their colleagues.

Although there’s no legal requirement to have a written diversity policy, it’s a good idea to produce one to demonstrate the organisation takes its legal and moral obligations towards being a diverse employer seriously. It can also encourage employees to treat others equally.

Overall strategy

• Ensure that initiatives and policies have the support of the board and senior management.
• Remember that managing diversity and developing a culture of inclusion is a continuous process of improvement, not a one-off initiative.
• Develop a diversity strategy to support the achievement of business goals, including ways of addressing the diverse needs of customers.
• Focus on fairness and inclusion, ensuring that merit, competence and potential are the basis for all decisions about recruitment and development, and be alert to the influence of conscious and unconscious biases.
• Keep up-to-date with the law and review policies through checks, audits and consultation.
• Design guidelines and provide training for line managers to help them respond appropriately to diversity needs, as they are vital change agents, but give them scope for flexible decision-making.
• Link diversity management to other initiatives such as such as Investors in People (IIP), BSI 76000 Valuing People and ISO 9001 Quality Management.
• In an organisation that operates internationally, be aware that the approach to managing diversity will need to take account of the ways that individual working styles and personal preferences are influenced by national cultures.

Workplace behaviour

• Reflect respect and dignity for all in the organisation’s values and ensure these are reflected in the way the organisation and its employees operate on a daily basis.
• Aim to describe the desirable behaviours to gain positive commitment.
• Make clear that everyone has a personal responsibility to uphold the standards.
• Introduce mechanisms to deal with all forms of harassment, bullying and intimidating behaviour, making clear that such behaviour will not be tolerated and setting out the consequences of breaking the organisation’s behaviour code.

Communication

• Develop an open culture with good communication channels based on open dialogue and active listening.
• Ensure appropriate channels for employee voice and that different groups feel able to access them.
• Use different and accessible methods such as newsletters, in-house magazines, notice boards and intranets to keep people up to date with diversity policies and practices.
• Actively seek people’s ideas and take action on feedback.

Learning and development

• Build diversity concepts and practices into staff training courses, management training and teambuilding programmes to increase awareness of the need to handle different views, perceptions and ideas in positive ways.
• Consider awareness-raising programmes, such as ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, about various aspects of diversity to help people appreciate difference.
• Include diversity issues in induction programmes, including raising awareness of employee network groups, so that all new employees know about the organisation’s values and policies.
• Train line managers to help them understand the issues and drive their support for organisational and operational policies and practices.

Measure, review and reinforce

• Regularly audit, review and evaluate progress and keep quantitative and qualitative data to chart progress, highlight where barriers exist (for example, recruitment data) and show the positive impact of initiatives.
• Use employee surveys to evaluate initiatives, to find out if policies are working for everyone, and to provide a platform for improvement.
• Track actions to see if they have had the intended results and make appropriate changes if necessary.
• Include diversity and inclusion objectives in job descriptions and appraisals, and recognise and reward achievement. For example, staff surveys could ask questions about the team culture and whether they feel there is equality of opportunity.
• Benchmark progress against other organisations and explore what others are doing to adopt and adapt ideas where appropriate.
• Network with others from inside and outside the organisation to keep up-to-date and to share learning.

Contacts

Acas - Equality and discrimination

GOV.UK - Employers: preventing discrimination

Equality and Human Rights Commission

Government Equalities Office

The Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (enei)

Equality and Diversity Forum

Books and reports

ACAS. (2014) Delivering equality and diversity. Advisory booklet. London: ACAS.

BUSINESS DISABILITY FORUM. (2015) Square holes for square pegs: current practice in employment and autism. London: Business Disability Forum.

DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS INNOVATION AND SKILLS. (2013) The business case for equality and diversity: a survey of the academic literature. London: BIS.

FROST, S. and KALMAN, D. (2016) Inclusive talent management: how business can thrive in an age of diversity. London: Kogan Page.

MCANDREW, F. (2010) Workplace equality: turning policy into practice. London: Equality and Diversity Forum.

Visit the CIPD and Kogan Page Bookshop to see all our priced publications currently in print.

Journal articles

JACOBS, K. (2013) Getting the right mix. Human Resources. August. pp22,24-27

JONES, P. (2011) What is unconscious bias? Equal Opportunities Review. No 215, August. pp21-24.

LEWIS, D. (2017) Businesses expect to increase investment in diversity. PM Daily. 8 November.

PHILLIPS, K.W., DUMAS, T.L. and ROTHBARD, N.P. (2018) Diversity and authenticity. Harvard Business Review. Vol 96, No 2, March-April. pp132-136. Reviewed in In a Nutshell, issue 75.

CIPD members can use our online journals to find articles from over 300 journal titles relevant to HR.

Members and People Management subscribers can see articles on the People Management website.