It's More Than a Seat at the Table: 4 Attributes of an Inclusive Workplace

Say that a doctor’s office subscribes to 10 magazines for its waiting room. 58003

By the numbers, this kind of array may seem to indicate a particular set of preferences. But closer inspection would reveal that some of those magazines are more dog-eared than others. While a variety of magazines are physically represented, many of them are goingunderutilized and ignored, raising the issue of presentation versus implementation.

The same skewed perspective arises when we use numbers to distinguish between representation and persity in the workplace, because raw data often undermines what’s happening contextually. In fact, arecent Wiredarticlenoted that most companies, through the guise of measuring persity, are actually measuring only representation because they're only counting heads.

And while representation may be a good first step toward a persified workplace, it ultimately falls short of true implementation.

Measuring the seemingly immeasurable

Traditional methods for measuring persity -- such as sums allocated for working with minority businesses or persity training -- can actually impede momentum. Astudy in the Harvard Business Reviewindicated that these approaches may inadvertently reinforce biases, resulting in the need for further and more sophisticated types of analyses.

With companies having access to more big data than ever before, it's time that theyscrutinize what "persity" means to their organizations and how best to incorporate it. Understanding this issue requires a deep pe into the intricacies of the modern workplace, including equity and access, so companies can achieve inclusivity and reframe the metrics of “successful persification.”

The inclusivity of ‘the startup mentality’

More and more,kudos for persity go to smaller companies and startups, especially those founded by disenfranchised talent. These organizationshave the luxury (if it can be called that) of having no legacy baggage -- meaning no engrained processes or culture -- and a lot of flexibility.

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True inclusion, though, means hiring the best intergenerational talent -- since persity in age and experience, especially for bigger roles, can yield incredible returns.Studies by McKinsey & Companyhave shown that perse workplaces financially outperform non-perse ones: The top quartile of gender-perse companies, in fact, are 15 percent more likely to outperform their peers, while the top quartile of ethnically perse companies are 35 percent more likely.

Many startups make the effort to address persity because the bottom line is that a perse group of people who collaborate well can give a company a competitive edge and keep it plowing forward when others crumble.

Four attributes of an inclusive workplace

Although no single metric can measure persity in any organization, certain attributes can give leaders a practical snapshot of their workplace’s inclusivity. Here’s how to implement them:

1. Expose people to senior leadership.Are employees exposed to decision-makers and empowered to make an impact? Curiosity was among thesix signature traits of inclusive leadershipoutlined by the Deloitte University press. Employee access and autonomy create a cross-pollination effect across silos and boundaries, whichenhances a leader’s experiential scope and leads to innovation.

In a2014 studyof 1,500 executives by the Boston Consulting Group, three-quarters of leaders listed innovation as one of their top three priorities. And while it may be tough to assign a score to reporting structures (in terms of how dynamic they are)and to open-mindedness, giving leaders an in-depth look at who honestly has access to the upper corporate ladder rungs is a strong step toward inclusivity.

2.58003 If not, the workplace can run into liability issues. Beyond liability issues is the gender pay gap,a persistent and pervasive problem.

In 2014, workingwomen earned, on average, 78 percentas much as men, a p that was much smaller for women of color. For this reason, 28 companies -- including Amazon and Johnson & Johnson -- signed the Obama administration’s 2016Equal pay pledge. So, take a look at your company’s positions and remuneration, and be prepared to ask the tough questions, if necessary.

3. Reevaluate promotion rates.Are women or other minority groups getting promoted at the same rate as their non-minority peers? promotion rates are a great indicator of your organization’s inclusivity. Companies should not only increase their promotion awareness at the lower level, but achieve better representation across supervisory and C-level roles.

procter & Gamble is a good example of how a company can overhaul its promotion practices to better align with inclusivity goals: Through anextensive leadership development strategy, it raised its percentage of women managers from 40 to 44 percent between 2008 and 2013.

4. Create opportunities for high-visibility work.Are women and employees of color offered opportunities through special projects? pepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyiinstituted an array of programs-- such as educational classes for her employees and the community -- that allow her employees to play an active role in workplace persity and social outreach. These practical applications give her people the opportunity to participate in high-visibility roles that exemplify inclusivity. Overall, a company needs to make explicit and concrete strides to illustrate that mere representation is not the end result.

In sum, although some businesses still cling to the notion that it’s all about the numbers, others are looking pragmatically, and closely,at these new metrics. Because, as the nature of business evolves, so, too, should the way businesses and their people think about the topic of persity.