Introduction:

Diversity is defined as being composed of different elements or the wide variety of something. In a workplace, this means that the workforce is composed of employees from different races, genders, sexual orientation, career backgrounds and skills. Apart from these, there are more factors that make an individual diverse; but, these broad categories can help companies identify the gaps in diversity. Identifying these gaps help companies set measurable goals and take concrete efforts in closing these gaps. Although, diversity and inclusion are often used interchangeably, inclusion is defined as the achievement of a corporate entity in which its entire workforce is treated fairly and respectfully and provided with equal opportunities and resources for growth irrespective of the diverse backgrounds namely race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Efforts in inclusion help to give the traditionally marginalized groups like those based on gender, race, physical or mental disabilities, a means to feel equal and included. The immediate need of the hour in any organizational context is to ensure that voices from different backgrounds are heard and importance is given equally to everyone. This is a vital step in creating a more inclusive and equitable work environment. A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that makes everyone, regardless of who they are, feel equally involved in and supported in all areas of the workplace.

Diversity and inclusion in workplace is a social, ethical and moral responsibility, along with other serious benefits:

1. Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely and 15% more likely to yield higher revenue.
2. A recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found a strong, statistically significant positive relationship between diversity and corporate innovation.
3. A study by Glassdoor found that 57% of employees and 67% of job seekers consider diversity an important element of their workplace.
4. When employees perceive their organisation to be more diverse and inclusive and they actually feel included, 80% of the employees are more likely to rate their employer as progressive and high performing.
5. A study published in the American Sociological Review found that companies have higher sales revenue, more customers, higher than market average share and profitability when they have the highest percent in racial or gender diversity and inclusion.

References:

1. Diversity + Inclusion. What is the meaning of Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace in 2021? https://builtin.com/diversity-inclusion
2. Why is Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace Important? By Matt Bush https://www.greatplacetowork.com/resources/blog/why-is-diversity-inclusion-in-the-workplace-important

Case Study:

1: Lenovo Case Study

A case study based on the 2018/19 Sustainability Report demonstrates Lenovo’s approach to growing employees’ diversity and inclusion capabilities. In order to do implement diversity and inclusion (D&I) in employee development, Lenovo took action to:

1. Expand manager’s global awareness: This is done by encouraging managers to lookout for diverse candidates when hiring. The participants are encouraged to expand their global awareness by becoming anthropologists.
2. Implementing leadership development programmes: Women, under-represented groups, persons with disabilities, LGBT, and two or more races and veterans are members of this programme.
3. Combatting Harassment: employees and managers are encouraged to take part in a biennial programme and anti-harassment course to promote healthy, safe and inclusive workplace behaviour.
4. Operating Employee Resource Group: Lenovo’s employee resource groups include Women in Leadership Programme, Diversitas, New and Expectant Mothers Outreach, Black Leaders achieving Success in Technology and Hispanics of Lenovo Association.

To yet understand the prevailing gaps, wants and needs of employees in terms of diversity and inclusion, Lenovo conducted a comprehensive research study. The goal of the study was to allow the company to re-evaluate their practices to ensure that they are satisfying the needs and wants of the current and future generations entering the workplace.

Findings:

Employees in this study expressed their aspirations to see more representation in the leaders from diverse backgrounds. Employees have expressed that it is very important that the workforce should comprise of more women, followed by persons with disabilities, ethnic/racial minorities, LGBT and religious minorities and corporate managers/leaders are chosen from these diverse backgrounds as well.

Following is a tabular presentation of the response generated by the Employees based on certain parameters carried out in the survey.

References:

1. Case Study: How Lenovo embeds diversity and inclusion in employee development

Case study: How Lenovo embeds diversity and inclusion in employee development

1. Diversity + Inclusion in the Global Workplace Topline Findings

2: Wipro Case Study

India has a reasonable diversity in its workforce, especially in its global firms. Managing workplace diversity is a key challenge in the globalized world today. It is striving continuously to achieve an equitable workforce in terms of representation from diverse backgrounds. In order to manage workplace diversity and inclusion effectively, Wipro’s diversity and inclusion program was officially launched in 2008. A case study of the same was conducted and highlights how through diversity and inclusion measures Wipro has attempted organizational sustainability. Wipro’s diversity and inclusion program is based on four important pillars as provided below:

1. Gender: The company has started a gender inclusiveness approach called the Women of Wipro, led by the senior management. This program enables women to channelize their passion for their personal and professional growth and provides opportunities for their long-lasting career. The members of the program undertake meetings twice a year to provide feedback and regulate its inclusion and diversity initiatives.
2. PwD: Wipro’s PwD inclusion system targets six chief policy areas such as Attainable Infrastructure, Accessible Information Systems, Recruitment, Education and Understanding. Wipro employed all of its employees based on their merit irrespective of their disabilities.
3. Nationality: Wipro employs people around the globe. To increase sensitivity towards different cultures, the company has infused in advanced online tools, staff traveling overseas to participate in an “Online Readiness Program” which includes a cultural sensitivity module.
4. Under-privileged and disadvantaged communities: The organisation aims to broaden the pool of candidates by employing people from the under-privileged communities and to add a highly devoted workforce to the organization. The organization does so by collaborating with colleges/ universities in small cities to propel recruitments, collaborating with NGOs which convey skills to the under-privileged and collaborating with state governments to impart expertise and training to trainers.

Findings:

The sustainability report of three years from 2016-2019 revealed an increasing trend in diversity and inclusion. The gender diversity increased from 33% in 2016-17 to 35% in 2017-18 and 35.2% in 2018-19. The percentage of women in management positions increased from 16% in 2017-18 to 16.9% n 2018-19. Employment of PwD increased from 334 employees in 2016-17 to 442 employees (with 8 different types of disabilities) in 2017-18 to 545 employees (with 15 different types of disabilities) in 2018-19.

References:

1. Krithi, & Pal, Ramesh. (2020). Diversity and Inclusion: Key to Improve Productivity- A Case Study on WIPRO. International Journal of Case Studies in Business, IT, and Education (IJCSBE), 4(2), 18-27. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3977553

3: HPCL Case Study

• HPCL as an employer strives to provide equal employment opportunities for every individual regardless of their age, gender, geographical location, etc. They believe that a diverse workforce fosters innovation, creativity and enhances growth of not only the corporation but the individual as well. The recruitment at HPCL is a fair, objective and transparent process. The corporation employs individuals based on talent and interest. The recruitment process encourages diversity and inclusion by hiring individuals from different genders, transgender, different castes, communities, ethnicities, economic backgrounds, persons with disabilities.
• As of March 2021, HPCL has a total of 9,448 employees. Out of the total number of employees, 24% of employees are under the age of 30 mostly employed in junior management and non-management areas, 35% of employees are within the age range of 30-50 years of age and are employed in junior management, senior management and non-management and 41% are over the age of 50 years mostly working in the non-management sector followed by middle management, junior management and senior management.
• The corporation has 9:1 men to women ratio. Out of the total number of women employees, 0.7% of the women hold a position in the senior management, while 14% of the women hold positions in the middle management, 63% of the women are in the junior management and 23% of the women work in non-management.
• However, the top management of the corporation acknowledges the fact that efforts should be put in for more representation of women especially in senior roles in the coming years.

References:

1. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited Sustainability Report 2020-21.

4: HUL Case Study

Hindustan Unilever Limited is committed to becoming a diverse and inclusive company. The company has an established program for the inclusion of women in the workforce. The D&I Leadership Team of HUL led by the Executive Director and constituting senior leaders from across all functions have created a vision to expand its D&I program to focus on the inclusion of not only women but also LGBT, Persons with Disabilities (PwD), and Socioeconomically underprivileged people.

• Gender Balance: HUL’s flagship programme for women returning from a career break called Career by Choice provides them an opportunity by providing them a platform for the transition back to mainstream work by allowing them to work on live projects but in flexible hours. The company thus saw an increase of women in managerial roles from 26% in 2012 to 40% in 2019.
• Persons with Disabilities: Unilever’s Consumer Engagement Centre collaborates with non-profit organisations that work for Persons with Disabilities by providing them with an opportunity for employment. Consumer Engagement Centre (CEC) India, an initiative under the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan that enhances livelihoods by creating employment opportunities for PwD. CEC India has provided employment to 5% of PwD as of 2019. 
• Socioeconomically underprivileged individuals: CEC India further focuses on strategies that enhance the livelihoods by creating employment opportunities for socioeconomically underprivileged people. CEC India has provided employment to 31% of socioeconomically underprivileged people as of 2019. 
• LGBT Inclusion: HUL is taking steps for inclusion of persons from LGBT spectrum into the workplace. They will now extend policies and benefits for same sex partners for all spousal benefits, extend gender transition support and invest in All Gender restrooms across its offices. The company has also launched interventions and campaigns with the aim to create awareness and reduce homophobia and make such persons feel included and valued.
• Prayer Room: For the purpose of inclusion of people from various religious backgrounds, HUL has launched multi-faith prayer rooms. These rooms provide people from different religious backgrounds a place to pray or indulge in quiet reflection.

References:

1. Diversity and Inclusion at Hindustan Unilever https://www.hul.co.in/news/news-and-features/2019/diversity-and-inclusion-at-hindustan-unilever.html

5: Microsoft Case Study

• Microsoft continues to see a modest gain in the representation from under-represented population of women, people from different ethnicities and people with disabilities.
• Women representation: Out of the total workforce at Microsoft, 30.2% are women. In addition, out of the 12 members of the board of directors, 5 of them are women. 2 of the 4 board committees are chaired by women. The percentage of women in the workforce saw an increase of 25.5% in 2016, 27% in 2017, 28.1% in 2018, 29.2% in 2019 to 30.2% in 2020. 42% women held positions as company’s leaders, 24% of the women held technical roles and 22.4% of women help roles as technical leaders.
• People from different ethnicities: Black or African American employees represented 4.9% of the total US workforce, while Asians represented 34.7% of the total US workforce and Hispanic & Latin employees combined represented around 6.6% of the total US workforce. In order to increase representation, the company is expanding their internal programs for mid-level and director level employees.
• Persons with Disabilities: 6.1% of the total workforce is represented by Persons with Disabilities.
• The company continues to accelerate leadership and talent development, systems of accountability and strengthening the culture of inclusion.

References:

1. Microsoft’s 2020 Diversity & Inclusion report: A commitment to accelerate progress amidst global change by Lindsay-Rae-McIntyre-Chief Diversity Officer, Microsoft. https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/10/21/microsofts-2020-diversity-inclusion-report-a-commitment-to-accelerate-progress-amidst-global-change/

Summary:

As important it is for an organization to be diverse and inclusive, it is of more importance the ways through which diversity and inclusion can be practiced in the workplace:

1. Using the Inclusive Workplace Model: Inclusive cultures make people feel valued and proud of their culture. Acknowledging the differences can allow the companies to consciously introduce inclusion efforts and diversity initiatives.
2. Diversity in the Executive Team: The top management of a company speaks about volumes of a culture. It is thus essential to have a diverse top management team. A survey report from Boston Consulting Group found among the Fortune 500 companies that only 24 CEOs are women, which represent only 5% of the total number of CEOs. The report also pointed out that out of the 500 CEOs, only 3 are black, 3 are openly gay and only 1 identifies as a lesbian.
3. Acknowledging and Honouring Multiple religious and cultural practices: The companies should introduce policies to honour the various cultures and religions/faiths.
4. Fostering a company culture where every voice is welcome, heard and respected: Employees need to feel free to express their opinions and ideas. Companies must make sure employees feel included and respected regardless of their age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, etc. One way to ensure that is to introduce a common platform for people to voice their opinions and perspectives.

References:

1. 15 Ways to Improve Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace. https://socialchorus.com/blog/15-ways-to-improve-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-workplace/