while media outlets step up their inclusivity,
hiring many organizations are to building more diverse teams
to represent the customers they actually served on average companies that
boosted the share of female and multicultural leadership by 10%.
Also increased revenue by 10%.
This is according to a study by the Harvard business school.
But how does having new diverse team members help an
organization actually become better joining me now is Sonya Thompson,
inclusive marketing strategist and consultant
Sonya really glad to have you and talk to you on this topic.
Love to see the data behind what many advocates knew would be the result of kind of,
you know, adding diversity and inclusivity.
But let's talk about this.
How can organizations actually reap the benefit of a diverse team?
It's by making sure that they create a culture where
diverse talent is going to thrive just because you bring um
talent from different backgrounds on your team doesn't automatically mean
that you're going to reap the benefit of that diversity.
You have to make sure that you are creating an environment
where everybody's voices can be heard um where people are able to
disagree uh and where those differences are really leaned into as
a point of strength so that people can create um services.
They can create different products.
They can create ideas and whatever innovations are
necessary to better serve their customers if everyone
thinks the same way or it's just brought on to continue what is already existing.
I think you're not going to get those results that
we saw in that study that you just mentioned,
you know the time, the term diversity hire is one that that is used
in all kind of sectors and all companies, not all companies, but in some companies,
why is that term diversity hire harmful to a company's culture?
It has a very negative stigma to it because a lot of
cases people assume if someone is a diversity hire that they are
just being brought on the team because the company is trying to
meet a quota from a representation standpoint rather than taking into account.
This person is very qualified for the job.
This person is going to help the team and
the company serve a different group of customers.
They bring various perspectives.
People just tend to default to thinking that
this person isn't qualified in some way,
shape or form and they're just,
they're um because it's the politically correct thing to do.
Um and many instances that is not the case at all.
So what needs to happen is brands need to
focus and companies need to focus on making sure
that they are changing the narrative whenever they're bringing
on new talent who has different backgrounds and experiences,
but they are showcasing those as a point of strength,
something that will help make the team stronger rather than making it
feel like this person is just here to check a box.
I'm so glad that you point out that distinguish
mint because I think even my own personal story,
you know,
I've had moments where I felt like walking into the
room being what some would call a diversity hire,
that that term being utilized, that I had to prove myself.
I had to work twice as hard just to prove I belong there from the very beginning.
Um,
and I know there's a lot of people that I've
spoken to minorities in various industries that have felt similarly.
Um,
so getting that message to executives in terms of how their
onboarding and and really changing the language is so important there
in terms of hiring practices and company culture,
what would you like organizations to do differently this year
to kind of make for a better workplace environment,
make sure that they know that people's
differences will make the team better and know
that whenever it comes time to changing their work face up their workforce up and
making it more representative that they're not
just doing more of the same and expecting
that the practices that they've been engaging in
for years will just work for everybody.
They have to understand that sometimes whenever you're
looking for talent who has different experiences,
you have to go to different places where that talent is and look for them.
Um, to be able to find them,
you also need to make sure that you are creating an environment, um,
in a culture that this talent um,
with different backgrounds and experiences will actually want to come and work.
And then the third thing is just making sure that you are
creating an environment where that person will feel like they belong?
Like you said a lot of times talent um from different backgrounds
come in and they feel like they have to prove themselves.
That's not an environment that somebody will be able to come in and feel like
they can contribute to immediately if they
constantly feel like they're on the defensive.
Um, or having to prove that they do indeed belong there,
make sure that belonging is baked into their culture and baked into every part of
your recruitment process so that people are able
to feel that from the very beginning.
Such created by stare again,
one that I hope many companies kind of implemented their to their benefit,
not just because it's probably the right thing to do,
but to the point earlier to their benefit, we're seeing it actually kind of,
you know, hit the, hit the bottom and top line for many companies.
Um,
in terms of kind of employees themselves, how can multicultural employees,
especially women better advocate for higher pay and recognition regarding
their performance and and their contributions to their company.
One great step would be for companies to
have more transparency and what their pay is.
Unfortunately, there's still the gender pay gap and that gender pay gap exists.
Um, even more so when we're looking at black women latino women, indigenous women,
but one way that women can advocate for themselves is just to really highlight on
focusing on what they bring to the table. What about their experiences?
Will help the company serve a broader degree of customers,
will help them be more innovative,
will help them to improve the way they are currently operating.
It's not just about coming to the team and
just doing what everybody else has always done.
It's making sure that the hiring manager,
the team knows that there is going to be a very clear return
on what the team will be able to do because of their experiences.
So highlighting that upfront is paramount.
But also companies need to make sure that they are doing their
job to ensure the gender pay gap doesn't exist and that there
isn't a pay gap for people who come from different backgrounds or
from more minority candidates because that sends a terrible message as well.
Sonya, great insight and great tips, really appreciate it. Sonya Thompson,
inclusive marketing strategist and consultant.