Virtual Summit: Wednesday, May 19, 2021
1:00 – 5:00 pm
The Chamber of Catawba County is curating a diversity and inclusion summit which encourages participants to discover it, challenge it and embrace it. Experience has taught us that a diverse, equitable and inclusive business community doesn’t just happen and as we look at the future of our marketplace and workforce, the business case for diversity, equity and inclusion is critical to retaining, recruiting and attracting talent while ensuring business prosperity.
The Business & Economic Case:
With every passing year, America grows more diverse. In fact, more than 67% of job applicants and 57% of employees expressed that they value diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It’s no wonder, too, because diverse companies perform better.
When our workforce doesn’t reflect our population’s ever-growing diversity, it’s not only a moral issue, but a business issue as well.
Diversity is important to applicants, employees, and consumers, and in 2021, that diversity includes a large umbrella of categories. Whether it’s inclusion of race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, or sexual orientation, businesses benefit from embracing different experiences, lives, and self-definitions.
5 Facts About Diversity in the Workplace Which May Surprise You:
1. Diverse companies have a 2.3x higher cash flow per employee over a three-year period than non-diverse companies. Business owners care about the bottom line. How can they not? They do, after all, have a business to run. Still, 41% of businesses say they’re too busy? to increase diversity in the workplace, regardless of the fact that diverse companies bring in more money.
2. 80% of employees say they value inclusive policies in the workplace. 72% of employees also indicated that they would leave their job to work for a company that is more inclusive. In fact, 40% of LGBTQ+ employees have been harassed at work for their gender identity or sexual orientation. Of these, 41% have left their job because of this behavior. Additionally, inclusive environments improve employee mental health, regardless of demographics.
3. 87% of customers would rather patronize businesses that hire people with disabilities. Despite this, the employment ratio for people with disabilities in 2018 was only 19.1%, compared to 66% for people without a disability.
4. Ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to increase revenue, and gender diverse companies are 15% more likely to increase revenue. Still, women only hold 38% of managerial positions. Additionally, in a study of over 19.6 million employees, only 9% of men of color and only 4% of women of color held C-level positions, compared to 68% of white men and 19% of white women.
5. Racially diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams by 35%. Despite this, 97% of executive boards don’t represent the overall demographics of the United States. Since executive boards make important decisions for the company, it only makes sense to have the strongest team com-position possible.
To gain connections, information and tools to advance your professional skills and business strategies surrounding DEI, we invite you to attend our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Virtual Summit on May 19. Click here for more information.
