Creating a workplace where people feel they belong is about more than diversity, it’s about inclusion too. They are not the same thing, according to members of American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, who are coming together to promote the message.
“When it comes to diversity, there are two sides to it,” says Gareth Lambe, head of Facebook Ireland. “There is an equality aspect and an effectiveness piece.”
The diversity of your workplace is something you can measure easily, he says. So “when x per cent of the population makes up one group of people, but they only make up y per cent of your workforce”, you know you have work to do.
And it is work that is worth doing, says Lambe, not least because there is ample research to show that organisations benefit commercially from having a diverse workforce. But to really benefit, those organisations have to be inclusive too.
This is harder to achieve. “Because diversity is about equality in terms of the mix of people you have, it’s a metric you can measure. But companies can be caught off guard by assuming that just by being diverse is enough, without being inclusive as well. Inclusivity means people feeling that their voice is heard, understood and respected.”
Diversity and inclusion goes much deeper than gender and ethnicity. “It’s about including people from different political backgrounds, who are introverts, who are less-abled. It’s about using cognitive diversity to help solve complex problems. To do that means helping people to feel heard and making sure you are listening.”
Culturally diverse
Facebook, with 2.3 billion users, has an extremely culturally diverse customer base and it is working on improving the diversity of its employee base too. As a US multinational, it has the advantage of coming from a country that has traditionally prided itself on its culturally diverse make-up.
That heritage gives US MNCs based here valuable insights into diversity and inclusion which they believe are worth sharing.
In Ireland, Facebook has people of 93 nationalities working for it, Lambe points out. “Ireland is becoming a more diverse place and companies here are becoming more aware of the benefits a more diverse workforce brings with it. But the US has known this for longer, so we in the American Chamber felt that what we have learned may be of value to other companies too,” he says , pointing to an EY survey last year which found diversity and inclusion to be a matter currently occupying nine out of 10 business leaders.
“But if everyone is in agreement on this, it’s about getting action. We have an opportunity to show all that we are doing on this,” says Lambe. “We want to deepen the conversation and share best practice.”
Facebook is investing significantly in diversity and inclusivity activities, including putting staff in leadership roles through bias- and inclusiveness-training.
The Chamber is actively seeking out fora to discuss the topic, such as its Future Leaders Forum and HR Leadership Group, its education conference and inclusion showcase, he says.
The benefits of diversity and inclusion are clear, says Shaun Murphy, managing partner of KPMG in Ireland. As well as being a major provider of services to US businesses in Ireland, the accountancy firm is the biggest private-sector recruiter of graduates in the country – so the topic of inclusion is “very much on its agenda”, he says.
“Inclusive workplaces attract and retain talented people. Inclusivity is a virtuous circle in many respects because good people don’t just want to work for attractive organisations, they also want to work with the diverse, interesting and talented people that make up those organisations,” says Murphy.
Achieving it requires a top-down approach. “Inclusive organisations emerge as a result of leadership, so leaders have to challenge themselves by, for example, accepting that unconscious bias does get in the way of an inclusion strategy. The route to an outstanding client and customer experience is through people – the best and most diverse people make a real difference.” It’s important to value inclusion for all the right reasons, Murphy cautions: “It makes sense because it’s the right thing to do. It helps focus on attracting and retaining the very best people regardless of gender, orientation, ethnicity and all the other defining characteristics that people may use to filter their perspectives.” We all benefit from that. “From an Irish point of view, the country’s diverse workforce is one of the attractions for those who choose to do business here. If you are serving your worldwide business from Ireland, the diversity of our people mirrors much of the reality of the global marketplace and that’s a big plus for Ireland.”
