In today’s modern workplace, diversity and inclusion are increasingly becoming organisations’ key focus areas. Job seekers look for organisations that embrace diversity and value inclusion within the workplace. At the same time, clients and customers tend to build stronger work relationship with organisations that value diversity.
According to findings from McKinsey’s 2017 Diversity Matters II report, it found that there is a linear relationship between racial and ethnic diversity and better financial performance. To put it in numbers, for every 10 per cent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior executive team in the organisation, the organisation’s earnings (before any interest and taxes) increase by 0.8 per cent.
There is no doubt that diversity and inclusion has a role to play in propelling an organisation towards greater financial success as well as employer branding. At the same time, with employees becoming increasingly mobile in today’s workplace, this helps to advance diversity and inclusion particularly in Asian cities.
Attraction and Retention
Global mobility encourages employees from varying cultures and demographics into the workforce. A diverse group of employees will in turn help to attract new diverse talent to the organisation as well. When employees come back from an international assignment, this introduces new ideas and viewpoints which could help value add to an organisation. At the same time, it provides insights into a new market which could provide a competitive edge to the organisation.
Leadership pipeline
Diversity, particularly at top executive levels and in senior management roles, have always been a controversial topic. Traditionally, men has always been perceived as the gender that should dominate senior management roles but that mindset has shifted in recent years. An increasing number of women today place a heavy emphasis on their careers and there are numerous mobility programmes in place to develop women for leadership roles. This then attracts more diverse talent to the organisation.
While global mobility certainly helps to improve diversity and inclusion within the workplace, there are numerous challenges that both employees and employers may face. Family commitments, personal interests – these could all affect mobility programmes and dampen organisation’s efforts to promote diversity and inclusion. Nonetheless, mobility is simply one of the many factors to encourage diversity and inclusion within the workplace.
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