Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace is incredibly important for making employees feel valued and understood, improving employee retention rates, and in turn increasing productivity and morale. What many organizations don’t realize, however, is having a diverse workforce also helps improve the customer experience and overall customer success in a couple of different ways.
The push for increased DEI within organizations continues to grow rapidly and has become a major indicator for workplace excellence and business success. Companies that show organization-wide commitment to DEI inherently attract more diverse candidates and widen their talent pool. As a result, these companies rise in success much faster and more easily than those who do not — in fact, 74% of millennials believe their organization fosters more innovation when an inclusive culture exists.
As an organization’s diversity grows, so too does its ability to boost creativity and engagement through diverse perspectives, skillsets, and ideas. When an organization’s workforce is more engaged, they are happier, more productive, and become brand advocates for the company’s values and goals. Having engaged brand advocates can help expand your reputation and reach by attracting quality customers and candidates. It also means that your employees are more likely to provide better customer service because they are aligned with the companies values/goals.
Having a diverse workforce allows organizations to better understand their diverse customers. Embracing diversity among the workforce allows employees and customer success teams to be more in-touch with the unique needs of their customers and clients, promoting growth and sales. The expansion of diverse perspectives also opens the door to more effective and creative problem solving. Each unique perspective in the workforce leads to expanded market awareness and the ability to recognize where business initiatives may need to shift or realign.
Employee retention is critical to business growth and success just as much as securing customers and making sales. The Center for American Progress stated that the mean cost of turnover of skilled jobs in an organization is 213% of the total cost of a year’s compensation for that role.
DEI is a major player in retaining employees. When an organization’s workforce feels like their perspectives, experiences, backgrounds, cultures, and demographics are valued on an individual basis, they tend to be more enthusiastic about staying with the organization and contributing to its mission and success. This includes, but is not limited to, factors such as:
A few ways to commit to DEI in practice and help foster better employee retention include diverse holiday celebrations and observations, re-evaluating job descriptions and eliminating any bias, providing career development opportunities for all employees, setting up employee surveys and listening sessions, and much more.
To learn more about ways to fully integrate DEI among your workforce, improve customer success, and boost employee engagement and retention, visit our library of resources or reach out to us directly.
