Business case for diversity
Effective management of workplace diversity is clearly linked to improvements in organisational performance, effectiveness, profitability and revenue generation:
- Studies in Australia and overseas have found that companies with more women directors on their boards delivered better financial performance.
- A survey of work-life balance for Australian employers found that best practice organisations reported significant business benefits from work-life initiatives.
- A U.S. study found that racial diversity in the workplace is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers, greater market share and greater relative profits.
Leaders in managing diversity continue to demonstrate that effective diversity management leads to significant business benefits.
Failure to effectively manage diversity can lead to costly discrimination complaints and law suits.
Australian statistics indicate many organisations are struggling to manage diversity effectively:
- Women are still undervalued in the workplace;
- Workforce participation for key diversity groups could be much higher (e.g. people with a disability and Indigenous Australians);
- Discrimination and harassment at work are alive and well; and
- Work-life balance is still hard to achieve.
