Why Would Diversity And Inclusion Be Of Benefit To Everyone?

This will benefit everyone for the following reasons:

• More choice – one of the ways in which work could become more inclusive is by encouraging flexible working. Flexible working enables employees to benefit from a range of working patterns such as compressed hours or job sharing.  This allows for a better work/life balance encouraging everyone from Millennials to Baby Boomers into the workplace.
• More innovation – One of the downsides of working in a monoculture where senior staff recruit new staff who are similar to them is a phenomenon called “groupthink”  defined as:

“The practice of thinking or making decisions as a group, resulting typically in unchallenged, poor-quality decision-making.”

An exciting and challenging aspect of working in the construction sector is the need to work in teams and to problem solve, often under pressure. A lack of diversity, in terms of approach, skills and experience can inhibit a group’s ability to think creatively and reduce opportunities to innovate.

• Better business – when you a have diverse employees you benefit from a broader array of skills. For example, having multilingual workforce can help businesses expand their customer base and ensure that they better understand the needs of a wider range of client.

D&I not only positively impacts clients as a core business strategy, it is key to attracting and retaining new talent in an increasingly competitive labour market.

For years, diversity and inclusion have often been seen as a “nice to have” rather than a necessity for remaining relevant in a competitive market.  But I believe that if done well, diversity and inclusion could be the “disruption” in people management that the industry has been waiting for.

Creating and reaping the benefits of an inclusive working environment needn’t be hard. While the construction sector as a whole still has some way to go in terms of the levels of diversity, I believe that inclusive strategies can be instigated right now to ensure the current and future workforce feels engaged and valued.

A change will be good for the construction sector, helping to improve its service, its image and ensuring that the industry reflects the society it serves and is fit for the future.

By Danna Walker, Director of Built By Us