November/December 2017

Leading Insight
Inclusion: It’s Essential to Leading A Vibrant, Diverse Talent Pool

Maintaining an architecture and engineering company’s continued success in the 21st century will greatly depend on engaging, recruiting, and retaining a diverse talent pool. And the top professionals—across generations—within this workforce are looking for employers committed to creating more inclusive work cultures.

A recent Deloitte survey found that 80% of professionals reported that inclusion is important when choosing an employer, and 39% reported that they would leave their current organization for a more inclusive firm. More than 50% of millennial respondents said they would leave their current employer for a more inclusive employer while 30% of millennials reported that they have already left an organization for a more inclusive one.

Respondents indicated that they are prioritizing the experiential aspects of an inclusive culture, focusing on not just how inclusion looks, but also how it feels in their everyday interactions. When asked which aspects of inclusion are present at their organizations, more than half of respondents said their organizations have leaders and/or coworkers from different demographic groups and life experiences. More than 70% of respondents said that they valued working for an organization with leadership that consistently demonstrates inclusive behaviors with a mixed quantity or quality of inclusion initiatives.

To foster an inclusive environment, firms will need to concentrate on three elements:

• Authenticity—Creating a workplace where employees can feel comfortable being themselves, leverage their unique strengths, and share their perspectives. Many look for their coworkers and leaders to do the same.
• Flexibility—Choosing where and when their work gets done and having flexibility with other aspects of their lives.
• Purpose—Making an impact and understanding how their work fits into the big picture.

Embedding Inclusion Into Culture

As with any organizational culture change, an inclusive environment will have to be reinforced through the “tone at the top.” Senior leaders will need to ensure that they have built up a significant amount of trust within the organization because there are substantial links between trust, diversity practices, and engagement.

Today’s workforce is often looking for an organization to go beyond positioning inclusion as an add-on or something separate from the overall human resources or talent retention strategy, says the report. Instead, employees are seeking organizations that are integrating inclusion into their overall business objectives and throughout their organizational culture.

Companies will also have to embrace the fact that all employees have several distinct and unique identities, strengths, and experiences that overlap and intersect in different ways. These characteristics all contribute to a person’s unique and authentic self, according to the report. Firm leaders should enable and encourage their professionals to connect on common passions and interests. These types of connections and opportunities can assist in employee engagement and productivity as well as inspire creativity and innovation by driving broader diversity of thought.

Walking the Talk

A vital component to changing a culture is ensuring that company programs address and raise levels of awareness and educate about unconscious biases. Programs also should address how to recognize the opportunities for inclusive behaviors in everyday interactions. Organizations should consider including demonstrable inclusive behaviors in performance expectation frameworks for leaders to underscore the importance of “walking the talk,” with the following actions:

• Mentoring and sponsoring a broad range of individuals throughout the organization from a variety of backgrounds and experiences;
• Embedding inclusion strategies in key aspects of the talent lifecycle, including recruitment, assignments, and succession planning;
• Building diverse teams by seeking out individuals with a variety of perspectives and skills, and enabling them to play to their unique strengths;
• Enabling team members to invest in their personal well-being in ways most meaningful to them; and
• Demonstrating the importance of authenticity, transparency, and building a sense of community.

Access the report Unleashing the Power of Inclusion: Attracting and Engaging the Evolving Workforce at www.deloitte.com.