A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that makes everyone feel equally involved and supported in all areas of work.

Diversity is defined as the representation or the make-up of an entity, while inclusion is about how well the contributions, presence, and perspectives of different groups of people are valued and integrated into an environment.

Research has shown many benefits of a diverse and inclusive workplace including higher revenue growth, greater readiness to innovate increased ability to recruit a diverse talent pool, higher employee retention, among other benefits.

Nadin Tuyizere, a human resource practitioner, says an inclusive workplace doesn’t just have a diversity of people present; it has a diversity of people involved, developed, empowered as well as trusted by the organisation they work for.

According to the Deloitte 2017 Global Human Capital Trends Report, 32 per cent more executives cited inclusion as a top priority than they did in the 2014 survey.

Deloitte Global Capital Trends Report is a global social enterprise known for conducting and compiling global research and regional analysis into human capital trends.

The report indicated that the number of companies that self-reported themselves to be excellent at gender diversity increased by 72 per cent. Additionally, in the 2017 survey, 69 per cent of the organisations believed that they are either adequate or excellent at supporting different types of family models within workplace environments, while 48 per cent of these organisations believe they are adequate with global cultural diversity issues.

Tuyizere says an environment that encourages inclusivity and diversity will not only help attract a diverse set of talent, but also help them retain the diverse talent they attracted in the first place.

"This approach is to create a consistently high-trust workplace experience for everyone, regardless of what activities they carry out at the organisation,” she says.

Besides, she adds that it also helps employees have a feeling of belonging and also, get to fully utilise their talents because they are being recognised and appreciated, thus easier to achieve their goals.

In today’s world, Dr Opiyo Andala, the dean of School of Education at Mount Kenya University, says it’s essential for organisations to adopt different ways of making them thrive, and one of them should be inclusion and diversity.

For such enterprises, he believes by tapping into such vital aspects, it helps them as a company maximise the potential of their employees.

On the other hand, the lecturer says, where there is diversity, there is definitely innovation.

On the side of the company, he says it allows an organisation to improve efficiencies, create better ways of performing tasks and improve existing technology.

"When there is both diversity and inclusion at the workplace, it creates an environment that allows workers to unlock innovative ideas,” he adds.

How should it be done?

It has been established that in today’s competitive job market, employees have high expectations of their work experience. As the movement towards belonging in the workplace continues, leaders will need to increase their efforts to ensure an equitable workplace which is effective, innovative and ultimately, successful.

A culture of diversity and inclusivity is extremely important if companies wish to reach a level of excellence in the near future.  By implementing certain policies, with time, organisations can create this type of environment and reap its rewards.

Some of the ways to ensure diversity and inclusion at the workplace include;

Management should be diverse. If the executives at your companies come from a diverse background, a culture of diversity and inclusivity will be that much easier to achieve.  Further, it is important for people to have role models that look similar to them when it comes to thinking about personal career advancement.

Acknowledge employee cultural and religious holidays. At the very least, mention these types of holidays in the company newsletter.  More progressive organisations permit employees to ‘choose their own holidays.’

Create a company policy that covers diversity and inclusivity. In order for everyone to be on the same page, it is important to write down company beliefs.  After all, policies will dictate the company culture and are also important for legal reasons.