15 benefits of having a diverse team in your startup organization

Author: Tactyq Published on: March 7, 2021 Published in: Uncategorized

Do you wonder how some companies are explicitly good at generating a good return on investment, coming up with innovative ideas for each one of their projects, and creating a productive work environment for both employers and employees?

They follow a simple work strategy. The secret lies in diversity.

Quoting Stephen’s Covey, “Strength lies in differences, not similarities.” It means, having a work environment of people from different gender, ethnicity, background, age group, etc.

Diversity is not mandatory, but it is a need that helps your organization grow healthily by being inclusive and acceptable. The companies that consider diversity and pursue the same for themselves are 35% more likely to receive financial returns above the industry median.

Do you have a diverse team? Take this team team diversity assessment to find out.

Also if you are an early-stage business, you might want to read our posts on how to build a tech startup team and assembling the ideal startup team.

Let us now look at the 15 benefits of having a diverse team.

Do you have a diverse team - quiz — Do you have a diverse team – quiz

1. Innovation

Diversity brings creativity and innovation. It is legit true that if you have people from diverse backgrounds, age groups; you will gather different ideas helping you form an innovative and creative strategy.

There have been several studies supporting the notion, and it is pretty evident that the companies that pursue diversity are ones to introduce most of the out-of-the-box ideas. Diversity also enables nonlinear and novel thinking and adaptability that innovation requires. Companies with the highest levels of digital investment showed the strongest link between diversity and innovation revenue.

2. Better Performance

We all know what a team can do, and if the same team has people from different backgrounds then it can create miracles. Harvard Business Review found out that diverse teams are able to solve problems faster compared to teams with similar cognitive abilities.

The secret behind the better performance of top companies is their acceptance of different people, which creates a comfortable environment for individuals and also allows them to put forward their ideas, and suggestions for any new project.

3. Attracts Talent

A survey by Glassdoor found that 67% of people believe in getting into organizations that prioritize diversity. The reason is simple. It allows them to have a sense of individuality and makes them feel significant. Thus, it attracts people who stand out from the crowd and always have something different to share.

4. Creates Brand Image

There is no doubt that if you follow good strategies and plans, you will see your company growing. Employers can use diversity as a top-selling point to stay ahead of the competition, and thus attract more diverse candidates. This will also employees feel recognized and that they would like to stay and work at your company for longer, which will eventually enhance the brand image.

5. Increase in Reach

By having diverse teams, you can reach out and serve a larger pool of clients or customers by reaching out to various demographic groups who may have previously been neglected or under-served. For instance, if you are trying to sell to tier-2 and tier-3 cities it will be difficult for you to reach out to those markets unless you have people in your company who belong to those cities.

Diversity in your workspace shall help you to connect to more people, leading to an expansion in your footprints. Thus, diversity can help you to become well-known in the market.

6. Compete with the Market Globally

Diversity brings talented people to your company, as they have been selected from the open market, who can speak multiple languages, are familiar with different cultures, and also carry the unique talent that defines them.

Having a team of individuals with different backgrounds can help you sustain your brand and business in the global marketplace.

7. Better Customer Service

The more diverse your team is, the more empathy your team can show to of a diverse set customers.

Customers feel good when they are heard and their issues are solved properly. Diversity comes in great advantage here as it brings more ideas and suggestions related to any issue, specifically the customers-related ones. Thus, it will help your company to generate the best solutions for your customers and keep them satisfied.

8. Improvement in Productivity

The presence of diversity can make people productive and add more to the company. It is seen that when the colleagues are different from each other, they feel like learning from each other and find the common ground, which results in better productivity.

A diverse workforce can present different ideas, analyze the problem and figure out the best possible way to solve an issue which improves productivity in the organisation.

9. Increase in Job-opportunities for Minorities

Another trait that comes with the presence of diversity is opening employment opportunities for minorities, like women, who have not been given much importance before. Now when the company has diversified and is supposed to hire talented people in open ground, it also opens job opportunities for people who were neglected before, people who were underserved and underrepresented.

Decision making assessments for startups

10. Individual Growth

Most employees have the primary goal of being financially stable, however, that does not mean they do not want to grow. Your employees would be happier if they see themselves growing in their field while being financially stable. Diversity allows the company to split roles amongst employees and let them grow. It is because the employer will know of the fact that a certain person has the unique skill to work is good in this field, and that he/she can work better there. There will be no more wastage of time to see who is better and who is not. This is harder to figure out in a more homogeneous team setup

11. Better ROI

Typically companies with a more diverse workforce outperforms their non diverse counterparts. A diverse workplace brings in more knowledge, experience, skills, perspectives as well as the capability to serve wider set of customers and geographies. With all of the mentioned benefits, the company can boost its profits to a much higher scale.

12. Better Risk Management

You cannot escape risks if you are in a business. You will always be surrounded by possible risks. However, what matters is how you tackle them. Diversity comes in great advantage here. You would not get many ideas if people are from the same background. The situation will be different if there is diversity, as the ideas would be different and hence, the risks are more balanced.

Multiple studies have shown how diversity in board rooms leads to better detection and recognition of risks, fraud, corruption, etc.

As per an article by Harvard business review: “Experts believe that companies with women directors deal more effectively with risk. Not only do they better address the concerns of customers, employees, shareholders, and the local community, but also, they tend to focus on long-term priorities.”

13. Creates a Sense of Purpose

Diversity creates a sense of purpose amongst the employees and employers and pushes them to work harder to come up with more ideas and suggestions.

A survey by Glassdoor says that “a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers,” having more diversity in your leadership ranks is a great way to do the right thing and inspire a sense of purpose among employees.

Having a variety of culturally diverse groups of people in the workforce allows for the employees to be more engaged in their job. It can also bring a sense of belonging with the new employees from different cultures.

14. Improve morale and teamwork

Diversity in teams improves employee morale and teamwork by making each worker feel more valued for who they are in person and by being more accepting of what each employee contributes towards a common objective, regardless of gender, culture, race, lifestyle, and age differences.

15. Reduction in Employee Turnover Rate

The workspace matters the most. If you have a positive workspace that focuses on each of its members and makes them feel recognized then it will result in the intactness of the employees. This is because they can grow individually in a positive environment. Thus, this way diversity helps in reducing the employee turnover rate as well.

If you enjoyed reading this post, check out our other related posts:

Also, read some of our related posts: