Inbox: The diverse benefits of diversity

NZ business leaders are, on the whole, pretty positive about their own diversity policies, according to joint Hay Group/NZ Management magazine research.
For the past three years, Hay Group and NZ Management magazine have teamed up to identify and celebrate NZ’s Most Reputable Organisations. (See “NZ’s most reputable organisations: Why good leaders matter” in NZ Management magazine September 2012 issue.)
This year, as part of our research we also asked senior NZ executives about their own diversity policies and what benefits, if any, they derive from them.
While several respondents told us in general terms that more diverse workforce was better reflection of both wider society and their own organisation’s client base, many others laid out the specific business benefits.
Diversity provides an “ability to capture emerging and growing income and customer streams”, according to one respondent. Another spoke of “gaining access to skills that are often not recognised by organisations with narrow focus”.
Better decision-making and planning, and broader perspectives also featured in the replies.
Several business leaders highlighted the benefits of fresh thinking. As one put it, “diversity will allow us to avoid group think”. Another executive emphasised “increased incidences of devil advocacy resulting in better thought out solutions for the organisation and our clients”.
Others pointed to the associated benefits of more tolerance and more interesting work environment.
There was cluster of answers around innovation. Several people mentioned increased workplace productivity. Others homed in on gaining an international competitive advantage and international contacts.
One defined the benefit of their organisation’s diversity policy as an “indicator of being progressive”.
A smaller number of responses focused on the negatives. Asked what benefits they derive from having diversity policy handful of people came back with nil, none, “very little” and “not sure”.
One person said their organisation has no fixed diversity policy, just “a directive from US head office”.
Another said their industry is “still very male dominated in NZ and I think the diversity policy exists so we can say we have one”.
Another replied candidly that their policy was “new and still being finalised so no benefits have yet been seen”. couple of people said their policy was good for public relations. M