Studies have found that companies with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across the enterprise are more successful than those without. Why is there still a question regarding the value of DEI? If the goal of business is to perform, i.e., generate more revenue, raise share price, have a greater profit than last year, then having a commitment to diversity should no longer be an option. It should be as much an imperative as a strong balance sheet or growing EBITDA.
According to a 2020 report from McKinsey & Co., Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters, “companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile…A substantial differential likelihood of outperformance — 48% — separates the most from the least gender-diverse companies. In the case of ethnic and cultural diversity, our business-case findings are equally compelling: in 2019, top-quartile companies outperformed those in the fourth one by 36% in profitability…the likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than for gender.”