A study from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) states that organizations with diverse workforces and leadership teams tend to generate 19% higher revenue than usual. The conclusion is strengthened by the philosophy that diversity fuels innovation and hence revenue.
More than revenue, diversity and inclusion initiatives incorporate a sense of warm fellowship between people from different backgrounds. However, it takes conscious nurturing and dedicated time to unlock the true potential of such vital assets.
If we look back a decade, diversity in workplaces was measured under 3 buckets – Gender, Race, and Ethnicity.
With businesses growing and business environments maturing, diversity now means including people from all walks of religious beliefs, educational backgrounds, sexual orientations, political opinions, socioeconomic backgrounds, and People with Disabilities (PwD).
An Educationally Diverse Workforce Can Do Wonders
We grow as we learn. Some people take time to identify their career calling. But, everything that we learn from multiple resources, past experiences, and institutions sum up to what we become. Regardless of your educational background, you are allowed to choose and excel in a domain that interests you.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be guided by amazing mentors throughout my journey from being an engineering graduate in IT to shaping a career in Software Sales. Traversing this journey has been the best decision of my life – enabling me to understand my true potential & in turn connecting better with humans,” says Kanishk, the Customer Success Manager for Strategic accounts at Gramener.
Understanding the intricacies of SDLC helped me relay the beauty & complexity of our big data solutions to our prospects in a simple way. This has enabled our prospects to traverse the buyer journey smoothly & has given the much-needed faith in our ability to deliver complex projects.
Organizations that follow an academically diverse culture are more receptive to ideas than educational qualifications. Brainstorming sessions with different teams and members can emanate innovative ideas.
If you have a degree in engineering but a passion for design, there’s no way anyone can restrict you from becoming a designer. There is a good chance that the concepts you learned in your engineering could help you create some great designs.
“Though I haven’t studied data visualization or data science as such, the principles/theories learned in my design school education in my domain have helped me in understanding industry requirements and delivering projects at Gramener,” says Devarani, Associate Information Designer at Gramener.
I have always been keen on data visualization ever since Masters and that’s what pulled me into Gramener. Being an information designer taught me a lot of things from solving problems through designs to working with clients, and socializing with colleagues.
In our workforce at Gramener, we found many members who come from diverse educational backgrounds but are excelling in their passion. They say that every chapter of their academic life has contributed to making them where they stand today.
“Both my B.Tech & MBA gave me the right Platform & Direction in establishing my career. They gave me the Platform to establish an illustrious career in the field of Information Technology,” stated Sandipan, Associate Lead Data Consultant at Gramener.
Bioinformatics helped me understand the Pharma Domain better. MBA helped me get better at managing my tasks and also improved my Critical & Analytical thinking which is extremely essential for my current role.
When it comes to Data Science, you don’t need to be an expert in the domain. Your experience and learning, eventually, add value to your career. However, there are a few academic fields, such as Economics, generate an intensive interest in Data Science.
“My course in Economics ignited a love for statistics and data analysis that led me to pursue a diploma course in Analytics. Along with that, it also gave me the knowledge of how insights derived from analysis are applied to real-world situations and business environments,” said Mridula, Associate Lead Data Consultant at Gramener.
The ability to understand the different types and sources of data, and how that data should be cleaned, used, and the various ways in which it can be interpreted to derive actionable insights is something valuable that was easier to pick up with the background knowledge of Economics and statistics.
The employee contribution increases as the organization grows and explores more business opportunities. Every skill that an employee has will come in handy, eventually, when the need arises. That’s the beauty of learning. It always adds value.
There are people at Gramener who take online courses on data science and stock up their skills for the right time. Our learning and development policy also contribute by recommending them courses from their domain.
“Whatever I have learned in MBA – IT has been useful so far and has helped me in reaching this goal. I have not been able to use my Data Warehouse skills over here but that has been the key skill in shaping up my career in IT. I have been working on designing DW and building BI solutions on top of it. After joining Gramener, that skill hasn’t been used much as we don’t deal with such projects. But this just adds more technical skills to my arsenal which can be used in the future projects that Gramener may take up or if Gramener decides to enter that area,” states Arihant Jain, Senior Lead Data Consultant at Gramener.
I have fairly used my knowledge in the data science space. Data science is still evolving and I am trying to keep up with the pace by taking extra courses online. I haven’t been able to use those learnings in Gramener to much extent, but I am really looking forward to that.
Some Staggering Numbers on How the World See Workplace Diversity
A study from McKinsey observed that organizations that are racially and ethnically diverse, outperform their peers and competitors by 35%. However, some stories tell us that we are yet to see a significant rise in organizations following the true calling of diversity.
- A Glassdoor study states that 50% of current employees want their organizations to increase diversity-related activities such as awareness, hiring, and knowledge sessions. It means that there is a major chunk of the workforce that still needs to learn to coexist in diverse corporate environments.
- Another study from Gallup suggests that only 55% of American employees agree that their D&I policies are in place. The rest 45% revealed that they have faced discrimination and harassment due to no obligatory policies.
- An article from Bonusly has eye-opening revelations regarding gender diversity in workforces. According to it, 40% of women feel satisfied with the decision-making process in their offices. However, this number is trivial when compared to 70% of men being a part of the decision-making process. The sources feel that this leads to poor job satisfaction and increased attrition.
- A staggering 78% of the office staff that responded to a Harvard Business Review Study mentioned that their leadership team lacks diversity.
These jaw-dropping numbers are bits of constructive criticism, based on which leaders can discover ways to spread a happy culture and maintain employee satisfaction in their organizations.
Impart Learning Across Organization
The term “diverse” will make sense when every employee will contribute a distinct perspective, innovation, or skills to an organization. A diverse workforce is the sum of the aforementioned unique contributions.
Ranging from multiple educational backgrounds, geographies, castes, religions, social backgrounds, races, genders, and sexual orientations, diversity aims at shooting value-driven ideas from efficient brains.
A successful diverse organization will always try to channel its employees’ passion to generate business and not the other way around.
Note: You can check out our latest blog on gender diversity at Gramener, where we interviewed a few of the powerful women at Gramener and shared their journey so far in the tech world.