As human capital becomes the most important asset an enterprise can deploy, it makes sense to find ways to maximize its effectiveness.
That is the heart of the argument in favor of diversity and inclusion efforts that so many companies are undertaking these days. And it was the underpinning of PBN’s second Diversity & Inclusion Summit and first Diversity & Inclusion Awards Program held Dec. 5.
At its core, efforts to build a more-diverse workforce, one that values, respects and embraces employees with diverse backgrounds – not just by race or gender but also cultural, sexual identity, religious affiliation and disability, among other identity traits – must be directly related to a company’s business model in order to maximize its effectiveness.
Panelists during the summit discussion came back again and again to the notion that diversity and inclusion efforts must tie to an enterprise’s mission, and by doing so, those efforts will produce a more-engaged workforce that will produce more innovative – and profitable – goods and services.