Lack of focus on inclusion leads to retention problems in the workplace

Diversity in the workplace offers unique perspectives and ideas to help a business succeed. Just because diversity exists doesn’t mean inclusion does. If employees believe they are not treated fairly and can’t contribute to a company, they will work somewhere else. Employers who emphasize diversity should also remember to actively focus on inclusion.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter recently hosted a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29, at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco.

College Recruiter has been publishing the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. Steve Humerickhouse, Executive Director of the Forum on Workplace Inclusion at Opus College of Business, explains the types of problems which can exist in a diverse workforce setting which doesn’t emphasize inclusion.

Steven Humerickhouse, Executive Director of the Forum on Workplace Inclusion with Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas

“You can’t have true inclusion without diversity, but you can have diversity without inclusion. Of course, what you also get in that instance is a revolving door. Who wants to stay somewhere where you are not really part of the conversation and your contributions are not valued? If an organization wants to waste time and money, then recruit diverse employees but do nothing to create an inclusive environment where their talents will actually be used. They will leave and you can do it all over again.”

Steve Humerickhouse is executive director of the forum on workplace inclusion with Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas.