Company Culture vs DEI: Why it goes wrong and how to fix it

It’s no secret that a positive company culture is vital to an organisation’s success and its employees’ well-being. It’s also becoming increasingly apparent that company culture plays an integral role in supporting DE&I.

But sometimes it can all feel rather ethereal – just what is it that defines company culture and why can it sometimes work against DEI? We dig deeper to take a look at the definition of company culture, its impact on DE&I and – most importantly – how you as an organisation can go about achieving it.

Let’s go.

What is Company Culture?

Company culture – also known as corporate culture or workplace culture, encompasses factors that define the shared values, characteristics, and attitudes of an organisation and its employees, such as company vision, expectations, leadership style, and work environment. Building a company culture where members are valued, engaged, and supported contributes greatly to business success. According to https://www.hrtech.sg/ , organisations with inclusive work culture enjoy measurable achievements as they are 8x more likely to have overall better business outcomes and 6x more likely to be innovative.

Company culture also greatly affects diversity, inclusion, and equity (DEI) in many ways – setting the tone of the organization, influencing behaviours and decisions of employees, and directly impacting the overall work environment.

A survey found that 88% of respondents reporting company culture of importance in applying to a company, with 32% mentioning that they will be willing to take a pay cut for a better company culture. In a separate survey , 1 in 4 jobseekers mentioned that DEI is the most important area of investment to improve company culture. A stronger DEI also connects to the bottom line – employers from 1,700 companies reported 19% increase in revenues with diverse management teams. Building a DEI culture is now a business imperative – what are some of the company culture examples that support this?

Company Culture and its Impact on Diversity

Diversity refers to the acceptance of employees of all backgrounds in a workplace. A company culture that seeks culture addition instead of culture fit will improve its DEI – recognising the individual strengths of every employee and the potential they bring, empowering them to participate, have a voice, and contribute to innovation with the diverse range of ideas they bring. A company culture that does not support diversity might risk creating a homogeneous culture or cause under-represented groups to harbor negative views of the organisation.

A company culture that creates diversity trickles down to everyday practices including hiring processes that considers a wider range of job applicants from diverse backgrounds and experiences; inclusive recruitment messages that appeals to a wide range of individuals; flexible work arrangements such as remote work to allow individuals with diverse needs to participate in the organization; as well as senior leadership support to create and strengthen the culture that promotes diversity.

Company Culture and its Impact on Inclusion

Diversity without inclusion is exclusion – an inclusive culture ensures that the workplace is a safe place for every team member to be their authentic self, but assembling a mix of diverse individuals does not guarantee inclusion. If diverse groups do not feel like they belong and are unable to thrive, they will eventually leave.

A company’s culture can heavily impact inclusion. It is essential to promote and ingrain practices such as open communication where employees feel comfortable sharing their perspectives; promotion of respectful dialogue with active listening among employees; and encouragement of employee feedback where leaders listen to both positive and negative feedback and act on creating a better culture.

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Company Culture and its Impact on Equity

Equity refers to the fair treatment, access, and advancement for every individual in an organization. One of the longstanding inequalities is gender equality – based on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report in 2021, women earn 37% less than men in similar roles.

Company culture is a core aspect that can move the needle in providing equity for employees. For instance, setting regulations and guidelines such as the provision of equal opportunities for growth and advancement to all employees regardless of background; pay and benefits equity to compensate employees fairly based on their skills, experience, and job responsibilities, instead of gender or race; as well as promoting diversity in leadership to ensure that diverse perspectives and experiences are represented from the highest levels of the organization to the staff on the ground.

DEI – a Moral and Business Imperative in the Current Business Landscape

Essentially, company culture is the infrastructure to support DEI. Without a strong infrastructural foundation with structural pillars like hiring practices for diverse individuals, open communication and feedback, and fairness in pay and benefits – organisations and its employees are unable to fully build a Diverse, Inclusive, and Equitable environment.

The pandemic has casted a spotlight on these long-standing DEI issues and has shown organisations that company culture is an aspect that can be rebuilt when required – for instance, rewriting company rules and policies, and enabling flexible working arrangements during COVID-19 lockdown. Companies should continue to strengthen this infrastructure to build a company culture that truly supports DEI.

THANKS TO THE DIVERSELY TEAM FOR PULLING THIS ONE TOGETHER, REACH OUT TO US TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN SUPPORT YOU TO BUILD AN INCLUSIVE RECRUITMENT PRACTICE AND HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE D&I DATA TO UNDERPIN YOUR D&I STRATEGY .

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