The Business Case for Change

What’s in It for Your Company

Gender-diverse organizations outperform organizations with a weak diversity and inclusion climate across the board:¹

Four times higher in demonstrating innovative behaviors

Three times more employee confidence in the performance of their organizations

Two times more customer focus

Three times higher employee engagement levels

Fifty percent less intention to leave the organization in the next twelve months

Two times more likely for employees to collaborate with others

Four times more training and development to do the job effectively

Why? Reputation, Revenue, Productivity, and Retention

Reputation. People want to work for companies that value gender diversity and make it a priority because when prospective employees see women in leadership, they recognize opportunities for progression.²

Revenue. McKinsey reports that advancing women’s equality could add $12 trillion to global growth by 2025.³ What is more, the research shows that companies with three or more women on the board outperform companies with all-male boards by 60 percent on return on investment, 60 percent on return on equity, and 84 percent on return on sales. In other words, a move from no women board members to 30 percent representation is associated with a 15 percent jump in profit!⁴

Productivity. Women improve the quality of decision-making because⁵

• Men and women have different viewpoints, ideas, and market insights. Access to both enables better problem-solving, ultimately leading to superior performance at the business-unit level.

• A gender-diverse workforce provides easier access to resources, such as various sources of credit, multiple sources of information, and wider industry knowledge.

• A gender-diverse workforce allows the company to serve an increasingly diverse customer base.

Retention. Inclusive cultures have 22 percent lower turnover rates due to increased morale, opportunity, and equality. People perform best when they feel valued, empowered, and respected by their peers. Neurological research shows that we experience our most productive, innovative, and collaborative times at work when we feel that we are a part of the team, which is an outcome of an inclusive workforce.⁶