It’s not about headlines and catchphrases. It’s about business success
Fostering a diverse and welcoming dealership environment not only ensures that the entire team feels seen and heard, but it can also offer many other benefits for the business that extend beyond morale and improve your customer experience.
To reap these benefits, dealerships are thinking of diversity beyond the hiring process. Bringing on board people from different backgrounds and ethnicities is indeed an excellent first step, but to truly see the impact that diversity can have on the business, dealerships are incorporating these varying experiences and beliefs into their everyday practice. That’s where the importance of inclusion comes in.
There have been a host of studies that demonstrate how companies with women and a commitment to diversity in management experience, achieved better financial performance, higher ROI and better employee retention rates.
Team members who feel included in every aspect of company culture will ultimately contribute more, as well as be more productive and take a greater ownership of their work.
Diversity and inclusion, beyond being the right thing to do also makes good business sense. Deloitte Insights suggests, for example, that a management team that practices inclusivity leads to a 70 per cent increase in employees’ experiences in aspects such as fairness, psychological safety, respect and inspiration, as well as others. This naturally results in better team performance, collaboration and decision making.
Team members who feel included in every aspect of company culture will ultimately contribute more, as well as be more productive and take a greater ownership of their work. A diverse workforce can also help drive customers to your business by reflecting the communities in which they operate and the customers that they serve. In light of an ongoing labour shortage, diverse workplaces can also help attract top talent by showing how progressive and inclusive your company is.
For many dealerships across B.C., diversity is already a matter of fact. Regardless of a company’s progress however, there is always room for improvement and the first step is to simply start a conversation with your team.
Dialogue is essential to ensure that any programs or initiatives that are launched do not miss the mark. To succeed in creating a welcoming workplace over the long term, this dialogue should also be open-ended, which will lead to a greater connection between the different voices on your team.
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) should become a long-term, ongoing goal for any business because quick wins, while they may make for good headlines, are not sustainable nor can they be considered true markers of progress. The case for diversity and inclusion is clear and while the path forward may not always be obvious, opening the floor to conversation is certainly a good start.
DEI needs to be more than a concept or catchphrase, and that is why I feel fortunate to represent B.C.’s new car dealers who put these ideals into practice, many who are also regularly recognized in top annual employer rankings in British Columbia.
