Being inclusive and open to diversity is not a luxury for corporations, but a strategic business imperative, business leaders said on Wednesday.

“Recognition of the importance of diversity creates a competitive advantage both in the workplace and in the markets we operate,” said Melanie Walker, vice-president and executive director of the Women’s Executive Network, speaking at an event on diversity in Toronto.

While the business benefits of fostering a diverse corporate environment may be difficult to measure, the intangible rewards are significant to corporations, according to Beth Grudzinski, vice-president of corporate diversity at TD Bank Financial Group.

“We try to quantify things, but I think it’s really the intangibles that make a difference,” she said.

Laraine Kaminsky, a consultant on global diversity and inclusion strategies, said the benefits of an inclusive environment are often reflected in employee engagement and retention. She pointed to surveys showing that employees who feel included and respected are less likely to leave a job.

Michael Bach, national director of diversity, equity and inclusion at KPMG Canada agreed. He said after KPMG set specific goals related to enhancing diversity, the company was able to gauge results through polling employee engagement, and comparing results among various demographics.

“That’s where we start to see the good and the bad,” he said.

Bach said employee engagement is particularly important for service-oriented firms such as KPMG, where client relationships are crucial. “We need our people to be 100% engaged, we need them 150% engaged in this economy,” he said.

Corporate inclusion is particularly important in a country as diverse as Canada, where immigration comprises a significant portion of workforce growth. Furthermore, it is important for the demographics of customer service representatives to reflect the increasing diversity of the Canadian population, the speakers said.

TD Bank, for instance, finds that clients want to see themselves reflected among the advisors and staff members in the company’s branches.

“If they don’t see themselves reflected in the employee base, they’re not going to see us as their number one bank,” Grudzinski said.

The speakers said that it’s important for diversity to be incorporated into all aspects of an organization; not only human resources. They added that approaching the issue by setting quotas or quantitative goals is rarely effective.

“Everyone in the firm needs to look around and say ‘are we representative of our clients and our communities?’” said Bach. “It’s not about a quota. It’s about a business decision.”

Companies simply focused on achieving quotas are not successful at achieving a fully inclusive corporate environment, Grudzinski said. “Those companies that do focus on the numbers, and there are some, they ultimately fail. You’re not going to keep your brightest and your best,” she said.

It is especially important for Toronto-based businesses to embrace diversity given the city’s widely diverse population, according to Toronto Mayor David Miller, who spoke at the event. He said diversity is one of Toronto’s key strengths, and that companies which embrace inclusiveness would have a competitive advantage.

“It’s my belief, and it’s the belief of the City of Toronto, that diversity is an asset,” Miller said. “By doing the right thing to make your business diverse, and seek opportunities to have a diverse workforce, in a global economy, it can only be a strength.”

Studies have proven that strong corporate financial performance is linked to gender diversity, particularly at the management level, Miller added.

“I think the case is very clear,” he said.

IE