Diversity at work: why inclusivity is good for business

In the first in a series on diversity and inclusion within the property management sector, Neil Jinks gives an insight into how employing a diverse workforce can benefit your business.

The research makes a compelling case: diversity and inclusion is good for business.

Countless studies demonstrate that a diverse approach leads to greater innovation, faster growth and businesses that outperform the competition.

So why doesn’t everyone have a diverse workforce?

From my experience, even when the will exists, many employers have found it challenging to achieve things such as gender parity, ethnic equality or full embracement of LGBTQ+ issues.

Not every business has access to data that can really drive insight and diagnose what they need to do differently to generate greater diversity and inclusion.

Equally, recruitment processes can become outdated and fail to afford opportunities to those people who are different. The talent is out there, but we don’t all know where to look.

Ultimately, we are all human. All of us have biases – it’s inherent in how we operate – and being aware of those biases and how they get in the way can be hugely beneficial in changing the way we work.

Realty Law specialises in the complex area of debt recovery for management companies, managing agents and landlords.

Our clients are property management professionals, based in diverse communities, working with a variety of different people across the UK.

As a sector we cannot hope to deliver and maintain a first-class service to tenants, blocks or communities without investing in a diverse workforce that reflects and celebrates difference and the communities that we serve.

We are proud of the fact that our team includes employees of different ages and genders, we speak different languages, we understand different cultural perspectives and we possess a wealth of personal and professional experience.

As a business we work hard to create an inclusive environment that goes beyond mere representation, giving people a voice and encouraging them to bring their whole self to work – it’s how we feel we really get the most out of people.

The approach serves us well. Between a specialist lawyer with 30 years’ experience in property litigation and a young British Asian female with a law degree with a Masters in banking law and financial regulation, there are few cases we haven’t already come across!

We also feel that sharing our experiences with other businesses and individuals is hugely important in helping us all to grow and develop the diversity agenda.

It’s why we are active and visible supporters of local and national diversity and inclusion networks. They provide a highly effective way of gaining valuable insight into how people are thinking and feeling, whilst enabling us to create new relationships and identify new talent that will benefit our business and our clients.

We’ve found by that challenging ourselves to think and behave differently, we can really make diversity and inclusion ‘work’ for our business.

 

Neil Jinks is a debt recovery expert and director of Realty Law Limited

 
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