A Diverse Workplace Creates Endless Possibilities
Imagine a box of artist’s crayons, but all the crayons are grey. If the goal is to achieve realism, it would be quite difficult to create an accurate depiction of the world around you using only one color. The same can easily be said for diversity in an organization. Unique ideas, problem solving and innovation all stem from having diverse perspectives.
It would be understandable for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts to have taken a backseat in light of the operational challenges the COVID-19 pandemic posed to businesses across the globe, but as the world inches closer to post-pandemic life, these initiatives must remain top of mind, especially considering how the pandemic has disproportionately impacted both people of color and women. While this arduous work may never come at a convenient time, the return on such endeavors is always worth the effort.
When one typically thinks about workplace diversity, gender, ethnicity and race are the categories that immediately come to mind. While these do play a critical role in ensuring a diverse workforce, companies must expand their definition of diversity to include religion, culture, sexual orientation, language, educational backgrounds and skills. When hiring, the goal should be to have every color, size and shape of ‘crayon’ so your organization can color its goals better than imagined.
A diverse workplace leads to increased activity and innovation. The varying perspectives provide a deeper understanding of customer needs and pain points while also enabling a company to connect with a wider range of customers. While it can be difficult to quantify the impact of “true” diversity on the workplace, a study from consulting firm McKinsey & Company found both gender and racial/ethnic diversity lead to significant improvements in companies’ financial performance and productivity:
Our 2019 analysis finds that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile—up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014…Moreover, we found that the greater the representation, the higher the likelihood of outperformance. Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30, and in turn these companies were more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all. In the case of ethnic and cultural diversity, our business-case findings are equally compelling: in 2019, top-quartile companies outperformed those in the fourth one by 36 percent in profitability, slightly up from 33 percent in 2017 and 35 percent in 2014.
Additionally, research has found a diverse workforce leads to reduced employee turnover. According to global consulting firm Deloitte, employee turnover at companies with more diverse teams is 22 percent lower than those with more homogenous teams. Oftentimes a workplace that encourages diversity and inclusion leads to employees feeling valued and accepted and increases cultural awareness for all members of the organization. This is a win-win for staff and employees, as fewer resources are needed for recruiting and employees are more fulfilled in the workplace.
DEI is a key ingredient for helping a positive company culture take root and flourish, and it’s something that has been a priority at Promontory MortgagePath from the beginning. Today, more than half of all executive-level positions within our company are held by women and/or persons of color. What’s more, we achieved an 8% year-over-year increase in the overall diversity of our workforce and a 10% increase in the total number of female team members, with more than half of our employees and executive/C-suite team members identifying as female.
In addition, Promontory MortgagePath has launched an internal diversity and inclusion committee to ensure fair and equitable operations for both Promontory MortgagePath and its clients – a commitment that’s even more impactful in light of our initiative to support minority depository institutions’ efforts to expand access to mortgage credit and increase homeownership in underserved communities. For us, our internal diversity helps us eliminate bias in our technology and services solutions, further ensuring our clients' customers receive fair and equal treatment in the mortgage process.
As the sponsor for the Stronger Toget(her) event series during this year’s Denver Start-Up Week, we hope to see more start-up employers make DEI a priority in their hiring practices to build innovative businesses engineered to address the needs of people from all walks of life. To learn more about open positions at Promontory MortgagePath, visit mortgagepath.com/careers. You can also submit a resume to careers@mortgagepath.com or reach out with other inquiries.
