Building an Inclusive Organization: Leveraging the Power of a Diverse Workforce

FINALIST: Business Book Awards 2020 - An Exceptional Book That Promotes Diversity Category
LONGLISTED: CMI Management Book of the Year 2020 - Society Transformed Category

A diverse workforce is a business imperative. Without it, companies are made up of employees who come from the same background and have the same skills and, therefore, the same blind spots. A diverse workforce brings together different strengths, a variety of experiences, a huge breadth of knowledge and a wealth of creative problem-solving techniques. However, in order to leverage the benefits of this diverse workforce, businesses must be inclusive. Inclusion ensures that employees feel supported, are treated fairly and are therefore happier, more engaged and more productive. Building an Inclusive Organization is a practical guide to creating an environment of real inclusion. It explains how to remove unconscious bias from company processes including recruitment and selection, how to make the case for diversity and inclusion to all stakeholders and how to embed inclusion into an organization's culture and overall business strategy.

Packed with case studies from organizations including KPMG, Uber, Salesforce, Harvard University and the UK National Health Service (NHS), Building an Inclusive Organization shows how to implement robust processes and policies to foster diversity and inclusion in organizations of any size, and in all sectors, including the creative industry, finance, tech, and academia and foundations. Guidance and advice is also provided on how to use 'nudges' to change behaviours and overcome bias, how to achieve transparency and accountability, and how to measure, review and evaluate inclusion.

Raafi-Karim Alidina is a Consultant, Data and Product Lead at Included, where he designs and implements behavioural insights interventions to improve equality, diversity, and create inclusive cultures in organizations.

His research on using behavioural economics for inclusion in organisations and the development of a behavioural measure for inclusion as part of his Masters in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School was awarded the Jane Mansbridge Research Award, and the Susan C Eaton Memorial Prize for the top HKS Masters Thesis in Social Policy.