Disarming diversity

In today’s highly charged sociopolitical climate, private- and public-sector initiatives on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) have come under increased scrutiny, and in many recent instances, have been outright halted. While supporters of DEI workplace practices hail their benefits, including a more inclusive, collaborative work environment that drives innovation and performance, critics deride these initiatives as unnecessary, feel-good and even discriminatory activities that contrast with their stated desire for merit-based workplace rewards and pathways to career advancement.

Irrespective of one’s views on DEI, a compelling body of evidence suggests that organizations that implement and remain committed to diversity initiatives demonstrate enhanced performance compared to organizations that eschew or have done away with these initiatives. As such, though highly controversial and polarizing, perhaps an objective examination of workplace diversity and its potential to drive organizational performance is in order.

Note that this is not an attempt at a covert political statement, nor an endorsement of DEI initiatives per se; rather an attempt to objectively consider the potential business benefits of espousing a diverse, inclusive workplace environment, to include both outside-our-industry perspective as well as anecdotal evidence of its potential benefits within the rotomolding community.

WHAT ARE DEI INITIATIVES?

A generally accepted definition of DEI is “organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject to discrimination of disability.” In other words, organizations embracing DEI acknowledge historical and structural challenges that have made career advancement more challenging for underrepresented groups defined by various criteria, such as age, ethnicity, disability, gender and sexual orientation.

Put into practice, several common and readily implemented initiatives include unbiased recruiting and hiring practices, inclusive leadership training (in addition to typical leadership training, focusing on cultural awareness, empathy, listening skills, support of diverse perspectives, etc.), employee resources groups (i.e. employee-led groups that seek to foster a sense of community and involvement, etc.), flexible work arrangements, and financial planning and wellness, among others.

But as critics will question, beyond the “feel-good” aspect of these initiatives, what measurable, tangible benefits to a business bottom line do diversity initiatives generate? Again, according to a number of sources, the answer appears to be “plenty!”

MCKINSEY & COMPANY: “DIVERSITY MATTERS EVEN MORE”

Outside of our industry, let’s consider the case of global consulting giant, McKinsey & Company, which operates in 133 cities throughout the world and employs 45,000 who drove $16 B in annual revenues in 2023. That same year, following its previous Diversity Matters reports from 2015, 2018, and 2020, in its 2023 Diversity Matters Even More report, McKinsey Global Managing Partner, Bob Sternfels stated: “some have asked whether we will continue to prioritize diversity in our meritocracy. The answer is yes. We will continue to boldly pursue both, because these two things together — our diverse meritocracy — is what makes us distinctive and has defined who we are over our nearly 100 years,”

Among customers for whom McKinsey delivers consulting services, their data demonstrates that organizations who actively promote and implement executive-level diversification initiatives – in particular, involving women & ethnic diversity representation in executive-level roles – outperform those organizations who don’t, and this trend is intensifying. Per McKinsey, “in each of our reports, 2015, 2018, 2020, and now 2023…the likelihood of financial outperformance gap (between those organizations purposefully implementing diversification initiatives and those who are not) has grown: Our 2015 report found top-quartile companies had a 15 percent greater likelihood of financial outperformance versus their bottom-quartile peers; this year (2023), that figure hits 39 percent.”

Though impossible to directly connect the dots, perhaps the recent examples of retail giants Target and Costco lend credence to McKinsey’s findings. While both companies faced intense political pressure to roll back their commitment to DEI, only Target chose to do so, and appears to be facing adverse consequences as a result: according to the consumer analytics firm Numerator, in the four weeks ending February 9, 2025, Target saw a decrease in in-store traffic by 4.9 million visitors. By contrast, Costco’s in-store visitor traffic increased by 7.7 million during this same timeframe.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THE ROTOMOLDING INDUSTRY?

Following a cursory and unscientific review of industry websites and “Who We Are” content, it appears that very few companies in the rotomolding sector include “diversity” or DEI initiatives among corporate values or organizational charters. While unsurprising, I find this perhaps a bit confusing, particularly considering the prevalence of ethnically diverse workforces within many rotomolding manufacturing operations. Though defining specific workplace diversity initiatives to drive enhanced performance is fodder for another discussion, it would seem logical that any earnest attempt to do so would likely pay dividends.

In this light, let’s consider the anecdotal case of my previous leadership role with a metal fabrication business outside the rotomolding realm. Oversimplifying in the interest of brevity, the organization, though predominantly of Latinx ethnicity, was significantly under-represented – from both ethnic and gender perspectives – in manufacturing leadership roles. However, as a cross-cultural and -functional team was assembled to articulate corporate values, this team unanimously adopted the value “Embrace Diversity” to address this under-representation and as a lever to attain business growth and expansion objectives.

Fast-forwarding to the adoption of “Embrace Diversity” as a corporate value and addressing the diversity disparity in leadership roles (particularly, increasing the number of Latinx women in these roles!), the organization was much better positioned to capitalize on business opportunities, driving attainment of strategic imperatives including establishing a second manufacturing site, implementing a powder coating line and robotic automation, and as a result of these enhanced capabilities and capacity, increasing revenues by 40%, all of which was accomplished over a two-year period.

OK, I realize I haven’t answered the “what does this mean for the rotomolding industry” question, but I truly believe we have a real opportunity to better engage our increasingly ethnically diverse workforces – dare I say it, to embrace diversity – not as a feel-good exercise, but to drive tangible improvement in organizational performance. Without question, the strategic objectives attained at the metal fabrication business could not have been realized without the improved communication, enhanced competence of manufacturing leadership, giving a voice to all employees to offer ideas for improvement, etc. that the “Embrace Diversity” corporate value encouraged and required us to do. Again, I must believe this same opportunity exists for us in the rotomolding realm.

MOVING FROM THE POLITICAL TO THE PRACTICAL

In closing, I’m compelled to reference a recent conversation with the organizational leader of a rapidly growing, innovative and forward-looking company in our industry. As I happened upon this company’s mention of diversity-related language among its corporate values, my initial intent was to focus this article on how the company is leveraging this anomalous value as a driver of organizational performance.

Instead, and given today’s super-charged sociopolitical climate, the company’s leader understandably declined to be interviewed for the article and requested that no mention of the organization be included. Of course, I will honor this request and respect and understand the rationale behind it.

At the same time, perhaps as more organizations eschew the potential political implications of embracing diversity and instead focus on the practical and performance-driving benefits thereof, they, too, will realize the same level of growth, innovation and success as our anonymous industry trailblazer.