Inclusion starts with the ability to listen and make a choice
Competitive Inclusivity: Chapter Two outlines the roadmap for achieving genuine and virtuous inclusion in the workplace.
Diversity is a fact; inclusion is a choice. This choice is advantageous for companies: it increases profitability and internationalization and is essential for developing a successful product and connecting the company to its local community. This concept was central to the event “Inclusività Competitiva” held at the Borsa Italiana on June 5, organized by Eccellenze d’Impresa and MIT Sloan Management Review Italia.
“The ability to incorporate diversity into strategic thinking is a competitive advantage: inclusive companies earn 23% more,” explains Edi President Luigi Consiglio. Meanwhile, the female employment rate in Italy is at 51%, placing the country 79th out of 146 countries in terms of gender equality. Going back to the initial assumption then, who has to make this choice? “Everyone must take part: the government, businesses, families, and individuals. We cannot afford to ignore the situation,” comments Paola Profeta, Vice Rector and Professor of Finance at Bocconi University, who emphasizes that promoting an inclusive culture in companies must start from the top: “Inclusive leadership is a reference model that cascades down and has a significant impact on retaining talent.”
Female talent often does not have the same opportunities as their male colleagues, also because, as Floriana Notarangelo, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at Barilla, explains, “the burden of domestic care still falls disproportionately on women. We need to focus on smart working and parental leave, regardless of marital status or gender. If we improve equality at home, it will also apply to the workplace.”
Francesca Vecchioni, President of the Diversity Foundation, explains that achieving equality requires removing deep cultural barriers: “It is individuals with internalized biases who create market dynamics that tend to build non-inclusive mechanisms, going against a clear principle: diversity generates well-being.” But how can this mechanism be broken? “There are at least two levels: one that focuses outward, concerning how companies communicate with customers and stakeholders; and one inwards, regarding how they communicate with their employees.” In other words, to break the glass ceilings, we must start at the entry points: “The first step is to make the company accessible to everyone. The second is to communicate appropriately with the market,” concludes Vecchioni.
Certainly, the Quid project, created by entrepreneur Anna Fiscale, is an example of what happens when diversity is seen as a starting point rather than an endpoint. It is a social enterprise that employs 160 people aged 18 to 65 from 20 different nationalities. Eighty percent are women, and seventy percent come from backgrounds of vulnerability. “Diversity is a resource for us,” says Fiscale.