The diversity benefit

A truly diverse and inclusive workplace can boost business by promoting innovation and enhancing reputation, says Sandra Healy, founder and CEO of Inclusio

Employers who treat diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) as a “tick box” exercise are missing a valuable opportunity to improve, not only their organisational culture, but also their ability to attract and retain talent and improve business performance and profitability.

So says Sandra Healy, founder and CEO of Inclusio, the Irish tech start-up behind a first-of-its-kind platform offering a scientific, data-led approach to measuring DE&I in the workplace.

Founded in 2016, Inclusio is now on the path to global growth amid plans to expand overseas and increase its Dublin headcount from 35 to 120 by 2025. The global expansion will be financed by the company’s Enterprise Ireland and VC backed €6.2 million investment.

In addition to her role at the helm of Inclusio, Healy is a member of the Diversity and Inclusion Leadership Council for An Garda Síochána and a former member of the Expert Advisory Group for Ireland’s Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality.

An organisational psychologist, her interest in promoting and supporting DE&I, and her inspiration for Inclusio, came about as a result of her experience working for two decades in global telecoms.

“One of the values I hold dearest is fairness and I could see through my work that not everyone is treated fairly or equally at work,” Healy explains. 

“That’s a problem for the individual who is not treated equitably, but it is also a problem for the organisation and, beyond that, for society as a whole.”

Better outcomes 

Ultimately, Healy believes that true DE&I can deliver better outcomes across the board. 
“For organisations, the benefits of hiring a diverse workforce include access to a greater range of skillsets, experiences, and perspectives that reflect the reality of the society around us,” she says.

“This provides a better understanding of their customers, and their customers’ needs—which improves commercial performance and boosts the bottom line.”

Other benefits include greater creativity and innovation, improved talent attraction, engagement and retention, and a better reputation in the marketplace.

“By intentionally creating a diverse workforce and a socially responsible organisation that takes DE&I seriously, you are opening the door to new markets, customers, business partners, and employees,” says Healy.

“There are so many benefits—and you don’t have to go it alone. There are plenty of organisations providing advice and support to help employers get their approach to DE&I right, creating a better environment within the company and supporting a positive culture.”

Inclusive hiring

Creating an equitable hiring process is often the first step to building an inclusive work environment.

There can be barriers to equitable hiring, however, sometimes including deeply held beliefs and behaviours. 

“These barriers may be rooted in stereotypes, prejudice, or unconscious or implicit bias, which may lead to discriminatory beliefs and actions,” explains Healy. 

“Only by identifying and understanding them, can we begin to dismantle beliefs that lead to discriminatory actions and attitudes.” The DCU Centre of Excellence for Diversity and Inclusion, founded by Healy, lists some the main barriers to equitable hiring as:

1. Stereotypes

A stereotype is an oversimplified or exaggerated belief or sentiment about a group; a broad generalisation that doesn’t allow for individual differences. Stereotypes can be positive or negative and can apply to any group on the basis of race, ethnicity, age, disability, religion, gender, and other categories.

2. Prejudice

Prejudice is a predetermined opinion or attitude about a group and its members. Prejudices are often negative and accompanied by a belief in an “in group” and an “out group”, the latter being the target of the prejudice.

3. Unconscious or implicit bias

This is a form of prejudice or belief we are largely unaware of, which is held about members of a group. It can also be described as the positions we hold, filters we form, or conclusions we reach by means outside our active thought. Hence, unconscious or implicit biases often seem automatic. Unlike stereotypes and prejudices, these biases may not even enter our awareness, but they can drive discriminatory actions.

4. Discrimination

This behaviour involves, or results in, people being treated unfairly, unequally or differently, because of their identity or the group or groups they belong to. Discrimination often starts through stereotypes, prejudices, and bias. Discriminatory behaviour can range from subtle actions to hate crimes. 

Conscious steps

All of these concepts work together to perpetuate inequity, so it is crucial that employers take deliberate, conscious, and considered steps to establish hiring practices that are as inclusive as possible.

“As a first step, I would advise employers to evaluate and challenge the language you use in your job ads. Ask yourself, ‘what cohort am I appealing to, and who is missing?’” says Healy.

She advises employers to design and develop interview processes that are inclusive, non-judgmental and respectful, creating equitable opportunity for all candidates.

“All your approaches should be multidimensional—working to address biases and discrimination in all aspects of the hiring process,” she says.

“Then, moving beyond the hiring process, you have to intentionally embed DE&I into the culture of your organisation and stress its importance through inclusive leadership and best practice.”

As Healy sees it, culture lives “collectively” in the behaviours and lived experiences of each and every individual within an organisation.
 
“If you want to have a culture that is truly supportive of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion—and consistently so—you have to educate your people managers,” she says.

“It should really be the case that, no matter what part of your organisation an individual works in, or who they report to, their experience is consistent with that of everyone else. Your DE&I policies and practices must be ‘lived’.

“Your people managers are the custodians of that lived experience, and the culture of your organisation. They must be crystal clear about your DE&I policy and practice,” says Healy.

“They must know how to have good conversations to make sure people are supported and get what they need. Ultimately, you want to focus on what every member of your workforce can do, not what they can’t do, and how they can contribute to, and enhance, your organisation.” 

So, how can employers gauge whether or not they are on the right track when it comes to DE&I? “That’s one thing employers really struggle with—how do you measure culture?—and that’s where Inclusio comes in,” says Healy.

“We’re bringing a ‘scientific evidenced’ approach to employers, which allows them to listen to the collective voice of their people and to measure, track and act on DE&I,” she says.

About Inclusio

Healy spun the idea for Inclusio into Dublin City University (DCU) in 2016 where she established and led its Centre of Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion Research.

“Diversity and Inclusion is a core focus for many organisations now and the DCU Centre of Excellence was established to give them access to the very latest developments in academic research, insights and tools to drive change across organisations,” Healy explains.

“I started working on Inclusio from 2016 with my two co-founders Deborah Murphy and Arthur Lubambo and support from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund, we spun out of DCU in 2020.”

Inclusio has been developed by experts in behavioural data science, psychology, artificial intelligence, equality, diversity and inclusion.

The platform gives employers real data-driven insights that will help drive DE&I improvements within their workforce and deliver measurable improvements in their culture.

Healy has ambitious plans to make Inclusio Ireland’s first female-founded tech unicorn, and a global DE&I enabler that will help employers to “take the right action on DE&I and ensure that it’s not just a tick box exercise”.

Participants in the company’s €6.2 million investment round, closed in 2022, include lead investor Elkstone, alongside Atlantic Bridge, Oyster Capital, Wakeup Capital, Enterprise Ireland, and a group of private backers, such as Brian Caulfield and John Hearne. 

Inclusio’s clients include RSA Insurance Ireland, 123.ie, Intact FBD insurance, Linesight, Kilsaran, the Public Appointments Service, and Teagasc.

“We already use global benchmarking, and we are now starting to develop sector benchmarking, initially with the insurance sector. Our customers use our data for Board and regulator reporting, Gender Pay Gap and environmental, social, and governance reporting,” Healy explains. 

“That will allow employers to answer the question, ‘how am I doing compared to competitors in my own industry?’ as well as the global benchmark.

“There is nothing else like Inclusio in the world. Our software is helping organisations to pinpoint and focus DE&I actions in a more strategic way, linked to business KPIs.”

“That will allow employers to answer the question, ‘how am I doing compared to competitors in my own industry?’ as well as the global benchmark.

“There is nothing else like Inclusio in the world. Our software is helping organisations to pinpoint and focus DE&I actions in a more strategic way.”