Multiculturalism, the key to enriching a team

In a globalized and multicultural world, diversity and inclusion are the pillars that business teams must foment, from management to operational levels.  

Diversity must be the hallmark of any corporate culture that wants to truly respond to the needs of its customers, retain talent, and increase profitability.   

At MAPFRE, we are convinced that multiculturalism and diversity in the company are a success for everyone. Our Diversity and Equal Opportunities Policies are instruments that place people at the center, promote inclusive labor environments, promote social progress, and boost economic competitiveness.

The most diverse companies are better able to attract talent and improve their response to the customer, show greater satisfaction among their employees, and make better decisions, he says McKinsey. In other words, ensuring diversity at work is a commitment to competitiveness. The data support this conviction: according to a study performed by the consulting firm, companies with significant cultural diversity are 36% more profitable than others.

The same conclusion is found in the EY study on diversity in European companies, which shows that organizations managed by diverse teams are more likely to have increased financial growth in the last twelve months. The data found in the study indicates that the leading companies in terms of diversity and inclusion are 9% larger than other companies.

But the benefits are not only economic: greater diversity in the boards of directors and in the executive teams is also correlated with higher scores in terms of social and environmental impact, according to surveys by McKinsey.

In addition, companies with diversity in their management teams tend to take measures to support their employees, such as flexibility to work wherever and whenever they want.

Cultural heterogeneity translates into a cognitive diversity that brings different perspectives, experiences, and knowledge to the decision-making process, which naturally leads to more innovative and effective strategies. 

After all, homogeneous teams are more prone to block thinking, where everyone thinks in a similar way and reaches already known solutions. It is precisely the difference that forces us to face the problem from new angles and allows us to expand the vision of the organization from different perspectives.  

The value of multiculturalism does not apply only to teams, but is especially enriching in senior positions. Evidence shows that a manager used to living and working in different countries develops a series of specific skills related to communication and leadership that enable them to be more effective in guiding a team toward common objectives. 

Exposure to different cultures also involves facing different ways of thinking and seeing the world, which develops the capacity for empathy, sensitivity to difference, and adaptability.

Despite all the benefits, diversity is not always easy to manage, and sometimes the effort to harmonize differences can seem titanic.  

Although more than 80% of the organizations surveyed in the Deloitte report Global Human Capital Trends 2023 noted diversity as one of their main areas of interest, the study also reveals a significant gap between the recognition of the importance of these purpose-related priorities and the actual adoption of measures to address them.  

And it is not enough to only commit to diversity in the hiring phase. Research by IESE professor Yih-Teen Lee reveals that diversity alone does not generate profits and can even be a source of conflict. To exploit employees’ potential, we need to create a work culture that recognizes, values, and fosters inclusion at all levels of the organization, ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities to grow, contribute, and feel part of the team. 

This is not simple, but it is achieved when diversity is not an isolated metric, but an essential value of the company's culture. Therefore, at MAPFRE, diversity and inclusion policies are designed to cover all stages within the organization: selection, hiring, training, mobility, remuneration, and evaluation.  

Our company is present in around 45 countries and has professionals from 84 different nationalities, a richness that allows us to experience firsthand the benefits of integrating multiculturalism into the day-to-day business. As McKinsey stresses, diverse representation will have the greatest impact within a culture that fosters inclusion and belonging, which also facilitates the retention of diverse talent and innovation.

This phenomenon is also observed with generational diversity, since the combination of new perspectives and profiles with experiences prevents biased views and fosters a culture of shared knowledge.

In a context in which senior talent is parked and youth unemployment is soaring, at MAPFRE, we are committed to teams with five generations of perspectives. Through our Ageing project, we make sure we create a workplace in which all talent and experience is leveraged and valued.

However, it should not be forgotten that another important barrier that limits inclusion is the lack of focus on certain forgotten areas. EY data indicates that less than half of employees of European companies rate their organization positively in many areas of diversity. The weakest areas are socio-economic diversity and disability, where only 37% and 32%, respectively, of employees believe that their organization is doing well.

This gap represents a loss for organizations, since the data shows that the inclusion of people with disabilities improves the corporate culture of companies. At MAPFRE, we can corroborate this and have seen it in our own workforce, which contains 3.9% of people with disabilities.

In short, building a truly multicultural organization requires integrating diversity into all its facets as a transversal value of business, decision-making, and talent management. It’s like trying to harmonize all the instruments of an orchestra: the effort is great, but the final melody is worth it.

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