Blog four of five, in a series by Dr Chrissi McCarthy.
TLDR: The research is clear. Diversity does not reliably improve workplace experiences, but inclusion does. When people feel included, outcomes improve.
What the Study Looked At
This study pulled together 30 research papers, covering almost half a million workers across child welfare, social work, nursing homes, government, and mental health. The aim was simple: to understand what diversity and inclusion actually mean for people’s experiences at work.
How They Compared Diversity and Inclusion to Workplace Outcomes
To do that, they looked at two things:
- People’s characteristics, such as gender and race.
- How employees feel about their organisation’s diversity and inclusion efforts, whether the place feels fair and respectful, and whether diversity is managed well.
Then they compared these with both positive outcomes (such as job satisfaction or commitment) and negative ones (such as stress or wanting to leave).
Diversity on Its Own Produced Mixed Results
There wasn’t a single, simple pattern. Different aspects of diversity relate to outcomes in different ways. Some effects cancelled each other out. Some were positive, some negative, some neutral.
Here are a couple of examples.
Gender
In human services roles, being male was linked to fewer positive outcomes.
This meant men, compared with women in similar roles, on average, reported:
• lower satisfaction
• lower commitment
• lower motivation
• higher intention to leave
This doesn’t mean men were mistreated. It reflects how men felt about doing the same work as women.
Women dominate human services work, but management is still predominantly male. So women are the majority in frontline roles, but are underrepresented in leadership.
Women often report a stronger sense of fit and purpose in these roles, which increases satisfaction and commitment.
Men did not feel aligned with the culture or expectations of the work, which led them to feel less satisfied.
Race and Ethnicity
Across all studies combined, race and ethnicity did not show a clear overall effect.
This does not mean race is irrelevant, far from it. Individual studies showed both positive and negative effects. When added together, these cancelled each other out.
This usually happens when workplace experiences vary widely across local cultures, leadership, and support structures.
Context Didn’t Explain the Mixed Results
The researchers checked whether the results changed depending on:
- public vs private sector
- US vs non-US countries
- child welfare vs other human service roles.
None of these explained the inconsistency. So the “mixed evidence” on diversity held across settings
The Clearest and Most Consistent Finding: Inclusion Matters
When the researchers looked at how people feel about their organisation’s inclusion efforts, the results were no longer mixed. They were remarkably consistent.
Across almost 500,000 workers, people who felt their organisation created an inclusive environment reported:
- higher satisfaction
- stronger commitment
- more motivation
- greater intention to stay
- lower stress
- lower burnout
- lower intention to leave
This was the strongest finding in the entire study.
It makes the picture very clear: Diversity on its own is unpredictable. Inclusion is reliably positive.
When people feel included, respected, and supported, their work experience improves, regardless of their background.
This matches my gut feeling and what previous research has shown:
The real driver of good outcomes is not diversity itself, but whether people feel valued and included.
