How can businesses foster cultural diversity in the workplace?

Cultural diversity is not just the right thing to do; it’s also good for business. That sentiment can be found over and over again in the comments below, gathered from business leaders as part of our celebration of Unesco’s World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.

In many ways, the comments we received echo what research suggests. As an example, a paper from the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation, an Australian Governmental organization, pointed out that businesses can be fined for not complying with anti-discrimination legislation and that fostering diversity is a way to not only prevent those breaches but, also, improve productivity, encourage creative and innovative thinking, promote staff well-being and reduce downtime.

Or, in other words, if the moral mandate to do the right thing for fellow human beings is not enough, then businesses should still foster diversity as it will most likely make them more successful.

Let’s be clear though: fostering a more diverse and inclusive society should be high on the priority list of executives, regardless of whether it leads to profit or not. The point is, that businesses don’t need to pick one over the other; they can have both.

And if your business is struggling to come up with ideas on how to drive that diversity, then we have good news for you. The list below is packed full of initiatives implemented by a range of companies across industries and sectors, from startups to enterprise giants.

Have a read-through – and then go back and make your company a better place.

Note: Scroll down below or click on each name to read their quote.

Table of contents

Caroline Wong, Chief Strategy Officer, Cobalt

To tackle today’s cybersecurity challenges, we need great, diverse talent. Diversity fuels innovation–it makes us smarter, and it has a positive impact on learning. At Cobalt, we understand that diversity is critical to the success of our work.

Cybersecurity has historically been a male-dominated industry, with women only representing a quarter of the workforce as of 2021. At Cobalt, we’re working to break down the barriers of entry for women to join the industry and have nearly a 50/50 divide in gender representation that goes all the way up through the C-suite. We’ve managed this by encouraging managers to leverage alternative pipelines and backgrounds to find the best person for the job, especially as the industry continues to face an ongoing skills gap. It’s imperative that we build pathways for people of all backgrounds to get exposure to and pursue careers in cybersecurity and technology.

Simon Yeoman, CEO at Fasthosts

Creating a truly diverse workplace means celebrating each individual’s needs and skills, and helping them to thrive. Businesses that do not cultivate cultural diversity risk missing out on potential talent and new perspectives that spur innovation. Therefore, for us fostering a diverse culture means committing to our recruitment policies and practices to ensure that we have a diversity of people within our business.

“This includes providing flexible working options, offering employee-led training to empower our staff, health insurance for their physical and mental wellbeing and onsite mental health first aiders to provide immediate support. Our strong employee retention, with some team members having been with us for over fifteen years, suggests we’re on the right track in making our work environment supportive and inclusive. We genuinely believe that this diversity helps us to make better decisions as a business.

Marisa Pereira, VP of People & Organization at Storyblok

At Storyblok, we’ve embraced a ‘mindset-first’ hiring approach since our remote-first launch in 2017. This has allowed us to build a truly global and diverse team of over 230 talented individuals across 45+ countries.

Our borderless approach allows us to tap into diverse perspectives from around the world. This brings fresh ideas into the company, from people that challenge the status quo. This is especially valuable in the digital nomad community, where skilled professionals thrive on flexibility.

To foster a successful remote team, we champion a strong, inclusive culture. We celebrate differences and encourage open communication through ‘Ask Me Anything’ sessions, employee surveys, and randomised ‘coffee chats’. We also personalise leadership styles to unlock individual potential.

By prioritising mindset and fostering curiosity, we’ve built a team that thrives on innovation. This is key for navigating challenging times and fueling growth in the tech industry.

Iffi Wahla, CEO and Co-Founder, Edge

On World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we celebrate the immense potential of a borderless world. Our mission is to remove geographical barriers and connect exceptional talent with businesses everywhere. Imagine accessing a treasure trove of diverse perspectives, niche expertise, and cost-competitive solutions – all readily available to fuel your company’s growth. This is the reality of a global workforce.

The shift to remote work is a game-changer, and many companies haven’t fully embraced its potential. We challenge the status quo by leveraging a global talent pool and building diverse, high-performing teams that transcend location. This isn’t just about cost-efficiency, it’s about unlocking a world of untapped expertise, like the deep talent pool in Latin America and Africa. 

By fostering a strong company culture and embracing flexible work structures – part-time, freelance, and project-based – we create a win-win for businesses and talent. Imagine senior leadership teams spread across the globe, collaborating seamlessly. We can achieve this by optimising our HR tech platform and constantly evolving our approach. Diversity is our strength, and by embracing the ‘uncomfortable’, we build a future of work that’s truly limitless.

Rob King, Co-Founder and CEO of Zedify

As a cargo bike delivery company, I am acutely aware that Zedify straddles three very male-dominated sectors – cycling, tech and logistics – and we’re not willing to accept this as the default. Far from it!

It’s why we’ve set very specific targets for gender-balanced teams across all of our locations, we’re constantly reviewing our recruitment processes to ensure the language is not biassed towards men and we regularly interview women working within our business to understand their experience and how we can enhance it. We’ve changed our uniforms as a result and we are in the midst of planning an event specifically for women to make our rider roles feel more accessible. 

Having a more diverse team in place is not only the right thing to do, it enhances performance because gender-balanced teams perform better – they have a more positive and collaborative culture and this ultimately helps us retain the best people.

Yenny Wong, Director, Talent Acquisition APJ & EMEA, New Relic

As technology innovators, we have a responsibility to build a better, more inclusive community. We celebrate our employees’ diversity and recognise the different paths taken. 

We host and sponsor global events to nurture and support cultural diversity in technology such as BIPOC in Tech and Latinas in Tech, and place employee spotlights on individuals to showcase how their culture has influenced their career. These perspectives inspire our company and products and tie back to how we holistically consider the employee experience when building such programs.

In APAC, interviewers and hiring managers have undertaken bias mitigation training in Singapore, and women from Japan, Australia and India recently graduated from a structured six-month New Relic Set to Augment Results (STAR) program, which provided internal mentorship and development opportunities.

These initiatives are an ongoing commitment to help our community of employees, customers, and vendors feel empowered to be themselves, innovate and thrive.

Kristen Tronsky, Chief People Officer at DoiT International

We believe that diversity is not just a buzzword, but an essential aspect of our remote workplace, fostering innovation, creativity, and inclusivity – which is done by creating a culture that values and respects individuals from diverse backgrounds. 

This starts with our recruiting principles and extends to the entire employee experience at DoiT. It is key for talent acquisition to attract and engage a diverse pool of candidates; prioritizing skills and potential, rather than biases or stereotypes. Once these foundations are built, the next step is building a culture of allyship and support, with resources and training to help our team members to better understand and appreciate different cultures and perspectives.

It is a significant focus for DoiT to embrace diversity and foster an inclusive remote work environment. Through this commitment, we have enhanced innovation, improved decision-making, increased employee engagement, expanded market reach, and gained a stronger brand.

Alex Pusenjak, Global VP, People & Culture, Fluent Commerce

At Fluent Commerce diversity isn’t just about representation; it’s about creating an environment where every voice is heard, respected, and celebrated.

We have implemented mandatory hiring manager training to ensure increased awareness of bias. Bias can never be removed fully, but to become aware of it is the first step to minimising its impact and we are actively training our hiring managers for that. Drawing from a culturally diverse talent pool enables us to attract and retain the best talent.

We host regular ‘Taste of Harmony’ lunches where employees bring dishes from their cultural backgrounds to share. This encourages discussions about different cultures and traditions and provides a platform for employees to build a genuine connection with each other’s cultures in a relaxed setting.

We produce a monthly ‘People’ newsletter where we feature articles, interviews or spotlights on employees from diverse backgrounds. We also highlight cultural celebrations and significant cultural events happening globally.

All of these initiatives help to foster cultural diversity, where employees gain mutual respect and learn from each other, reflecting the global world we live in.

Piotr Grzegorzewski, VP of Product Design at Ivy.ai

At Ivy.ai, we are deeply committed to fostering cultural diversity within our organization and for our customers. As the VP of Product Design, working remotely from Poland, I appreciate our diverse team spread across the globe. Most of our team is based in the U.S., but our remote-first approach integrates diverse perspectives, enriching our product design and development.

Our platform reflects this commitment by democratizing access to information. For example, we prioritize ensuring that our technology can facilitate conversations in over 104 languages. This capability is critical for inclusivity and truly supporting the diverse needs of the campuses we serve. By enabling students and staff from various linguistic backgrounds to communicate effectively, we help institutions build a diverse, international campus community. This, in turn, supports our broader mission of enhancing educational experiences and fostering an inclusive academic experience.

Jacquelyn Wolf, Chief Human Resources Officer at Vector Solutions

At Vector Solutions, we’ve committed to fostering cultural diversity by creating an environment that encourages open dialogue and inclusivity. Our Employee Resource Groups connect the unique differences everyone brings to the workplace, with activities designed to create safe spaces for traditionally taboo conversations.

We also ensure our recruitment practices attract diverse talent by partnering with minority- and women-based search partners and posting job openings in publications that reach underrepresented groups. Transparency is key, which is why we measure and publicly share our diversity progress on our website, showing our commitment to continuous growth.

The benefits of these efforts are clear and include but are not limited to improved employee engagement, reduced voluntary attrition, and increased employee ‘boomerangs.” We’ve also seen enhanced ESG scores and consistent year-over-year financial growth. By promoting cultural diversity, our ultimate goal is to not only drive awareness but also build a strong sense of belonging for all employees.

Rebecca Hogg, Group People Director at Amdaris, an Insight Company

At Amdaris, we understand the importance of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (D&I), to ensure equal opportunities across the business. Our recruitment strategy has been specifically tailored to ensure neutrality and to encourage candidates from any background to apply.

We have worked hard to reduce the gender pay gap from 16.3% to 3.1% between 2022 and 2024, with the ambition to reduce it to less than 1% by the end of the year. These efforts have been rewarded with a 93% retention rate for our female employees, as well as women making up 61% of our leadership roles.

All our new joiners take part in D&I and unconscious bias training to help embed our inclusive, empowering culture into everyone at Amdaris. We also run an employee-led D&I committee that meets regularly to discuss different topics to spread awareness and help us move towards a more inclusive workspace.

Ricky Alfred, Director of Responsible Business at Communisis Brand Deployment

As a global business, with colleagues all around the world, we are lucky to have many different cultures and backgrounds represented within our business. We see this as a vital part of our success, and it is very important that we create a place where everyone can thrive, with diverse teams working together. We work hard to promote cross-cultural awareness and understanding through various programs and open conversations – where we value the unique perspectives and experiences of our colleagues.

It is not just a matter of being the right thing to do, but we know it unlocks potential and delivers high performance. It’s not just us either, McKinsey research suggests that companies in the top 25% for ethnic and cultural diversity were 36% more profitable than those in the bottom quartile. It’s clear that ensuring there is true inclusion for our diverse colleagues leads to a high-performing business. Our teams have varied backgrounds, different lived experiences, and diversity of thought, which drives creativity, problem-solving and better decision-making. We enable an inclusive environment where employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique ideas.

Cyrine Bettaieb, Communications Officer at Télécoms Sans Frontières (TSF)

At Télécoms Sans Frontières, we are dedicated to using ICT as a means of uniting people, because we believe it can lead to dialogue and mutual understanding between cultures in a time where conflict is paramount.

ICT allows people to stay connected with the rest of the world beyond their geographic constraints, especially vulnerable displaced people during humanitarian crises. By using ICT to access different cultures, societies and information, individuals can empower themselves with knowledge and understanding but also share their values and educate others on their experiences.

During our last digital inclusion collaboration project with Zoom In, in northern Syria, 200 women from the region acquired useful digital skills and online safety awareness. The project had an unintended peacebuilding effect since it brought together people with diverse backgrounds in a society that is often divided because of civil war and cultural differences. Ultimately, bringing together separated communities.

Enrique Lizaso Olmos, Co-Founder and CEO of Multiverse Computing

At Multiverse Computing, our team of 130 people represents 26 different countries from around the world. We work across several time zones and continents. You can hear 23 different languages at our company meetings.

As we build new solutions for old problems, our software is stronger because of these diverse backgrounds. We have physics professors, finance experts and software engineers from Spain, France, Italy, the US and Canada, to name just a few nationalities. Our teams also have a good range in age and experience as well, with some people just starting their careers and others bringing decades of work history to their jobs.

This wide scope of people means that our problem-solving process is rigorous with questions coming from so many different professional and personal experiences. The unique character of our team makes us more imaginative as we build quantum products and services no one has seen before.

Olga Noha, Chief Marketing Officer at SplitMetrics

Our remote-first approach lets us build a diverse workforce with the best talent, regardless of location. Flexible work schedules and a supportive environment empower everyone to thrive. Martech and the wider tech industry have suffered over the years from a discriminatory culture, a lack of women and minorities in leadership and poor overall diversity. 

We are proud of our 55% female workforce at SplitMetrics, however, we’re not complacent and understand that there’s always more to do. By fostering cultural diversity, we can unlock creativity and innovation, making us a stronger team. When people from different backgrounds come together, they bring unique perspectives and experiences. This “collision of ideas” sparks new approaches to problems and fuels creative solutions.

At SplitMetrics, our values are not just words — they guide everything we do. To achieve our ambitious goals and maintain success, we stand united by our core behaviours, including ‘Move Fast’, ‘Build Together’, ‘Strive for Transparency’, ‘Own What You Do’ and ‘Learn + Share = Excel’.

Ed Dixon, CEO of Bayezian

At Bayezian, we champion cultural diversity and believe that this starts with an open and fair hiring process. In fact, we were commended for ours in cord’s top 20 Top 20 ‘Most Responsive’ and ‘Gender Diversity Sourcing’ companies at the Hiring Leaders Awards 2023.

We accelerate the early careers of data scientists, training them and finding exciting projects that usually are only open to more experienced professionals. This is where cultural diversity is key; our team can tackle each challenge due to our mix of talent, skills, interests and beliefs and ensure quality outcomes are delivered.

We’re driven by our young team and we owe cultural diversity and diversity of thought to our successes. By empowering our team’s mix of interests and skills, it takes us in unexpected directions. This includes our AI fertility project in 2023, as well as boosting our problem-solving skills thanks to employees completing wide-ranging courses when growing up abroad.

Pam Maynard, CEO of Avanade

Cultural diversity is a central priority at Avanade. We have 14 dedicated Employee Networks – with over 3,000 active employee members – to promote inclusivity and embrace and celebrate everyone’s unique capabilities, perspectives, and voices.

Creative talent programmes help to diversify the workforce and introduce talent from underrepresented groups. Programmes such as the Sisters Unfiltered group connect women of colour within Avanade to build a community, enabling their voices to be heard to support and uplift each other. In the US, Europe, and the Middle East, we have a reciprocal mentoring programme between senior leaders and early-year employees to infuse our leadership approach with diverse perspectives and lived experiences. A different perspective allows you to tackle problems from a different angle – and that’s where true innovation can come from. In the technology industry, we can only be truly innovative if we bring different voices and skills to the table.

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Alex Tempest, Managing Director, BT Wholesale

Creating a diverse workplace where everyone feels included is critical to company growth and success. Employees want to work for inclusive businesses and a diverse culture attracts talent.

At BT Wholesale, we’ve developed initiatives to increase diversity. We recently held a DE&I roundtable to celebrate women in tech and male allies, fostering a safe environment to discuss issues. Additionally, our ‘Women in Wholesale’ mentoring scheme supports career progression and provides equity for anyone who identifies as a woman.

We recognise that DE&I isn’t just a ‘nice to have’ it’s vital for our future growth. The results speak for themselves. I’m incredibly proud to be part of a diverse leadership team in BT Wholesale where 62% are women, from an ethnic minority background, or both.

Laura Maffucci, Head of HR at G-P

Embracing linguistic and cultural diversity fosters inclusive and thriving work environments around the globe. G-P’s Global Growth Report found that while 79% of employees aspire to work for global companies, 49% express concerns about language and cultural barriers that might arise. Addressing these concerns and cultivating an environment where every individual feels valued and empowered is essential in our global economy. 

Cultural diversity, and the need to get cross-cultural communication right, is no longer an optional, ‘nice-to-have’ attribute, but a strategic asset that can drive an organisation’s productivity and business performance. 

New technologies and tools like AI are poised to help support cross-cultural business strategies and the global employee experience. Our most recent ‘AI at Work’ report shows two-thirds of business leaders think that AI is critical for operating and being competitive across global markets, with 40% believing AI will help their company overcome cultural and language barriers. By prioritising cultural diversity and leveraging the use of technology, companies can build an inclusive workplace where every voice is heard, and every individual can contribute to wider business success.

Elliot Johnson, Senior Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager at Entrust

As a global business with more than 3,000 employees and customers in over 150 countries, cultural diversity is what ties us together. It’s a thread that we’re proud to see run throughout our organisation but it’s also something we consciously work to improve as we’re never ready to settle. That’s why over the last year, we’ve hosted over 50 cultural diversity events, partnered with global businesses to support STEM education and diverse recruitment, and developed 5-year talent representation goals for marginalised populations.  

An inclusive work environment starts with leadership, so we now require all people leaders to take unconscious bias and inclusive leadership training. We’ve also launched our ‘Women in Security’ programme to support internal career mobility. These initiatives are leading to tangible results: 2-4% average YOY growth in underrepresented populations within our business, more women into new roles, and an increase of almost 10% in our DEI employee resource groups.

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