How Workplace Equity Drives Competitive Advantage

By Keilon Ratliff, Chief Diversity Officer & President of Enterprise Accounts at Kelly

Most business leaders think about equity at work as the right thing to do, a moral imperative that costs money and resources. But what if I told you that workplace equity can help businesses grow and thrive? That some of the biggest competitive advantages I've seen companies gain came from simple changes that cost almost nothing? Changes that simultaneously opened doors for overlooked talent while solving real business problems? 

I was working with a manufacturing company in Iowa a few years back, and we had the hardest time getting people to show up for interviews. Here we were trying to figure out why nobody wanted to come in, even for well-paying jobs. The supervisor insisted on scheduling all interviews late Friday afternoons because that's when his schedule freed up.

Then it hit us. In that city, Friday night high school football was everything. Families, friends, entire communities all shut down to support their teams. We were essentially asking people to choose between a job interview and one of the most important community traditions of the week.

We moved the interviews to Tuesday afternoons. Problem solved. Suddenly, we had candidates showing up, engaging, and landing great jobs.

That simple scheduling change taught me something profound about what equity at work really means. It's not always about grand gestures or complicated programs. It's about removing barriers that prevent talented people from accessing opportunities. And often, those barriers are invisible to us until we start looking through the lens of the communities we serve.

Start with the barriers you can't see

Equity at work is about providing opportunities for everyone who is qualified. At it's core, fairness in the workplace means ensuring those opportunities are accessible to all, not just the people who fit outdated expectations. That sounds simple, but the execution requires an investigative mindset. You have to examine how you work, how you connect to your market, and how you engage with your community. Only then can you identify the barriers—intentional or not—that might be standing in the way of great talent.

Sometimes the barriers are obvious, like requiring college degrees for roles where skills matter more than credentials. Other times, they're subtler, like the Iowa scheduling situation, or having application processes that aren't accessible to people with different abilities or technological comfort levels.

Companies that remove barriers consistently reap rewards. Employers report that inclusive hiring practices deliver three main benefits: access to better talent, higher employee engagement, and increased innovation.

The goal isn't to lower standards. It's to ensure that the standards you set actually relate to job performance, not to outdated assumptions about what the "right" employees look like. 

Invest in your community, watch your business grow

Here's a business reality that every leader needs to understand. You can’t operate in isolation from your community. If you have four walls and exist on some piece of land somewhere, you're part of a community. You impact that community whether you realize it or not, through the jobs you provide, the local economy you support, the families you affect.

How you show up in that community matters more than most companies realize.

I recently had dinner with executives from a European company that doubled their revenue from $5 billion to $10 billion over the past decade, all while navigating an industry that presents significant challenges for many organizations. Their secret weapon? Every time they went through a transformation, merger, or acquisition, their blueprint was simple: Impact the community positively.

Instead of laying people off during acquisitions, they invested in those businesses and retained workers. Instead of cost-cutting their way to growth, they built their reputation as a company that cared about the places where they operated.

Something beautiful happened. The communities they served became their advocates. Word spread about this company that invested in people instead of discarding them. Sales went up, not because their product got better, but because people wanted to support a business that supported their neighbors.

This wasn't charity. This was a smart business strategy that recognized a fundamental truth: When you strengthen your community, you strengthen your market. That same company now aims to double its revenue to $20 billion by 2035, primarily through this strategy of organic growth. 

Create environments where differences drive innovation

We're all different. Recognizing that everyone brings something unique to the table is what makes teams stronger.

Companies with inclusive cultures are eight times more likely to have better business outcomes.  The magic happens when you listen to all your people and create strategies around the innovation and creative ideas they bring, regardless of their age, background, or any other demographic category.

This extends beyond what you can see, too. In my work, I've learned that differences include people with anxiety, people who are neurodivergent, people who have different communication styles or learning preferences. A person who's afraid of public speaking might have gotten coaching in the past about "doing better." Now I ask questions to understand whether it's nerves, preparation style, or something deeper that I need to consider.

This approach has made me a better leader, and it makes organizations stronger. When you embrace different—different voices, different thought processes, different people, different cultures—you unlock potential that your competitors are overlooking.

Ask the right questions to uncover what's really blocking talent

If you're convinced that equity at work makes business sense, where do you begin? Think about the community you're part of. What does it look like? What are the barriers that might be preventing great talent from connecting with your opportunities? 

Some barriers are easier to spot: 

• Job requirements that don't actually relate to job performance 
• Interview processes that favor certain communication styles
• Benefits packages that only work for traditional family structures 
• Compensation strategies that fail to ensure pay in equity for all qualified individuals

Others require deeper investigation: 

• Are your job postings reaching all communities? 
• Are your interview times accessible to people with different schedules? 
• Do your office locations and transportation options exclude certain populations?
• Do your meeting schedules conflict with employees' personal obligations?
• Are promotion opportunities clearly communicated to everyone? 

The key is to approach this work with genuine curiosity rather than assumptions. Create an inclusive environment where your people feel safe to speak up about what they're experiencing. Listen to their insights about what's working and what isn't.

Most importantly, don't get scared when you face challenges or criticism. The companies that make lasting progress are the ones that stay committed to their values even when it's difficult.

Lead with your values and watch the results follow

The most successful companies I work with know who they are and what they stand for. They don't wait for industry reports or competitor announcements to tell them what to do. They build their strategies around creating opportunities and supporting the people who make their business possible. When market conditions change or economic pressures mount, they don't abandon these principles. They double down on them.

Equity at work comes down to creating opportunities for good people to do their best work.

That Iowa manufacturing company learned that understanding their community was a competitive advantage. That European company doubled their valuation because they invested in their communities. 

At Kelly, we've also seen this play out firsthand. We’re committed to creating a more equitable and inclusive workplace. Last year, we removed barriers to employment for over 8,000 people through our Equity@Work program. We provided employment to the formerly incarcerated through our Kelly 33 second chance hiring program. We got 3,900 veterans hired through our talent network. And we watched our employee engagement score improve to 78% as a result. 

When you lead from your values first, you make decisions that feel authentic to your people and your market. That authenticity creates trust, and trust drives better business outcomes more than any trend-following strategy.

Companies that figure this out will have an advantage that's hard to replicate. The opportunity is yours to take.