Small businesses with a diverse workforce are more innovative and financially successful, according to data gathered by SCORE, the nation’s largest network of volunteer, expert business mentors. Data indicates that businesses with more diverse management have 19% higher revenue and are more likely to outperform non-diverse businesses.

Diverse teams are more innovative, and therefore,
perform better financially:
• Gender-diverse businesses are 21% more likely to outperform homogeneous businesses.
• Ethnically-diverse businesses are 33% more likely to outperform.
• Non-diverse businesses are 29% more likely to under-perform.
• Businesses with below-average diversity earned 26% of their revenue from innovation.
• Businesses with above-average diversity earned 45% of their revenue from innovation.

Diverse teams make better and faster decisions:
• Diverse teams make decisions two times faster with half the number of meetings.
• Decisions from diverse teams deliver 60% better results.

Employees value diversity and inclusion at work:
• 67% of job seekers said a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating job offers.
• 57% think the business they work for should be doing more to increase diversity among its workforce.
• 72% would consider leaving an organization for one they think is more inclusive.

“Small businesses with diverse teams have a greater ability to produce creative ideas that catch the attention of consumers, and resonate with a more widespread audience,” said SCORE CEO Bridget Weston. “Additionally, with 67 percent of job seekers saying a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating a job, small business owners understand that in order to recruit and maintain the best team, they’ll need to emphasize the importance and value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace.”

About SCORE

Since 1964, SCORE has helped more than 11 million aspiring entrepreneurs. Each year, SCORE’s 11,000 volunteer business experts provide free small business mentoring sessions, workshops and educational services to clients in 300 chapters nationwide. In 2018, SCORE volunteers helped to create 32,387 new businesses and 103,300 non-owner jobs.

For more information about starting or operating a small business, or on volunteering with SCORE, visit SCORE at www.score.org. Follow @SCOREMentors on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest small business news and updates.