Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Practices and Impacts

Trabajo , 2021 , 16 Páginas

Gestión de recursos humanos - Otros

The fast pace of the growth of globalization, the global crisis, and social movements of recent years which have been connected to racial injustice, as well as increasing expectations of ethical practices by businesses from prospective employees, customers, and the society at large, have all made the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion a top business priority for organizations. DEI initiatives are going beyond the ‘nice to have’ policies and statements as it were due to increasing pressures on organizations to practice what they preach, and upon the realization that it may be linked to financial outperformance.

The paper examines various practicable guides that organizations across the world can adopt in striving to advance DEI initiatives through a review of secondary data sourced from published best practices, blog articles, and research articles.

Table of contents

1.1 Contextual Framework
1.2 Theoretical perspectives

2.0 THE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS AND IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
2.1 Unconscious bias
2.2 Importance of Diversity in the Workplace

3.0 DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION: Good Practices
3.1 Listening to Employees
3.2 Establishing Success Metrics
3.3 Sharing Survey Results with Employees
3.4 Driving in DEI into each phase of the employee lifecycle
3.4.1 Talent Acquisition
3.4.2 Onboarding
3.4.3 Engagement
3.4.4 Performance and Development
3.4.5 Offboarding

4.0 DEI and the future of work

5.0 Conclusion

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ABSTRACT

The fast pace of the growth of globalization, the global crisis, and social movements of recent years which have been connected to racial injustice, as well as increasing expectations of ethical practices by businesses from prospective employees, customers, and the society at large, have all made the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion a top business priority for organizations.

DEI initiatives are going beyond the ‘nice to have’ policies and statements as it were due to increasing pressures on organizations to practice what they preach, and upon the realization that it may be linked to financial outperformance.

The paper examines various practicable guides that organizations across the world can adopt in striving to advance DEI initiatives through a review of secondary data sourced from published best practices, blog articles, and research articles .

1. INTRODUCTION

The global crises, social movements, and racial injustice that has received huge attention in recent years have made the issue of diversity, equity, and inclusion become a business priority in organizations. More people and groups are deeply invested in DEI and how organizations are approaching it. The Washington Post (2021) reports that diversity and inclusion in the workplace are not just a preference but a requirement as Millennials and Gen Z professionals are avoiding companies without a diverse workforce, a commitment to confronting systemic discrimination, racism in their ranks, and clear promotion track. Asides from the existing employees to the prospective employees, customers and even other people in the wider society are beginning to look to invest their money, time, and labour into socially-conscious and ethical businesses.

Companies are thus realizing that it goes beyond just having “nice” DEI policies to be on track especially if individual and business success is to be recorded. McKinsey & Company (2020) for example researched 15 countries and more than 1,000 large companies which found that the relationship between diversity on executive teams and the likelihood of financial outperformance has strengthened over time. However, business returns being just an outcome should not be a sole motivator for prioritizing DEI initiatives but for the meaningful employee experience and the impacts on all aspects of the employee lifecycle from unprejudiced recruitment operations, just performance reviews, etc.

Most organizations now have some statement in furtherance of diversity, equality, and inclusion, these gestures may no longer be enough. There is increasing pressure on organizations to start practicing what they preach by creating truly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. While it can be demanding to chart out subsequent moves while taking action on building the diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, this paper attempts to summarize practicable guides as resources to get started and evolving DEI approaches by sourcing data through a review of literature including blog articles, published best practices, and research articles.

1.1 Contextual Framework

The DEI idea has seen various nomenclatures unfold over the years which range from terms, such as D&I, I&D, EDI, JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), to DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging). Even as each of these terms may have some distinguishing features, the point of view remains the same, which is to devise a better work experience for all individuals regardless of their various identities and backgrounds.

Diversity: Diversity describes the range of human variations which make every individual unique in their vein. It includes but is not limited to gender, race, socio-economic background, religious views, sexual orientation. Diversity in DEI however does not relate to the individuals as a diverse person, but to the composition of groups, teams, and organizations, which is what may make it a diverse company for example. Diversity is an associative idea that reveals itself in the composition of teams, groups, and organizations. It is usually measured on the basis of a collective whole.

Equity: Equity refers to the awareness of the benefits and impediments creating unequal starting places for people, as well as tackling and mitigating that disparity. The concept accepts that different people have different experiences, needs, and opportunities and thus gives people what they need as individuals.

Inclusion: Inclusion is the function of making an individual feel like a part of a collective or a group, making members feel valued, and affording them the same opportunities and rights. The difference will exist in a diverse workforce, it is the act of inclusion that takes the idea further by seeing how individuals, from team members to customers and end-users can feel cherished and included in the organizations' policies, physical set-ups, processes, products, and services and even more. Inclusion brings about belonging on the part of individuals. Belonging is associated with feelings of support and security individuals derive from the sense of inclusion, acceptance, and identity via membership of certain groups or places.

From the foregoing, DEI can be said to include the scope of organizational values, policies, practices, and strategies used by companies to promote healthy work environments where individuals can flourish through the employee experience or employment life-cycle. When taken on with the right approach and executed thoughtfully, DEI strategies diligently examine and integrate all three conceptions of diversity, equity, and inclusion to devise comprehensive systems that relevantly tackle the inequities encountered by underrepresented groups.

1.2 Theoretical perspectives

There are many theories relevant to the topic of managing diversity in work settings. These viewpoints attempt to explain how diversity can be beneficial or harmful in organizational settings. There is the cognitive diversity theory which posits that various viewpoints rising from the cultural differences between groups and individuals in organizations can result in creative problem solving and innovation. Cognitive diversity refers to the variance in characteristics of team members with regards to their perspectives, expertise, and experiences.

The social cognitive theory attempts to describe how diversity can result in negative outcomes in a group or organization. The theory proposes that people use categorization to unravel and survive with large amounts of information. These categories allow us to quickly and easily distinguish data, and people are frequently categorized by their visible features, such as race, sex, and age. As such, when someone sees another of a particular race, automatic processing materializes and beliefs about this particular race are activated. Such persons can be subject to this automatic categorization, even when not visible. An example is when a recruiter sorts through resumes and engages in sex categorization because the person’s name provides information about their sex, or in racial categorization provides information about their race.

The justification-suppression framework describes the situations in which prejudiced people might proceed on their prejudices through a “two-step” categorization process in which people are prejudiced against a certain group or individual but experience conflicting emotions regarding the prejudice, they are thus prompted to suppress prejudices rather than act on it. The theory suggests all people have prejudices of some sort which they learn from early childhood, and often find it tough to depart from as they grow older. Prejudices are often fortified by intimate others, and different people use different practices to justify those prejudices but a lot of people usually strive to suppress any apparent expressions of their prejudices. While these suppressions can come from internal elements such as compassion, empathy, or personal beliefs concerning the treatment of others, suppression can also be a result of societal pressures as apparent exhibitions of prejudice are no longer socially justifiable, and are in some cases illegal.

Prejudiced individuals will however in some instances look for reasons to justify proceeding on prejudices, or remain anonymous, or in situations where social norms are weak enough to allow prejudiced behavior without negative reception.

2.0 THE UNCONSCIOUS BIAS AND IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE

2.1 Unconscious bias

It is important to examine the impact of unconscious bias as mentioned briefly in the theoretical discussions. Bias is a preconception about certain persons, a thing, or groups that put them in an unfair position when compared with another. Bias can be conscious (intentional) or unconscious (unintentional) and they are not limited to race and ethnicity although the racial and ethnic bias is well documented. Bias may extend to variables like gender, physical ability, age, sexual orientation, religion, socio- economic background, weight, and so on. Individuals and organizations more often than not unintentionally reinforce unfair, discriminatory, or unjust practices.

The UCSF’s Office of Diversity and Outreach (2021) defines unconscious bias as the array of social stereotypes about certain groups which are formed in the subconscious minds of people outside of their conscious awareness. All humans are somewhat prone to unconscious bias due to long-standing history of systemic injustice which generates inequalities, social exclusion, and the likes. Biases stem from unconscious assumptions about diverse social and identity groups, and these biases emanate from people’s proneness to sort out social worlds by categorizing them.

Unconscious bias is way more pervasive than conscious bias and is regularly contradictory with one’s conscious principles. As such, certain situations may trigger unconscious sentiments and beliefs. Biases for example may be more prevalent when working under time pressure or multi-tasking.

2.2 Importance of Diversity in the Workplace

While solely business outcomes is never really a good reason for taking on DEI, quantifiable pay-offs are usually helpful in obtaining top management support for strategic DEI initiatives. This is particularly important because according to most diversity and inclusion practitioners, business leaders find it difficult to make DEI a priority when it comes to investing money, time, and changing current operating systems.

However, a clear focus on DEI has proven it can drive enormous gains to nearly any division of businesses. Some areas where organizations can see improvements by prioritizing DEI are:

- Contemporary viewpoints: Bringing together people from different backgrounds, nationalities, and cultures is to bring a fresh array of perspectives to the table. This can lead to benefits like better problem solving and increased productivity with people approaching projects or problems from a host of different cultural viewpoints. While the proposition of introducing new perspectives into the company can feel daunting for some hiring managers and people may fear probable uneasiness or the development of unpopular opinions, research has shown that diverse teams see a 60% improvement in decision-making abilities (CIPD, 2017).
- Reaching a wider talent pool: With over two-thirds of active and passive job seekers now considering ethical and good DEI practices a priority when evaluating offers (Glassdoor, 2021). Thus, organizations that embrace diversity will attract a wider range of candidates who are looking for a progressive place to work. DEI initiatives provide the benefit of helping organizations reach a wide pool of talents.
- Increased levels of innovation and creativity: Inclusive companies have been found to be 1.7 times more likely to lead innovation, 70 percent more likely to capture new markets, and also have the benefit of 2.3 times the profitability of other enterprises according to The Chief Executives for Purpose (2018).
- Better Performances: Research has found that with increased representation, likelihood of financial outperformance increases and that is both in terms of gender diversity, cultural diversity, and ethnic diversity (McKinsey & Company, 2020).
- Reduced rate of employee turnover: It is important to pay attention to the manner with which employees are leaving if they do. Monitoring if certain groups leaving more than others is key as well as having some data around employee sentiment can help identify the groups at risk of turnover and find ways to retain them.

Understanding data around these factors help in winning top-management support for DEI initiatives. However, there are lots of qualitative benefits asides the quantitative which include but is not limited to increased employee retention and engagement by modelling career paths for minority or underrepresented groups through initiatives like diversity in leadership, programs that help employees feels more included, and improved employer brand.

3.0 DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION: Good Practices

DEI Initiatives can be advanced in various, numerous ways which can make identification of the best starting points challenging. The succeeding chapters illustrates some concepts which can be helpful in creating a more inclusive workplace, especially has research has shown there is lots of work to do in this area with only 50% of women believe perspectives like theirs are included in the decision-making at their company compared to 70% of men. Definitely, the employee experience is far from equal (Culture Amp, 2021).

3.1 Listening to Employees

The use of workplace surveys is one simple, easy way to understand where organizations current are on their DEI journey, identify key challenges, threats and prospects as well as to measure improvements over time. However, in conducting surveys it is advisable to not assume to know what the challenges are beforehand but to ask employees instead. This shows a genuine intent to listen to what really matters to them. By laying such good precedents, employees will always be happy to share how they feel, as long as it is acknowledged and action is taken on their feedback.

It is also advisable to make considerations based on some information that may already be available when crafting surveys to avoid asking employees to repeat it. The use of HRIS forms which contain demographic data can sort this. Attention should also be paid to the cumulative ways in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups while collecting data. While race, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and physical ability are most considered intersectional identities, considerations should also be paid to age, religion, invisible disabilities, fertility, physical and mental health, educational level, marital status, political identity, immigration status, language, and gender expression.

Surveys should also ask beyond demographic data and spread to qualitative questions and allow for employees to provide anonymous feedback on existing initiatives which will illuminate areas of improvement. Prioritization, action and measures for success on the other hand can be traced out from common threads and responses in the data.

The constructs (which should be evidenced based and research driven) on which survey feedback on diversity and inclusion are centered are fairness, belonging, decision making, opportunities and resource, voice, diversity, and contribution towards broader purpose. These constructs are seen as those where negative stereotypes may adversely affect minority groups with questions in each of these constructs emanating from applied experience. Examples of some key survey questions are:

- I feel like I belong at the Company
- I can voice a contrary opinion without fear of negative consequences
- Perspectives like mine are included in decision making
- My company believes that people can greatly improve their talents and abilities
- Administrative tasks that don’t have a specific owner are fairly divided

Finally, prioritizing post audit action plans by sharing results with the organization and creating action plans. The following can help drive this effectively:

- Executives and People/HR leaders reviewing survey results as a group and identifying the most important findings
- Rolling the most important findings through structured communication and moderated discussions with the organization
- Empowering those responsible for driving action are with the appropriate level of data to improve the areas of focus chosen by executives and People/HR leaders.

3.2 Establishing Success Metrics

Sequel to collection and collation of data, it will be of utmost importance to find out and measure comparison with industry competitors and peers on how well internal goals are being actualized.

However, in using industry benchmarks to get an idea of good trending practices, careful attention should be paid to not being bent on just matching the benchmarks. Instead, benchmarks should be seen as a check on organizational strategy in the areas of caring about what matters the most to the people, as such, those things that matter the most to the people should be the guide. Once the direction is clear, a company can then start benchmarking against itself while continuing with periodic surveys to track trends and improvements over time.

3.3 Sharing Survey Results with Employees

Building trust with employees is a salient aspect of the DEI journey. Sharing survey results with the team rather than just pushing out programs without context after analyzing survey results is critical. Results shared should underline repeated obstacles and complications and well as the positives and progress. Owning up to gaps help build a greater sense of shared responsibility and trust with employees.

After results have been circulated, having employees involved in determining the next action steps by inviting them to assist in prioritizing through groups discussions or individual follow-up discussions empowers individual team members by providing them with the chance to help in shaping the future of DEI at organizations. Also, while implementing new initiatives consequence to survey results analysis, following-up and seeking if initiatives make their intended impacts is key to success.

3.4 Driving in DEI into each phase of the employee lifecycle

While survey results may help identify areas to get started and areas of quick wins, it should also form a basis for incorporating best practices into every aspect of the employee lifecycle. The succeeding paragraphs will discuss some best practices across employee lifecycle ranging from the hiring process to the end of employment relationship with the organization.

3.4.1 Talent Acquisition

With most job seekers, especially the Gen Z and Millenials which boasts of lots of outstanding talents currently disrupting various markets, now considering DEI an important factor when applying to, and deciding on new roles and opportunities, showing seriousness on DEI is crucial for talent acquisition. A good way by which organizations are getting this done is by making their DEI reporting public, even when there are areas to improve on, as Rome was not built in a day. Such moves demonstrate that the company is not shying away from work needed to improve to the applicants.

Reaching a diverse pool requires proactive efforts especially in fast paced, high-growth environments where it can be thought to be easy to go with usual candidates which leads to pile of homogenous applications. Building relationships with agencies and other organizations that can connect with diverse talent pools is key in overcoming this challenge. Such agencies and organizations may include but is not limited to community groups and upskilling or skill-acquisition programs which typically amplify and support candidates from diverse backgrounds.

In furtherance to talent attraction initiatives, ensuring hiring practices are fair and equitable is also crucial. These can be achieved through the following measures:

- Careful wording job descriptions to eliminate those encoded terminologies that can exclude certain demographics. Terms like ‘build’ or ‘competitive’ for example might appear masculine, causing qualified female-identifying candidates to feel they will be alienated in the workplace culture
- Use of ‘blind’ application processes that do not reveal applicant name to reviewers. This eliminates the potential biases that may result from reviewer perception of certain demographics. As such, only the applicant’s qualifications serves as the determinant of if they will proceed to the next stage
- Having structured and standardized interview process ensuring each candidate is examined around same competencies or asked same set of defined questions is another. This helps to ensure the interview focuses on factors with a direct impact on performance on the job rather than likeability.

The recruitment and selection functions one by which a company builds the first impression. Hence, it is important to put the best foot forward with DEI-centric approaches.

3.4.2 Onboarding

Any organization’s showcase of its commitment to DEI during the hiring process only makes sense when there are visible efforts towards ensuring actual experiences live up to expectations. The onboarding process is one good opportunity to utilize in establishing a sense of inclusion and belonging as it helps the new hires to easily find their way and be confident bringing their entirety of person to work. Some laudable practices that have been used are:

- Pairing new employees with onboarding guides or buddies i.e. someone within the organization that can offer them some advice, take them to lunch, and answer any potential questions.
- Sharing information on active DEI programs, employee resource groups and resources within the organization
- Asking questions and getting clarity on preferred names, hobbies, dietary restrictions etc.
- Providing employees with the chance of designing their own workspace. This is because a harmonized approach may not help people feel at home. As such, it might reduce the chances of having employees express themselves in their workspace
- Offering of floating holidays that will allow new hires create work schedules that accommodate cultural traditions
- Ensuring all employees have the same information about what is expected of them which should also include the company mission, values, policies, and practices

Finally on onboarding, it is very important to survey new hires after some months (3-6 months) to have some understanding of their onboarding experience and ascertain if the experiences were aligned with what they expected from the recruiting process.

3.4.3 Engagement

While the periods between onboarding and offboarding may have fewer landmarks, continuous employee engagement can make or break the employee experience. It is of essence to provide individuals with opportunities to get involved and create the opportunity to learn about different cultures over the course of their tenure. Workshops, employee resource groups, and use of guest speakers can help drive this.

People cannot just switch between personalities, displacing personal lives, when coming to the workplace. Hence, it is important to create safe and inclusive spaces for employees to discuss what’s on their mind, including opposing or divergent viewpoints. For example, platforms for difficult conversations, such as racial bias and discrimination or a guide for addressing microaggressions at work might be helpful.

Companies have multiple opportunities to provide real support for the variety of life challenges experienced by diverse employee groups throughout the employee lifecycle. Take for example how African women with reduced chance of utilizing childcare service are more likely to likely to take breaks to engage in childcare responsibilities. Taking the time to understand what different people need to ensure equitable and optimal experiences are created for employees of all backgrounds is key. Organizations may consider offering flexible scheduling, onsite childcare, gender neutral bathrooms, lactation rooms, among others depending on their unique workforce.

3.4.4 Performance and Development

One people management function in which managing bias is especially crucial is performance management. The performance management process is one with high-stakes and has direct impact on promotion, career growth and remunerations. In attempting to eliminate bias, the adoption of calibration exercise becomes key as it is a process by which managers come together to discuss proposed employee ratings to ensure there is consistency across the criteria against which their direct reports will be rated. Incorporating 360° feedback from peers into evaluations is another effective way to reduce potential biases.

Other strategies include performing audits on pay, promotion, hiring, and firing practices while monitoring if there any patterns within the data that reveal potential biases or inequities. Questions such as ‘are employees of certain demography rated as “underperforming” at a significantly higher rate than their peers?’ are those that should be asked.

Employee development conversations are also a valuable option to lessen bias and provide more equitable opportunities. By leveraging on existing and custom training, manager resources, and learning and development opportunities, managers and employees can be educated about how to provide fair and equitable feedback and development opportunities across cultures.

Lastly, 1-on-1 conversations are an effective way to ensure managers and their direct reports are aligned on development on a week-to-week basis. Building such regular conversations into the employee experience helps managers and their direct reports to have clear views of what progress needs to be made in order to advance in the organization. If handled well and effectively, 1-on-1 sessions can encourage a stronger sense of belonging and connection in the organization which something that employees from diverse backgrounds often struggle with.

3.4.5 Offboarding

Although it is always hard to see employees go, truly people-centric organizations want even their departing employees to succeed and thrive in their future roles. It is a chance to serve as a true advocate, especially for employees from diverse backgrounds. Some organizations offer to serve as a reference or create an alumni group so as to stay in touch with the larger company network.

However, beyond offering continued support in their career journey, an exit is the perfect opportunity to solicit honest feedback about the employee experience. The use of exit surveys and exit interviews to ask how the organization could be more supportive, inclusive, and facilitate a greater sense of belonging is always helpful. This feedback can help shape and develop DEI strategies.

4.0 DEI and the future of work

The work landscape is changing quickly, and people leaders are faced with many opportunities to rethink what DEI looks like in an increasingly global, hybrid, and multi-generational world of work. For example: In view of the rising trends of virtual work as occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, women are picking up more household responsibilities than ever before because of traditional gender stereotypes, home chores and domestic responsibilities seem to inordinately fall onto women. Even in heteronormative families with two parents at home, research has shown. It goes up to as much as 20 hours/week which equivalent to another part-time job.

Equity will become increasingly important as DEI practices are developed to meet the demands of the changing workforce. When it comes to remote work, not everyone is in the same league. As such, keeping in mind that differing circumstances means employees will call for different kinds of support is key.

People leaders will have to be equipped with the resources needed to adjust to and accommodate these diverse life dynamics. Curiosity and empathy about individual circumstances will be one of those needed abilities. Reaching out to employees individually to find out they can be helped to succeed, and ensuring to follow through will also be crucial. Also, ensuring people that may lack the technology they need to fully participate in virtual work get access to them and access to child care support for those that may need it.

Measuring DEI

Diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace can be measured in many different ways. It is however important to select a few that best represent the goals of the organization. Identifying the most impactful DEI metrics for an organization allow for consistent measurement of progress on the numbers that factor most to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Based on the employee data collected, various metrics by demographic can be derived. Some possible measures that can help get started are:

- Hiring (percent of diverse hires)
- Representation (within the entire organization)
- Attrition (is a clear subset of employees experiencing high turnover?)
- Experiential (how do different people feel about their experience?)
- Inclusion (do different folks feel a sense of belonging?)
- Leadership diversity (representation in executive positions)
- Would employees recommend this as a great place to work?

While it can be tempting to tackle too many DEI metrics and become overwhelmed, it is important to remember that the metrics do not exist solely to tell the whole story. Instead, they should be seen as a tool to help better understand the needs of the people and prioritize initiatives accordingly. When used strategically, insights from the data will help cultivate a culture where all of employees feel like they belong.

5.0 Conclusion

DEI strategies touch every aspect of the employee experience. It requires thoughtful questions, planning, and action. The effort has proven to pay off both in terms of employee happiness as well as organizational success for many organization and companies that do the hard work of building profoundly diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace will see advancement in talent acquisition, engagement, productivity, and retention.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- The Washington Post. (2021). For younger job seekers, diversity and inclusion in the workplace aren’t a preference. They’re a requirement https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/02/18/millennial-genz-workplace-diversity- equity-inclusion/
- McKinsey & Company. (2020). Diversity wins: How inclusion matters https://www.mckinsey.com/featured- insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
- UCSF’s Office of Diversity and Outreach. (2021). What is unconscious bias?. University of California, San Francisco https://diversity.ucsf.edu/resources/unconscious-bias
- CIPD. (2017). Diversity drives better decisions. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, London. https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/experts/research/diversity-drives-better-decisions#gref
- Glassdoor. (2021). What Job Seekers Really Think About Your Diversity and Inclusion Stats. https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/diversity/
- The Chief Executives for Purpose. (2018). Diversity & Inclusion in Corporate Social Engagement. https://cecp.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/cecp_di_whitepaper_FINAL.pdf
- Rebecca Knight. (2017). 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Process. Havard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/06/7-practical-ways-to-reduce-bias-in-your-hiring-process

[...]

• Universidad: University of Ibadan
• Autor: Ademolu Adediran (Autor)
• Año de publicación: 2021
• Páginas: 16
• No. de catálogo: V1173976
• ISBN (PDF): 9783346594358
• ISBN (Libro): 9783346594365
• Idioma: Inglés
• Etiqueta: diversity, equity, inclusion, practices, impacts, Business outcomes