How to leverage diversity in fast-expanding global firms

For rapidly growing global teams, such as in the financial technology sector, diversity and inclusivity are welcomed as beneficial without question. But, emphasises Anja Ellegaard Dahl, chief people and product officer at Inpay, it’s vital to establish a strong workplace culture throughout the business that maintains company values.

Working across a distributed set-up, with employees dispersed across the globe, can make it difficult to build a cohesive culture. If you add rapid growth to the equation, aligning a team to common processes and goals can present an even bigger challenge. A successful approach to building a business that can overcome these growing pains should focus on two key aspects – leveraging diversity and maintaining a unified work culture.

Leveraging diversity

Building a diverse pipeline of talent is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage. Research shows that more inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in their markets. Diverse teams also perform better – recent figures from McKinsey show companies in the top quartile of ethnic representation showed a 39% increased likelihood of outperformance versus those in the bottom quartile.

At Inpay, we have a global workforce comprised of over 45 different nationalities. Even in our Copenhagen headquarters, 70% of employees are non-Danes. Building diverse teams has a direct positive impact on our performance as a business, as well as our ability to attract and retain…