For early-stage companies, the cultivation of workplace culture and employment practices is not just a matter of compliance or ethics; it's foundational to the company's identity and future success. Leadership has the unique opportunity to shape these practices from the ground up, setting a tone that resonates throughout the company’s evolution.

If a company prioritises culture early on and creates a positive working environment, there are many benefits:

• They can attract and retain top talent.
• They will foster greater innovation by encouraging employees to share ideas and thoughts collaboratively.
• They have a more productive workforce that is motivated, engaged and understands the common mission of the company.
• The company’s reputation and brand value can create a competitive edge and/or attract customers who place great value on this.
• A diverse team can better understand the needs and perspectives of a diverse customer base, which can lead to better products and services.

Research shows that genuine diversity and inclusion go beyond just adding women or minorities to improve metrics. It's about nurturing cognitive diversity and creating an environment where everyone can thrive.

Some examples of successful startups that prioritised workplace culture and employment practices are shown below.

Diversity and inclusion initiatives

Airbnb took significant steps towards enhancing diversity and inclusion, from hiring practices to employee resource groups, after acknowledging workforce imbalances in their first Diversity Report.

Airbnb has implemented a number of initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion, including:

• Hiring managers must interview at least one candidate from an underrepresented group for all open positions.
• Established several employee resource groups, including groups focused on women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ individuals, and more.
• Implemented inclusive hiring practices, such as removing biased language from job descriptions and requiring that interview panels include a diverse set of interviewers.
• Offers training and development programs to help employees understand and address issues related to bias and discrimination.

Slack committed to diversity and inclusion initiatives in the first 2 years of its operations.

The company’s co-founder stated publicly the need, and importance, of creating an inclusive culture in the workplace. They have carried out similar initiatives to Airbnb such as training and establishing employee resource groups.

In addition, Slack has implemented policies to ensure that its language and communication are inclusive, updating its style guide to use gender-neutral language, and they encourage employees to do the same in all communication. Slack also understands the need to track and report on its diversity metrics. This helps the company measure its progress, identify areas for improvement and set goals/targets.