You have probably heard many times about the concept of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. But, although they may seem similar, diversity and inclusion do not imply the same thing, although in some ways they are also related: both are key at the organizational level of a company. Now, two questions that probably come to mind are: what is diversity and what is inclusion?, and how are they represented within the wine industry?
First let's start by differentiating between the two concepts:
Diversity implies including within the workforce a broad representation of genders, nationalities, races and sexual orientations, without discrimination. This helps to have a greater richness of points of view, which allows to enrich a company more.
Inclusion, on the other hand, implies that all voices are heard equally (hence the link with diversity). If, for example, only the opinions of a group of people of a particular gender or nationality are taken into account when making a decision, then there is no inclusion.
Achieving a diverse and inclusive work environment can bring many benefits to companies. Some of them are:
Companies with more than 30% women in executive positions have a 48% greater chance of success than less diverse companies.
In turn, companies with a higher priority on ethnic and cultural diversity have 36% higher profitability than those with a lower priority on these aspects.
Another very interesting aspect is that employees who feel more included within their company report eNPS (Employee net promoter score) scores up to 167% higher than employees of other companies.
Now, how is this reflected within the wine industry?
Let's start first with gender diversity. For the winemaker job, during 2021, 82.80% of the workers were male, while only 17.80% were female. While this is a number that reflects a wide gender disparity, it was also an improvement over 2020, when 85.47% of winemakers were male and 14.635 were female. Another aspect that marks a gender disparity is salary: while the average income of male winemakers is $47,865, the average income of female winemakers is $41,724.
On the other hand, racial diversity in a position as important as winemaker also reflects a great disparity. For example, during 2021, 68.5% of winemakers were white, while 15.65% of winemakers were Latino or Hispanic, 8.53% were black or African American and only 1.49% of winemakers were Asian.
Finally, you need to be clear about something: if you want to make a contribution to a more diverse and inclusive industry, you need to know the background of the wine brands you usually consume, to know if you are really supporting wineries that seek to generate real social change. Want to learn more about diversity in a key place of your wine brand (the board of directors)? You can read our article about Board Diversity and Independence.
