Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) can no longer sit on the sidelines of recruitment. Too often, it’s treated as a compliance requirement – a policy to draft, a box to tick. But the truth is, businesses that treat EDI this way are missing the point – and missing out.
At Headstar, we work with executive and senior finance professionals across a wide range of industries. And with decades of recruiting experience, we’ve seen first-hand how EDI done well doesn’t just improve recruitment – it builds better-performing teams.
EDI isn’t about box-ticking
EDI isn’t just a compliance exercise. And it certainly shouldn’t bet about ticking a box.
It’s about building stronger teams that perform better over time.
When all members of your team come from the same background, you get the same ideas, the same blind spots, and the same risks.
But when you hire people with different lived experiences – culturally, socially and professionally – you you unlock something else entirely:
- More creative thinking
- Healthier challenge
- Better decision-making
- Broader awareness of customer needs
You bring in perspectives you didn’t even realise were missing.
Different perspectives. Better performance.
Research backs it: diverse teams consistently outperform homogenous ones. Not just on innovation – especially in areas like innovation, long-term growth and strategic problem-solving.
It’s not just the right thing to do – it’s a smart business decision.
Businesses that embrace different perspectives move faster, adapt better, and build trust more easily. That only happens when people feel safe to speak up – and when a team is built to include, not just to conform.
If you want real progress, you don’t want everyone agreeing all the time. You want respectful challenge from a mix of views.
