When we draw on the wisdom of a workforce that reflects the population we serve, we are better able to understand and meet the needs of our customers-the American people. Government-wide, we have made important progress toward hiring a workforce that truly reflects America's diversity, and we will continue to pursue that goal. But merely hiring a diverse workforce is not enough.

We must make our workplaces more inclusive as well.

America was founded on the ideal that from many, we are one, a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. That is the rationale for inclusion. To gain the maximum benefit from our increasingly diverse workforce, we must make every employee feel welcome and motivated to work their hardest and rise through the ranks. We must affirm that we work better together because of our differences, not despite them.

When we tap this knowledge, when employees are trained in team building, decision making, problem solving, and conflict resolution, we will not only uphold the principles of our nation, we will get better results.

The business case for inclusion is clear in American history. The best, brightest, hardest workers have come to America for over two centuries because they knew they would have an opportunity to join our society, work hard, and succeed.

OPM's Office of Diversity and Inclusion can provide Federal agencies concrete strategies and best practices to recruit, hire, include, develop, retain, engage and motivate a diverse, results-oriented, high-performing workforce.

We strongly believe that a diverse workforce in an inclusive environment will improve individual and organizational performance and result in better value to customers, clients, taxpayers, and other stakeholders. We look forward to working with agencies to create a more diverse, high performing workforce!