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Employers tend to conflate diversity and inclusion, and this is hindering innovation, according to an academic.

There's a distinction between diversity and inclusion, but employers tend to "mash these two together", says Monash University academic Dr Susan Carland.

"It's important we don't see these terms as interchangeable", she told SAP's recent HR Connect Sydney conference.

"The problem is in our workplaces, we can get stuck at the diversity stage and we don't move on to the inclusion stage. We can feel like, 'as long as I've got a diverse group around me, as long as my team is diverse, my workforce is diverse, that's that handled. I've got diversity handled', and now surely innovation is guaranteed..."