Benefits of Workplace Diversity

Organizations are understanding the need and importance of Workplace Diversity:

Increased Productivity

Diversity breeds creativity and innovation!  Bringing together workers with different qualifications, backgrounds, and experiences is the key to effective problem-solving on the job and brings together a more creative, innovative and productive workforce.  When companies recruit diverse set of employees, they are more likely to hire the best and the brightest in the labour market.

Retain Talent

Companies hiring top new talent find a better chance of finding top-quality employees when it recruits from a more diverse set of candidates. Employees from different cultural backgrounds are able to communicate with companies and clients from different countries and areas.

Economic Growth

Diversity provides organizations to compete with global markets.  Doing business across borders is now a commonplace. Diversity helps organizations to better manage the impact of globalization and technological changes as well as employees with different cultural background assist in the development of new products, services and marketing strategies.

Managing Diversity in the Workplace

In today's business world managing diversity is one of the biggest challenge faced by organizations. New immigrants and professonals  that come from different countries to work in North America may speak English well, but may have learned it as a second language. Recognizing diversity helps businesses to link variety of talents within the organization. Managers should be educated on the skills and benefits of diversity and should treat all employees as equal. In the business world diversity is visible through how:

• Communication and language are used;
• Reports, Seminars, documents and so on are presented
• Procedures are undertaken;
• Organizations are structured and
• Dress and appearance are given importance.

As stated by By Elizabeth K. McArthur in her article on Managing Diversity for Success, Businesses that fail to successfully manage diversity will suffer economic and social consequences. A workplace culture that allows low morale, employee turnover, harassment, discrimination, absenteeism, and disruption to work teams results in a loss of productivity. When individuals are marginalized or isolated by their co-workers and/or managers because of cultural differences, the outcome is a loss of productivity, business opportunities and the potential for charges of harassment and discrimination.

Want to find more about Managing Diversity in the Workplace? Here are some other resources:

Glenn Llopis (2011, June 13). Diversity Management is the key to growth: Make it authentic. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2011/06/13/diversity-management-is-the-key-to-growth-make-it-authentic/

Glenn Llopis (2013, January 7). Diversity Management is outdated and demands a new approach. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2013/01/07/diversity-management-is-outdated-and-demands-a-new-approach/

How to foster innovation through diverse workgroup. Inc. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/guides/2011/01/how-to-foster-innovation-through-diverse-workgroups.html

Challenges faced by Diversity in the Workplace

There are challenges to managing a diverse work population. Managing diversity is more than simply acknowledging differences in people. It involves recognizing the value of differences, combating discrimination, and promoting inclusiveness. Some of the challenges faced by increasingly diverse workforce in today's world are the following:

• Communication- when an organization hires employees of other cultures whose first language is not English, employees and managers may experience difficulties communicating with one another. This can lead to misunderstandings and a decrease in productivity. Sometimes it helps for companies to hire bilingual employees who can mediate and reduce language and communication barriers.
• Resistance to Change - Although workplace diversity benefits an organization as a whole, some employees and managers may not react positively to changes made. Employees who oppose workforce diversity usually reject new ideas and make work environments more difficult. To deal with opposition, companies should explain the reasons for diversity and what benefits changes in diversity bring to management and employees.
• Implementation- Although on paper workplace diversity may seem like a good idea, many companies experience challenges when attempting to implement changes. Employers must develop strategies for implementation, analyze results and make necessary changes if results do not meet the established goals. To help with implementation, employers may decide to hire experienced professionals who specialize in workplace diversity.
• Managing Diversity - Once workplace diversity is implemented, companies must effectively manage the changes in policies. This presents a challenge for many organizations. Challenges in managing workplace diversity can stem from several reasons, such as taking the wrong approach to solving diversity issues. For example, a company may adopt affirmative action policies in an attempt to solve diversity problems. Hiring based solely on race may not solve diversity issues. Many companies offer training programs to managers to help them effectively manage their newly diverse departments.

Diversity and Cultural Awareness

“Why is cultural diversity important?”

Cultural Diversity gives us all the insights we’ll ever need to honor differences and interact in ways that facilitate understanding and cooperation. As a result of globilization of markets, increasing immigration, and technological advancement there is an increasing importance of intercultural proficiency.As we build our cultural awareness, we also build bridges to trust, respect and understanding across cultures and within a multicultural workplace, fostering productive interactions and agreements.

In the workplace, cultural awareness helps us remember to honor beliefs and sensibilities that are not necessarily our own, so that as we interact with people from other cultures, no unintended breach of good manners or conversational blunders occur. For example, did you know that in some societies, the “okay” sign is a definite no-no; in other cultures, burping at the dinner table is a sign of great pleasure and a compliment to the cook! Unless we become aware of cultural diversity in its many guises, relationships can die (or never begin) simply for the lack of understanding.

Definition of Workplace Diversity

Workplace Diversity can be broadly defined as difference between people whether those differences are cultural, gender-related, education, intellectual or work experience. Diversity in the workplace adds value to an organization by allowing workers to approach their jobs from different perspectives. Many organizations face challenges in managing the needs and differences of a diverse workforce. In these days companies that hire more diverse employees tend to inspire the employees to perform to the best of their ability.