Workforce Diversity

 

Workforce Diversity

                                                    (Source1: wonolo.com, 2013)

What Is Workforce Diversity?

An organization search for ways to develop its market share, culture and productivity. Workforce diversity is a one instrument to use for organization development and improvement. By adding diversity to work environment it will boosts employee morale.

According to Workology, workforce diversity “is the bringing together of a variety of people to one workplace.”

This refer the unique individual characteristics employees have and these characteristics can include gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, physical abilities and ideologies.

This mainly includes an employee’s experiences within the company’s overall culture and how they use to solve those issues.

Here are some examples of workforce diversity:

• Cognitive diversity: Employees have different styles of thought in recognizing problems and finding solutions.
• Lifestyle diversity: People lead various lifestyles outside of work that influence their professional life.
• Brand and reputation diversity: Some companies are more inclusive in their hiring practices and assembling diverse teams, which often attracts more diverse employees and clients.

Benefits of Workforce Diversity

After the organization move to the workforce diversity it’s employee includes different level of people with different characters. people of different genders, ages, races, cultural backgrounds, languages, ideologies, sexual orientation, physical and mental abilities, and national origin. There we can observe following major advantages;

1. Expanded creativity and problem-solving

Diversity increases innovation, creativity and strategic thinking because teams of people who come from different backgrounds can draw upon their unique experiences and wider range of knowledge to spark new, innovative ideas to solve problems.

2. Better decision-making

Diverse teams make better decision once it’s come to decision making because these employees pull from wider range of sources and experience and they process facts more carefully.  

3. Increased profitability and productivity

Divers group of employees always more motivated and efficient workforce, this increase productivity and profitability.

4. Enhanced employee engagement and retention

When company adopt to the diversity people feel more comfortable and happier and tend to be more loyal and stay longer since their unique contributions are recognized and respected.

5. Better company reputation

When diversity promoted, the business apparent as more relatable social responsible and take the attention of people. This will improve the company brand reputation, leading to new customers, partnerships and markets.

Challenges of Workforce Diversity

Diversifying the work is a challenge, so how can start seeing the benefits of diversity in a workplace?

Here are some best practices and inclusion:

1.      Be fair

Ensure you’re treating every employee fairly for all employees with similar roles or responsibilities. Fairness and awareness of unconscious biases and identify any gaps are crucial to a diverse workplace.

To be fair over the benefit packages considered, can performing an audit to identify any pay gaps that may exist.

2.      Value all of your employees

Employees who are valued feel a greater sense of responsibility and they’re more productive, innovative and try harder to contribute to an organization’s success.

You can value your employees Consider starting an incentive program, recognizing employees for their hard work on a regular basis and/or writing appreciation letters to show your employees you respect and value their unique contributions.

3.      Promote opportunities for career advancement

Offer clear paths of opportunities to all employees for career progress and advancement.

Consider analyzing past promotions to identify any patterns or trends that may exist where certain types of employees get promoted less often than other groups of employees.

4.      Educate your workforce on diversity

Educate employees on the best practices and benefits of diversity in the workplace.

Consider holding webinars, online training, hosting guest speakers, start employee resource group and make a conversation within the organization about diversity. Encourage employee suggestion and welcome new ideas from them and ensure all employees feel accepted and valued.

5.      Support collaboration

Since there are so many details involved in the subject of diverse workplaces, it can sometimes feel be difficult to achieve. That’s why it’s important to encourage and support collaboration which strengthens the bonds within the employee that can boost to diverse workforce.

Consider using company social events, team-building activities, group volunteering activities, mentor programs, and casual coffee chats to strengthen team’s bond.

6.      Offer flexibility

Offer flexible work locations and hours to support a better work/life balance and attract more diverse, qualified applicants. 

Consider offering floating holidays to allow employees to substitute a public holiday with another day of their choosing. 

7.      Recruit differently

Make the hiring process appealing for a wide variety of people instead of relying on educational background and work experience.

Consider implementing personality assessments to get a feel for candidates’ motivations, personality and “add” to your culture.

 

Conclusions

Workforce diversity means bringing together of a variety of people to one workplace.

It welcomes different perspectives, creates innovation and develop talent.

Employee from various background bring special knowledge this allows for new ideas and creative solutions that help businesses grow.

Diversity in the workplace can lead to greater productivity, profitability, team morale and better retention rates.

 

(Source 2: GreggU, 2019 available in www.youtube.com) 

References

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[Accessed 24 July 2021].

Armstrong, Michael;, 2006. A Handbook of Human Resource Managment Practice. 10th ed. London: Kogan Page Limited.

Hanks, Christine;, 2018. wonolo.com. [Online]
Available at: https://www.wonolo.com/blog/what-is-workforce-diversity/
[Accessed 24 July 2021].