Workplace Diversity: Vital for Growth and Innovation

Workplace diversity has evolved in response to social, economic, and legal developments, changing attitudes and priorities within organizations. Ola Joseph quoted Diversity is not about how we differ. Diversity is about embracing one another's uniqueness. Diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences enrich the workplace environment and contribute to better decision-making, innovation, and organizational success.

What does workplace diversity mean?

Diversity in the workplace means having individuals from various age groups, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, cultural, and education backgrounds working towards one common goal for the organization. Advocating diversity in the workplace isn’t about moral necessity, it is strategic. There are 2 types of diversity that we will discuss about.

Inherent Diversity: It refers to traits and characteristics that individuals are born with and are an inherent part of their identity. It includes race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and physical abilities.

Acquired Diversity: It refers to traits and characteristics that individuals develop over time through their experiences, education, training, and interactions with others. For example, skills, knowledge, cultural competence, language proficiency, and exposure to different cultures and viewpoints.

Inherent diversity brings a variety of perspectives and experiences to the workplace, fostering creativity and innovation. Acquired diversity enhances adaptability and flexibility within teams with individual problem-solving and decision-making processes. Both types are valuable and contribute to organizational success in different ways.

What are the benefits of workplace diversity?

• Enhanced Creativity and Problem-Solving: A diverse workforce has individuals with varied experiences, perspectives, and insights. It fosters a rich collaborative environment for creativity and problem-solving.
• Improved Decision-Making: Studies indicate that diverse teams make better decisions up to 87% of the time compared to non-diverse teams. This diversity of thought leads to more careful consideration of facts and data, resulting in smarter, more informed decisions for positive outcomes for the business.
• Increased Productivity and Profitability: Research shows that job seekers do prioritize diversity and inclusion when evaluating potential employers. Companies with diverse teams make above-average profitability.
• Reduced Employee Turnover: Inclusive environments cultivate a sense of belonging and satisfaction among employees, leading to higher levels of loyalty and retention.
• Enhanced Brand Reputation: A diverse workplace enhances a company's reputation as a socially responsible and inclusive organization. A positive brand image attracts customers, partners, and top talent, driving business growth and success.

How to implement workplace diversity?

We do know that a diversified workplace is needed, but it would be successful if we implement diversification correctly.

• The commitment to diversity should start with senior leadership. Leaders should proactively support and follow diversity initiatives.
• Job descriptions play a significant role in attracting diverse talent. We need to use gender-neutral language and avoid terms that might deter certain groups from applying and focus should be purely on skills and experiences that are essential for success in the role advertised.
• Blind hiring removes demographic information from resumes and applications to mitigate biases in the hiring process. This would bring the focus on applicant's qualifications and skills.
• Skills-based assessments will ensure that hiring decisions are based on merit rather than unconscious biases.
• You should address unconscious bias in all aspects of the workplace including hiring, compensation, and promotion processes.
• Provision of equal opportunities for career advancement and growth should be offered to clear paths for development and advancement.
• Educate employees on diversity best practices and enforce policies that promote respect and inclusion.

Challenges and how to overcome them

How much ever we advocate diversity in workplace, there are problems that would crop up:

• Communication barriers will arise from linguistic diversity, gender discrimination, age gaps, and informal language usage. These can affect productivity and teamwork.This challenge can be overcome by providing communication skills training in workplace to avoid misunderstandings. It would be good to train managers to facilitate communication across language barriers. For new hires, support should be provided to adapt to the work environment and language norms.
• Diverse perspectives are a boon but can turn into ego clashes if not addressed at the start. Formation of groups to evaluate ideas, provide feedback, and make decisions collaboratively are a few pointers to handle this challenge.
• There will be various biases. It can be addressed through open communication where employees feel comfortable discussing biases and conflicts openly. Leaders should practice emotional maturity and lead by example to mitigate biases and conflicts.

In the end, let us remember, that workplace diversity isn't about meeting quotas or ticking boxes, it is about binding the power of human differences to propel organizations toward excellence. Connect with ManpowerGroup to learn how we support workplace diversity.

Communications Team
The communications team at ManpowerGroup publishes incisive blogs, articles, and white papers that are deeply rooted in the developments of the world of work. If there is a topic you would want us to address, please contact us at [email protected].
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