Workplace diversity highlights the importance of accepting and including team members from all walks of life. In one office, there can be differences in team members’ thoughts, perspectives, religions, and educational backgrounds; despite these differences, it is important that each employee respect and value the skills & expertise of one another. By valuing diversity in the workplace, you provide a platform for everyone to share their experiences, voices, and opinions.
Before going any further, let us first understand what the term ‘Workplace Diversity’ encompasses. With organizations going global and welcoming team members from different geographical locations, the concept of workplace diversity is expanding and becoming critical. Embracing diversity broadly caters to workforce composition, including employees of different genders, ages, sexual orientations, religions, races, abilities, ethnicity, professional and educational background, socioeconomic orientation, language, as well as cultures.
Why it is important to value Workplace Diversity?
In today’s modern and globally connected society, diversity at the workplace needs to be more than just a banner companies’ wave for showing off their commitment to embracing differences. It is a necessity, given the global presence of companies and their need to sell and market their offerings across the world.
In Glassdoor’s recent Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey (2020),
“More than 3 in 4 employees and job seekers (76%) report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.”
Diversity helps to build a workplace that is conducive and welcoming to every employee, without any form of bias.
Advantages of having a diverse workforce.
Diversity is not only beneficial for an employee’s well-being, but it can also aid a company in different ways. Here are some major benefits organizations can expect by building a diverse workforce:
1. Expanded Candidate Pool
Unwarranted elimination based on one or more characteristics can reduce the candidate pool size to choose from. This will also hamper the recruiter from choosing the best candidate for the company. By widening the candidate criteria, a larger talent pool can be created to interview and recruit from.
2. Boosting Employee Productivity
Diversity and productivity go hand in hand. Researches confirm that diversifying a team increases productivity by 35%. This leads to employees experiencing higher job satisfaction on account of being accepted at their workplace. Embracing diversity provides employers with team members who have different types of skill sets, enabling them to build a strong workforce to compete in the global marketplace.
3. Increased Revenue
A Boston Consulting Group study has found that diverse businesses have reported a 19% increase in revenue. Diversification gives employees job satisfaction, which in turn increases employee engagement. This further results in higher work morale among employees.
4. Improved Cultural Awareness
People working in the same organization, from different cultural backgrounds increase their overall knowledge and understanding of various cultures. As a result, when employees will communicate with external stakeholders, they’ll feel more confident as they’re well aware of their liking and disliking.
When implemented well, diversity is a win-win situation for both employees and employers! To encourage workplace diversity, the first step is to hire team members from different cultural backgrounds & diversified experiences. In order to make this happen, organizations must ensure that the hiring process is inclusive. Providing training to the recruitment team to consider candidates from various backgrounds without any bias, is a great way to value workplace diversity.
If you’re looking to work at a company that upholds your identity and allows you to flourish on your strengths for your growth, then Etech is where you should head!
