Our increasingly globalized society is showing us that it really is a small world after all. If you take a peek at today’s industry leaders, you’ll find that people of different races, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic background, age, sexuality, ability, and more are working together under one roof.
Companies with diverse workforce populations strongly benefit from teams that are capable of collaborating to provide modern solutions in today’s competitive work arena. That’s why embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) best practices to help your workforce embody the concept of diversity in the workplace matters now more than ever.
The Importance of Embracing Diversity in the Workplace
Workforce populations that aren’t limited by homogenous cultural and generational identities offer a variety of value systems within your organization. Differences across backgrounds and experiences can be harnessed to fuel creativity, profitability, and more stakeholder buy-in. Here are some of the top reasons why you’ll want to create a workplace culture that embraces the concept of diversity:
- Add innovation and creativity
- Solve problems efficiently
- Make decisions adapted to reflect your community
- Outperform non-diverse competitors in productivity
- Garner more customer buy-in by having a workforce that reflects community demographics
- Reduce employee turnover and boost employee engagement
- Recruit from the best talent pools globally to increase profitability
- Contribute to creating a more fair and equitable society
There are many benefits for organizations that can embrace diversity in a meaningful way. So what are some good techniques to make this happen?
Techniques for Embracing Diversity in the Workplace
Language is our greatest tool when it comes to communication. Miscommunication is one of the prime causes of conflict in the workplace due to misinterpretations or assumptions that don’t necessarily align with the background or experience of other workforce members. Leadership will want to take proactive measures to foster cross-cultural understanding and have conflict-resolution systems in place for any miscommunications that may arise. The following techniques will boost your organization’s ability to embrace diversity in the workplace:
- Initiate regular diversity appreciation training and programs. Instate programs and training that teach and encourage employees to appreciate the differences between cultures and generations. A culture of tolerance develops when a company acknowledges and values diverse perspectives on issues.
- Include all team members in workplace discussions and decisions. If you want to establish employee buy-in, if you want them to care, it is imperative to ensure representation, visibility, and voice are present. Devise ways to effectively receive employee feedback and their experience with belongingness in the workplace.
- Explicitly state your company’s mission and goals. People of all cultures and generations should clearly understand your company’s DEI initiatives. DEI policies should be visible or easy to access in a handbook. Being transparent about your DEI initiatives maintains accountability and fosters trust.
- Adjust language usage and tone accordingly. Respect should be the default setting for communication among workers. Workers should be mindful of the social location with whom they are communicating. Someone from a younger generation having a conversation with someone from an older generation should keep in mind that slang and pop-culture references, especially in this era of social media, may come across as insensitive or unprofessional.
- Remember that everyone has the potential to bring value to the table. Whether it pertains to age, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background, every team member offers a unique perspective that adds value to your organization. Collaboration between workers from diverse backgrounds leads to better problem-solving, productivity, and profitability.
It takes work to manage a diverse, multigenerational workforce, but the effort is worth the reward. Embracing diversity is sure to keep your company flexible and will help it thrive in a constantly shifting global landscape.
Actionable Recommendations Unique to Your Workplace
Diversio combines human intelligence with technological intelligence to deliver a platform that measures, tracks, and improves your DEI initiatives and best practices. Our services will help your organization prioritize and implement its DEI initiatives in a way that is immediate and impactful.
Diversio’s language-intelligence software is capable of differentiating among the experiences of diverse workgroups using a four-minute anonymous survey, promoting employee engagement and trust. Our research-based survey comes from sixkey performance indicators that provide measurable data used to provide ready-to-implement DEI solutions tailored to your organization. Our user-friendly dashboard allows your company to easily track its progress in implementing DEI initiatives over time.
Book a demo today to learn more about how our people intelligence platform can help your business embrace diversity using varied techniques that reflect your unique workforce population.
