The importance of Workplace Diversity
Diversity in the workplace has always been one of the hottest topics in the HR industry, but in recent years, it became a major goal for many companies.
With the ever-changing business environment, business owners are adapting diversity policies and strategies that appeal to their employees, clients, vendors and suppliers. This shift towards a more diverse population will have major impacts on the workforce and how organizations address diversity in the workplace. Workplace diversity fosters mutual respect among employees. Whether employees work in groups or teams comprised of co-workers with varied work styles, disabilities or the ones representing different cultures or generations, a synergistic work environment becomes the norm.
What is diversity in the workplace?
In simple terms, diversity in the workplace means a company employing a wide range of diverse individuals. In other words, a diverse workforce includes people with different characteristics. For an organization looking to cultivate a more diverse and inclusive workplace, it is important to understand what constitutes workplace diversity.
Workplace diversity also refers to the variety of differences between individuals in an organization. Diversity not only includes how individuals identify themselves but also how others perceive them. This includes people of varying gender, age, religion, race, ethnicity, cultural background, sexual orientation, religion, languages, education, abilities, etc.
What are the benefits of workforce diversity?
- Employees from diverse backgrounds will have different characteristics and backgrounds and are more likely to have varied skills and experiences.
- People with different background tend to have different experiences and thus different perspectives. Exposure to a variety of different perspectives and views leads to higher creativity.
- According to a research by Josh Bersin, inclusive companies are 1.7 times more likely to be innovation leaders in the market. In a diverse workplace, employees are exposed to multiple perspectives and worldviews. When these various perspectives combine, they often come together in novel ways, opening doors to innovation.
- Increased customer satisfaction by improving how employees interact with a diverse clientele and public.
- Harvard Business Review found diverse teams to solve problems faster than cognitively similar people and can bring diverse solutions to the table.
- Workplace diversity leads to higher employee engagement. The link between workplace diversity and employee engagement is pretty straightforward — when employees feel included, they are more engaged.
- Diversity and inclusion in the workplace cause employees to feel accepted and valued. When employees feel accepted and valued, they tend to be happier in their workplace and stay longer with a company. Thus, companies with greater diversity in the workplace have lower turnover rates.
