Diversity in the workplace

 

Sifikile Songo
Post Correspondent

Workplace diversity refers to the varying characteristics of employees in an organisation.

It encompasses race, age, ethnic groups, citizenship status, religion, gender, sexual orientation, mental and physical conditions and distinct differences between people.

Workplace diversity does not entail hiring diverse individuals but it makes sure that participation of these individuals is equal.

 

It should not be misconstrued to equality in the workplace.

Diversity varies from equality in the workplace in that it appreciates differences between individuals in context with the workplace.

 

It ensures that each individual’s attributes and characteristics are valued.

Equality on the other hand ensures that employees have equal opportunities to succeed.

 

It prevents individuals from being discriminated against due to their physical characteristics or personality.

Diversity in the workplace is an important part of a workplace culture which is essential to the well-being of employees and survival of the organisation.

Benefits of diversity for employees

◆ Increased confidence. Embracing and celebrating employee differences may likely increase their confidence in their unique qualities and boost job performance.

 

Employees may also be able to express their ideas and take pride in their work.

◆ Boosting employee engagement. Diversity is about everyone, so encouraging all the employees to be confident in their abilities may boost their morale and more likely encourage them to perform very well.

◆ Conflict reduction. In a diverse workplace, employees can better understand each other’s differences and possibly unite with a common purpose.

Benefits of diversity for employers

◆ Increased range of ideas. A vast range of ideas can be explored, resulting in a much broader spectrum of creativity from employees with different backgrounds, skills and experiences.

 

All teams across the organisation will benefit from a broad range of different perspectives.

◆ Increased employee engagement. Employees get more engaged and motivated when they feel included and wanted in an organisation.

 

Furthermore, a more engaged team will yield better results.

◆ Boost company reputation. Diversity plays a big role in attracting candidates to the organisation and helps to build a great reputation for the company.

◆ Helps the organisation to understand customers better. The company gains a broader understanding of its customers and their needs.

◆ Reduction of employee turnover. When employees feel accepted and valued in an organisation, they are much less likely to leave.

 

Furthermore, if the organisation clearly values career development, it will more likely have a much higher retention rate.

 

Despite the benefits that workplace diversity brings to the employer and employee, many organisations across industries are faced with many challenges of managing diversity.

Challenges of diversity in the workplace

◆ Communication barriers. Despite the fact that a range of cultures and backgrounds have good benefits to businesses, communication or language barriers may occasionally occur.

 

This can lead to frustration among employees and productivity loss.

◆ Conflicting beliefs. Differences in religious, political or cultural beliefs − discrimination and prejudices may occur in a diverse organisation.

◆ Generational differences.

In organisational teams where there is a wide age range they may be hindrances in discussions on certain subjects.

However, these hindrances can be alleviated by promoting an office culture were all views are heard.

◆ Gender equality issues. Unequal treatment of employees often leads to increased labour turnover. An organisation should pay women and men equally.

 

Equality should be practised during the hiring process as well as in career progression.

◆ Resistance to change. In most organisations, it is common for individuals to resist change.

 

Therefore, it is prudent to convince employees that change is a good thing and to highlight the value of diversity and inclusion.
Promoting diversity in the workplace

The potential solutions to diversity challenges in the workplace include the following:

◆ Identifying the problems. Senior management needs to discuss diversity and inclusion in weekly meetings as well as assess and evaluate diversity processes and make improvements were there is a need.

◆ Developing a diversity and inclusion strategy. It is imperative to seek advice, opinions and feedback from a wide range of people in the organisation when developing a diversity and inclusion workplace strategy.

◆ Involving the whole team. Everyone in the organisation should be involved when launching a diversity and inclusion strategy. Also set up an internal diversity and inclusion team to meet the standards, aims and objectives that have been spelt out.

However, individuals in this team need to be swapped to prevent the formation of cliques.

◆ Initiating mentoring and training schemes. To ensure that all employees feel included and have a voice, mentoring and training schemes can be initiated.

This may also help to increase employee job satisfaction. Offering a clear professional structure to all employees may help to retain top talent.

 

It may also be a good idea to offer diversity training within management or the human resource department.

◆ Holding people accountable for not embracing diversity. If people are discriminating against employees who have different characteristics or different ethnic or religious.