Workplace Diversity Strategies
By Mitchell Holt
Training in Workplace Diversity
Why Do Organizations Need a Mix of Personalities, Strengths and Weaknesses?
Workplace Diversity Challenges
5 Strategies for Dealing With Diversity in the Workplace
Workplace diversity elevates companies because it provides many different perspectives during decision making, broadens the company's reach in the market and allows everyone an equal chance to advance. Diversity, however, cannot be effectively implemented without a passionate approach and cooperation from management to confront the challenges and obstacles that will inevitably arise along the way. Implementation requires several effective strategies.
Recruit Diversity
The first step to implementing a diversity plan is to recruit individuals who have a variety of backgrounds and who will embrace diversity. This is possible to do without discriminating against qualified applicants who do not meet this criteria, but will require modifying the hiring process to cover more diversity issues.
When posting job descriptions for online classifieds and ads, include that your applicants must be culturally aware and able to work with all types of people. This will weed out those who are openly against diversity. Ask diversity-related questions during interviews. Find out how willing the applicant is to be part of an elaborate diversity plan, and gauge if he or she will be a valuable part of that plan.
Rewrite the mission statement of your company to include diversity issues so you can point to it during hiring as an example of what your company promotes. Be aware of equal employment laws, however, and abide by every rule to avoid discrimination. Give minorities and commonly ignored groups a chance. If you treat everyone the same during hiring, you will eventually come across dozens of diverse, highly qualified individuals from which to choose.
Additionally, it is essential that your staff resembles the demographic of the company, according to a 2010 "Wall Street Journal" article. Hiring with your customers in mind will allow you to better reach your customers.
Train Employees
In general, diversity is easier for younger individuals to accept. For some, it may be much more difficult. While these employees might be willing to embrace diversity, they might not know how to do so in a healthy way. Several diversity training ideas exist and cater to different budget limitations.
Pay for each employee to go through a diversity training program. Whether online, in-house or off-site, a diversity training program is a worthwhile investment, allowing your employees to learn pertinent issues from experts. For companies that don't have an large budget for formalized diversity training, coordinate a cultural retreat for your employees. This retreat can be at a nearby hotel or something more relaxing, such as a mountain lodge or private business resort. A cultural retreat allows employees to get to know each other in a nonwork setting, enabling diverse groups to tackle important issues and concerns.
Keep an Open-door Policy
If your employees do not feel comfortable expressing concerns with supervisors and co-workers, you are not doing your job. Make sure supervisors are always available to field questions, comments and concerns from people regarding diversity and other work-related issues. This will alleviate some of the pressure that diverse groups often face. Keeping your door open, figuratively speaking, decreases office tensions and improves the morale of those who might otherwise be unhappy at work.
Improve Conflict Resolution
If you don't already have one, establish a conflict resolution plan that keeps diversity in mind. Conflict will inevitably arise as a result of diversifying the workplace. And as in any new endeavor, resolution gets harder before it gets easier.
Establish a conflict resolution plan that involves a series of steps to mend any strained office relationships that might exist. These steps can include employee openness (expressing concerns when they arise), making the effort to get both sides of the story, coming up with a compromise that both sides can be happy with, meeting with both sides together and drafting an agreement document (to be filed with human resources) that outlines the conflict and how it was resolved.
Keep a close relationship with human resources if your company has someone to handle these responsibilities. HR professionals also have valuable insight that can directly benefit conflict resolution.
Kellogg Company: Diversity Strategy
Wall Street Journal: How to Increase Workplace Diversity
Business Training Works
University of Nebraska--Lincoln: Coordinating a Cultural Diversity Retreat for Your Campus
United States Equal Opportunity Commission
Mitchell Holt has a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Abilene Christian University and has been freelancing since 2009 with work published in various newspapers and magazines like "BostonNOW" and "The Abilene Reporter-News." Holt also writes sales copy for small businesses. His clients include The Kyle David Group, ITNewton, 18 Vodka, RoboQuote and more.
The Advantages of Multiculturalism in the Workplace
What Are the Pros & Cons to Diversity in Crisis Action Planning & Management?
How to Create an Organizational Culture That Values Diversity
Key Tools to Manage Workplace Diversity
Strategies for Improving Intergroup Relations
Free Diversity Training Ideas
What Are the Elements of a Diverse Workforce?
Diversity Management Strategies
1 Training in Workplace Diversity
2 The Advantages of Multiculturalism in the Workplace
3 What Are the Pros & Cons to Diversity in Crisis Action Planning & Management?
4 How to Create an Organizational Culture That Values Diversity