During the Second World War, many women took on employment to help boost production while men signed up for the army. Even though women in the workforce became commonplace, women’s opportunities for employment were severely curtailed by employers—not to mention other forms of discrimination in the workplace, including prejudice against certain races and sexual orientations.
In the 1940s, an executive order was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt which brought about the first legal move to desegregate the workforce based on ethnicity and race. This then paved the way for similar initiatives across multiple sectors and industries.
Diversity has become an organizational cornerstone during the last decade. More and more workers are flocking to company cultures that 1) acknowledge the systemic oppressions that may be at play when it comes to fostering respect and teamwork among workers, and 2) provide the tools to effectively manage and foster diversity in the workplace.
Some companies having a hard time succeeding may very well be dealing with workplace diversity issues. Employees end up being disgruntled because of the difficulty in keeping abreast with what is happening; an anomaly that discourages positive outlooks among coworkers.
In this article, we look into how process optimization can help foster diversity and inclusion in the workplace for your company and your employees.
Full Guide To Diversity In The Workplace – Chapter Index
Chapter 1: Diversity in the Workplace – Definition and Explanation
What is diversity in the workplace?
Diversity in the workplace portrays a company’s unbiased nature, with an intent to hire a wide range of dissimilar individuals. Diversity in the workplace doesn’t only apply to gender. Its application also spreads across a diversity of race, ethnicity, age, sexuality, language, and educational backgrounds.
Before now, corporate culture didn’t care much about diversity and so focused on a very shallow and negligible angle of differences. However, as the years wore on and the dynamics of doing business took a new twist, the disparity in the workplace became a reality for employers and employees alike. Employers are therefore rising up to the occasion to create a diverse workforce with a potential for increased growth and success.
What is equality in the workplace?
Equality in the workplace is a term used to describe the length at which a company could go in providing its workforce with equal opportunities, rewards, workers’ rights, and a conducive and healthy workplace environment. As such, it helps to slash down to the barest minimum institutional and interpersonal discrimination, which could hinder success in your company.
Some features in workplace equality include disability, marriage, pregnancy, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. The onus then lies on you as an employer to make certain that the diverse groups are well represented and compensated so that they do not feel left out in any regard.
In ensuring equality it is advisable to identify specific needs of minorities in your employment and tweak your work environment so that they feel inspired to succeed regardless of the apparent differences.
What is inclusion in the workplace?
The ideology of inclusion in the workplace has always been present in organizations. The inclusive culture supports diverse talents to think differently and bring their distinct ideologies and experiences to the table, which in turn is a key driver for fresh innovation, development, and engagement.
One of the hitches that stall the workplace lies in the failure to create a diversified workforce. Quite a number of organizations have a hard time figuring out inclusion, and one thing pertinent for you to note is that without inclusion in the workplace, diversity efforts would surely be in vain.
Inclusive cultures empower your team to do things distinctively and work under flexible working patterns that guarantee a healthy work-life balance that will make them deliver on their jobs outstandingly.
So, just how is it possible to create an inclusive environment?
You can build an inclusive environment by doing the following:
Training and retraining staff and leaders.
Having a robust listening and communication system.
Sensitizing employees to be their authentic selves always.
Allowing their voices to be heard.
Being part of the decision-making processes within a group.
Ramping up the amount of power they have within the group.
Genuinely carrying your employees along.
How do equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace intertwine?
If building and retaining a super successful workforce is something you crave then you should consider not handling DEI with levity. The Diversity, Equality, and inclusive principles hold in high esteem the notion that every worker can thrive personally and professionally if wisely managed.
Equality in the workplace means giving every member of your workforce equal and fair job opportunities so that they can thrive and succeed for the overall good of your company.
Diversity has to do with the range of people in your workforce: team members of different ages, races, religions, ethnicities, gender, and people with disabilities.
Inclusion in the workplace is all about making sure everyone, regardless of their differences, is heard. Fostering a healthy environment that encourages acceptance such that everyone is directly or indirectly involved in the decision process.
Diversity has the demographics of your workplace at the forefront; equality provides a level playing field for everyone; while inclusion tries to help employees feel safe, accepted, respected, and happy with their differences.
Diversity and inclusion are somewhat inseparable since diversity without inclusion can build a toxic culture in the workplace, and inclusion without diversity can result in stagnancy and low innovation.
Chapter 2: Types of Diversity in the Workplace
Diversity in the workplace is multifaceted You should consider first evaluating and identifying the extent of diversity in your workplace so that you will be at liberty to carry out inclusion and equality, a step which can then carry everyone along fairly and justly.
There are different types of workplace diversity. Let’s see what makes them tick.
Cultural diversity
As culture is dynamic, so are humans. Workplace diversity is related to each person’s ethnicity and background. It is no wonder that it has now become commonplace for multinational companies to have different cultures represented in their organizations.
Racial diversity
The human race classifies itself with a person’s grouping based on physical traits, accent, and ideologies. As such, different races make up multinational organizations. Some of the races found in companies include African, Latino, Asian, European, African American, American Indian, and caucasian.
Religious diversity
Everyone has a belief system that governs them, and this belief plays a role in shaping religion and faith. In diversified companies, you find the presence of multiple religions in the workplace.
Age diversity
Various generations in the workforce ideally should coexist in the same workplace. You will avoid your employees clashing with one another when you manage people of different ages and generations appropriately. This move could bring about more productivity versus rancor and disorganization if not tactfully handled.
Sex and gender
Some companies use the gender balance system in recruiting workers by trying to be fair with achieving a 50-50 balance between employees; others make it known in the recruiting process that diversity is welcome, and encourage more people to apply. As the modern age continues to see faster evolution, and with more sexual orientations being made known, gender diversity and its multiple variations in sexual orientation have come to stay.
Disability
A diversified workplace makes fair adjustments and strategic evaluations to help people with disabilities integrate into the workplace. Some of the measures that are put in place include providing mental health support, fixing ramps for wheelchairs for people with various types of disabilities or conditions, developing solid remote work solutions and adjusting to flexible work hours.
Chapter 3: The Importance of a Diverse Workplace
Diversity in the workplace boils down to allowing a policy that employs a team of diverse people who are reflective of the society in which it exists and operates. It holistically puts into cognizance every individual’s differences, making it easy for workers to tap into their fullest potentials.
Making room for workers to coexist and value each worker’s variation and uniqueness drives everyone to bring their work experiences to the table, a feat that can impact your company positively and ramp up productivity. There are more benefits of building a diversified workplace that can be seen in the course of this article.
Diversity in the Workplace Statistics
There isn’t a better way to stay abreast with trends and happenings in the various diversified work industries than to use workplace statistics. It helps you stay informed about the management performance of your workforce so that the concept of workplace diversity can be better managed.
Some important statistics to note include:
57% of employees think their company should be doing more to increase diversity. The majority of American employees not only want to see their companies invest in diversity, but think they can be doing more to manage and promote diversity.
Research has pointed out that less than 50% of women feel fulfilled with the decision-making process at their organization. This has made women become less involved and engaged while 70% of men feel satisfied with their organization’s decision-making. This leads to more female employees being inactive and can impact the organization’s retention level.
Some studies have shown women are 25% to 46% more likely to be hired than men. Women are much more likely to be hired with blind applications.
7.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. That happens to be by far the highest percentage in Fortune 500 history.
Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace for Employees
Variety of varying perspectives
A group of employees from different backgrounds, gender, cultures, and ethnicity helps to bring a different approach to a problem. When there are varying perspectives you can be sure that people will be inspired to be more innovative and productivity will be improved.
Increased creativity
When there is a pool of varying people in an organization you can be sure to have a pool of increased talents. This means that your company will be at an advantage in performance and output.
Higher innovation
In a diversified workplace people with varying educational backgrounds, working modes, and high intelligence quotients help innovation to thrive a whole lot. You are sure to have employees who may be good at coming up with unique ideas, while other employees might be versed in carrying out the ideas and processes.
Better decisionmaking
The different backgrounds, exposure, and experiences of varying employees make coming up with solutions a lot easier. When better and faster decisions can be made you can be sure that your business productivity will improve.
Increased talent pool
Diversity in the workplace causes you to attract an avalanche of candidates who will bring something unique from their perspectives to the table. A diverse talent pool brings about higher success rates in the business.
Reduced employee turnover
Diversity in the workplace reduces employee turnover as it encourages a shift in generational views on diversity. Most millennials focus on growth and innovation and support the merge of various backgrounds and perspectives. This is pivotal for business growth and success because companies that prioritize diversity are forward-moving and stand a better chance of employee retention which prevents a loss of talented workers to better-performing companies.
Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace for Employers
Increased talents, skills, and experiences
One of the best ways to have the best hands at work in your company is through diversity in the workplace. Having a pool of talented individuals who are willing to put their best foot forward is one of the largesse that comes with a diverse policy.
Drives innovation
Brilliant ideas don’t fall down from the sky—they are built by innovative people. The more diverse a workforce may be, the more likely it is to come up with super innovation. The varying culture, experience level, age, expertise, culture, among many other differences in the workplace, makes team members draw inspiration from one another to come up with newer ideas.
Talent pool growth
Diverse talent is the future of your workforce, and this is precisely what diversity in the workplace makes room for. Diversity makes for companies to adapt to changes by recruiting only the best skills which allow the company to excel in a dynamic marketplace.
Promotes employees performance
There is no doubting the fact that workplace diversity causes more engagement and better successes and profits. When companies run a good feedback system and leverage the differences of the workforce, they encourage high employee engagement.
Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace Statistics
Attract talented millennial & Gen Z employees
An avalanche of organizations is seeking insights and solutions to workplace diversity issues from their millennial workforce because millennials prioritize diversity. These newer generations support the workplace diversity policy, as they are predominantly the generation of workers set to outstand the global workforce by almost 75% by 2025.
Increase team innovation
Diverse and inclusive teams are far better than homogenous ones when it comes to coming up with outstanding ideas. Workplace diversity breeds a team of decision-makers who will help prevent awful decisions from being made because the company attracts people who think outside the box or even without a box.
Meet your employees’ expectations
It’s a lot more cost-effective to invest in training your existing employee versus training a new employee. This will, to a very large extent, curtail your workforce’s movement to other companies. However, if you fail to meet the expectations of your employees there just might be a likelihood for you to lose them to other progressive companies.
Eliminate workplace discrimination
To maintain a workplace where employees can grow, learn and flourish it becomes expedient to lead a workplace where all employees can relate inclusively. There is the eradication of sexist, homophobic, ableist, and racist discrimination.
Chapter 4: Top Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace
There are shortcomings when dealing with workplace diversity no doubt, and if not curbed can bring about more complicated problems.
Let’s peep at some of these workplace diversity situations.
Communication issues
Communication issues could deal a sad blow on the progress of your company. People who come from different races may encounter language barriers, different communication styles, or preferences. There also might be people with hearing loss on your team.
Cultural differences
When people of dissimilar cultures work together, misunderstandings can be commonplace. Cultural diversity could lead to your workers getting upset with one another. However, building an inclusive workplace can help take care of offended team members.
Slower decisionmaking
Decision-making may be slow and draggy when there are different perspectives, opinions, and ideas. This can also slow down a fast-paced decision-making process thereby hindering goals from being achieved. So, it’s important that you acknowledge and recognize contributors to ensure your team members feel valued for their ideas.
Inequitable inclusion
An inclusive workplace will always be a work-in-progress and should be driven by team member feedback. Focus on what will impact the majority of the people, but also pay attention to the feedback from those having a hard time mingling and coping with other employees.
How to Overcome Challenges in Diversity in the Workplace
We just saw the various challenges there are. Now let’s see how these can be surmounted.
Here are some surefire ways to tackle workplace diversity challenges.
Address barriers to education inequity
If growing your company is important to you, then making sound education accessible to all and empowering all team members to reach their full potential would be your best consideration. This will bring about a more equitable and inclusive work environment that causes your workers to stay put instead of leaving for other progressive companies.
Think beyond diversity, equity, and inclusion
Though DEI can be a powerful tool, training your staff may not be enough to build a lasting organizational change. You may also consider a mentorship initiative program that allows employees to have dedicated time and space to have open and honest conversations with their colleagues about their learnings.
Be innovative with your hiring processes
You also want to ensure that your diversity recruiting strategy isn’t static. It’s got to be as dynamic as it can be. These days, there is a shift to a skills-based approach to hiring that hinges its point of view on past experience and competencies, rather than over degree requirements. This move always opens up access to recruiting people who might not have had a robust education but are competent for the job.
Integrate DEI into the company culture
As a leader in your company, the onus is on you to advance DEI by setting standards first. You’ve got to lead the pack so that others might see you integrating the company culture before they follow suit. Diversity and inclusion are a priority that must be fused at all times in your company.
Chapter 5: This is How Big Companies Foster Diversity in the Workplace
Starting off with workplace diversity may not come easily. It’s one thing to identify a need for better diversity programs and policies, and a different kettle of fish to implement ideas into practice.
So where do you start from?
How do you decide what will make for a truly effective initiative?
Here are some brilliant examples of super successful companies that have diversified workplace cultures.
These companies are creating a future in workplace diversity that is packed with excitement and loaded with benefits, even as employees from different backgrounds and experiences bring their best to the table.
Alibaba Group
Alibaba Group has grown in leaps and bounds to be known as the world’s biggest e-commerce company., a business home to hundreds of millions of users which hosts millions of merchants. In 2017 its online sales transactions exceeded $240 billion, a feat it achieved leaving behind eBay and Amazon combined.
Alibaba’s secret to success
Chairman Jack Ma describes women as the “secret sauce” behind its super success in the online shopping industry. Ma never toys with workplace diversity and has always esteemed the strength of women and their impeccable attention to details as virtues he thinks help them to outperform men in robotics and machine learning.
Alibaba has continued to create programs that put to good use the raw potential inherent to gender diversity, employing people of different creeds, races, and sexual orientation
Accenture
This super conglomerateknown for its global consulting brand has partnered with an avalanche of the Fortune Global 500 and served clients in over 120 countries. Accenture has built innovation, creativity, and competitive advantage through workplace diversity.
The company’s dynamic workforce is next to none with its various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Accenture will stop at nothing to continue to be the most inclusive and diverse company in the world.
L’Oréal
This Forbes top multinational performer company is scattered around 130 countries on five continents. When it comes down to diversity, it offers an avalanche of opportunities. This organization’s respect for multicultural diversity is at the forefront, as it deeply supports disabled and multicultural people. It has a number of global initiatives that offer training to young adults in vulnerable communities like India and Pakistan.
L’Oréal is also prominent for offering a huge part of diversity and inclusion, even as it trains employees at all levels around the world. The company is atop the list of gender equality companies with 69% of the workforce and 53% of key positions.
Lenovo
This multinational brand is known as the world’s largest PC vendor, with over 55,000 employees in over 55 countries. Its success is built on a sturdy foundation of diversity and inclusion. It is no wonder that its tagline is Different is Better.
It is supercharged with the onus of innovating programs that build diversity and inclusion into the company’s DNA, and Lenovo is stopping at nothing to come up with programs that promote diversity and inclusion.
There are factors that weave into diversity. While some factors are visible to the naked eye, others aren’t since they are traits that are part of the internal makeup of the way people were born. This disparity in human designs is the reason why there are four categories of diversity.
Each category has a subset that helps you to understand workplace diversity more.
Internal Diversity
Internal diversity is characterized by the situations that a person is born into. They include dispositions and choices that aren’t personal and so are very well impossible to be altered.
Here are some examples of internal diversity:
Ethnicity
National origin
Age
Race
Assigned sex
Sexual orientation
Cultural identity
Mental prowess
Gender identity
Physical ability
External Diversity
In this category, the external is used to describe features that a person wasn’t born with. This means that external diversity can be heavily influenced by the environment a person is stationed in. They could also be aspects that a person can change, and often do overtime.
Some examples of external diversity include:
Appearance
Personal interests
Education
Citizenship
Religious beliefs
Location
Familial status
Relationship status
Socioeconomic status
Life experiences
Organizational Diversity
Organizational diversity, also known as functional diversity, has to do with the characteristics in the workplace that shows a disparity. This means the kind of work you do at your workplace, the payment you receive, and the type of place you work at.
However, there are different subsets within organizational diversity, which include:
Job function
Place of work
Management status
Employment status
Pay type
Seniority
Union affiliation
Worldview Diversity
With the worldview type of diversity, there is an avalanche of factors that come under this category. The internal, external, and organizational types of diversity all make up the worldview. Why? Well, this is because everyone, in the long run, has a worldview they hold in high esteem.
Its subsets include:
Political beliefs
Moral compass
Outlook on life
Epistemology
Chapter 6: How to Improve Diversity in the Workplace with Business Process Optimization
Things to consider before getting started with diversity in the workplace
We’ve gone on and on about diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace. Now it’s time to consider getting started on workplace diversity, or better yet, improving on it.
You need a major mind shift to pull off diversifying your company effectively, and making sure that it is inclusive enough to get all your employees comfortable and at liberty to put in their best to ramp up your company’s success rate.
So, just what are those things that must be considered when looking to scale up, diversify in your workplace, or improve on it?
Determine what needs to be diversified
Before getting started, you’ve got to take stock of how things are presently operated in your organization.
What sort of diversity are you operating at the moment?
What type of diversity exists with your junior and senior management teams?
What are your plans to pool in newer talents?
How do your staff go about carrying out their day-to-day tasks and operations?
Do note that before you embark on diversifying anything that you’ve got to tinker with what exists at the moment. Getting a full grasp of this would help know what areas must be fixed.
Give others a chance to talk
When voices are heard, headway is made and success is inevitable. Who represents or speaks for your committee matters a lot. How your feedback system comes across to your employees matters a lot. When a lot more people are heard, a solution that pushes your company to greater heights is sure.
Kickstart learning
It’s extremely important that you read. Why? Well, simply put, you need to garner newer knowledge to be at the top best, and be abreast with policies and trends in the workplace diversity system. For instance, before employing a worker who is of another culture, you may want to consider reading books and resources about their culture and experiences. Reading may also help you find other diversified workplaces that exist around you that can help your organization learn.
Acknowledge the disparity
We all have very different experiences and cultures, so it’s important for you to acknowledge that differences exist. Sometimes employees forget this. You should be teachable, open to learning, and ready to listen to all in your organization. This helps in building a more diverse, inclusive, and profitable workplace.
Why Your Company Needs to Optimize its Processes for a More Productive Diversified Workplace
Workplace diversity may not be fully utilized and maximized if processes are not systematized. You might risk discouraging your team members when you subject them to working in an environment that doesn’t motivate them to bring their best to the table. What’s more, we all know that when your staff brings their best to the table, unlimited success is guaranteed, so why not put in the necessary systems and processes that make for massive growth in your organization?
With a diversified workplace there is no doubting that there will be repeat tasks to be carried out in the day-to-day operations of the business. This is why systems and processes that will cater to redundancies that can slow work down are highly needed.
So, why does your company need to optimize its processes?
To get your employees to be fully integrated
Operating in a systematized process in a diversified workplace helps to set up small teams that will encourage new employees to be actively involved and fully integrated into the company’s culture. It pays to purposefully develop open communication lines where issues can be addressed through systems and processes.
Encourages retention
It creates opportunities for growth and promotion. When your workers repeat tasks that are documented, you can rest assured that mistakes and redundancies will be curbed to the barest minimum and they will love to uphold the company’s culture and be loyal.This all leads to employee retention.
Creates learning and development programs
When workers do well in a work environment that focuses on building relationships and skills, you can be sure that learning and improvement will not be an issue. Therefore, as a CEO, part of your call of duty is to provide the precise resources and an environment that supports the growth and development needs of the individual employee.
Encourages communication and interactions
Process optimization in a diversified workplace fosters healthy relationships and friendships among colleagues through social or community involvement. Nothing beats having satisfied and fulfilled clients who will interact and commune with one another.
Managers become more effective
Managers become more effective because they can provide suitable job assignments and at the same time they can evaluate employees properly. This means that they will have freed up precious time that might pose a constraint to other activities.
Employee motivation and morale increases
When processes in a diversified workplace are simplified, your team members will likely become more satisfied with their work. This can also get them to be better committed to their professional growth because performance becomes the criterion for success.
Organization and its environment improves
When you strategically take time to systematize processes in your workplace, you enable your workforce to pay more allegiance to the organization, because employees develop a sense of ownership that helps drive them to success.
Optimal diversity policies are implemented
Systems and processes help a company to develop policies that are in tandem with government laws on equal employment opportunity. You will also succeed in developing a team that will focus on diversity policy implementation.
Builds an environment that is disability-inclusive
Process optimization in a diversified workplace leads to more efficiency amongst your diversified workforce who may look incapacitated to others—for instance, it helps your company get committed to disability inclusion at all levels of your organization.
Chapter 7: How to Optimize Processes With SweetProcess in a Diversified Workplace
There is no watering down the fact that a diversified workplace needs to thrive on an optimized process. However, oftentimes knowing how to go about how to choose the right tool might pose a tough challenge. Before we look at how to learn the ropes of process optimization with SweetProcess, let us see what business process optimization is and what makes it a must-do for a diversified workplace.
What is business process optimization?
Business process optimization is the activities that you put in place in making sure that your organizational efficiency is improved. This also has to do with an aspect of systematization known as business process management (BPM). Optimizing processes in an organization that is multiracial and multicultural help, to a very large extent, to optimize business goals, a feat that can further lead to success stories.
This is exactly what the SweetProcess tool is all about. SweetProcess helps your company optimize its business processes by documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs), collaborating, and tracking tasks with ease. It is a cloud-based workflow management system that assists businesses that are diversified like yours with task creation, documentation, productivity tracking, and more.
Your company gets better managed even as it improves your processes so that communication is seamless, successes are duplicated immensely, and mistakes are avoided.
Some examples of optimization around a diversified workplace include:
Eliminating redundancies
One of the best ways to avoid redundancies that can cost you a lot in business is to manage your business processes smartly. With process optimization, you get your processes designed, modeled, executed, and monitored. This will lead to effectiveness and efficiency. This was exactly the kind of gains that Jamie Ramsden of Turkstra Lumber got from SweetProcess when it wanted its employees to be more efficient and result-driven.
Jamie was scared to leave money on the table to his competition, so he wanted his staff to be a lot more intentional and smart in their day-to-day activities until they found the SweetProcess software that helped streamline their operations and boost employee efficiency.
Streamlining workflows
Workflow management in a diversified workplace ought not to be handled with levity. It is all about organizing and coordinating tasks within a process. The workflow can benefit your company by reducing risks, improving productivity, streamlining processes, and providing access to information.
Emma Mills, the owner of MiPA, tinkered with streamlining her workflow but her employees lacked the needed competence to achieve this and so she adopted a more effective workflow tool to keep up with growth. She signed up for SweetProcess, and the tool helped them document their processes. Now they have seamless employee onboarding and training, and their company is very well in the ascendancy.
Nowadays, more than ever before organizations are trying to improve team collaboration patterns so that there is better goal alignment and overall business success. When processes are documented, collaboration is ramped up, communication is improved, and everybody can stay on track with their to-dos and schedule time to work together on joint issues.
Seamless employee onboarding and training
Having competent employees is one of the greatest assets of any organization. But a huge part of getting your employees to a place where they are competent lies on your shoulders. You need to train them adequately and provide the right tools they need to be efficient.
By implementing SweetProcess—just like CEO Gretchen Pisano and chief design officer Jennifer Schneider of PLink Leadership, who grappled with their employees working with outdated information and a workforce that had to search through many pages for a single piece of information every time they needed confirmation for a new task—your company could be on its way to greater wins.
SweetProcess came in handy for PLink Leadership, even as their processes got documented which made it a whole lot easier to train and retrain new and old talents within the organization.
You too can begin to experience managing an upwardly mobile diversified workplace and be technology compliant by using our 14-day free trial option, even as you begin your journey toward business transformation.
Conclusion
There you have it! All you need to know to lead a seamless and optimized diversified workplace. Your company can begin to play in the league of a healthy, diversified company that provides all that its workforce needs to ramp up productivity and profitability that can benefit them and you in the long run when you sign up for SweetProcess.
Do it with SweetProcess, click here to learn more
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