by Managing workforce diversity implies creating an organisational climate in which a heterogeneous workforce performs to its best potential; without the organisation favouring /dis-favouring any particular segment of workforce with a view to facilitating the best attainment of organisational goals.
(i) Creating Conditions for Common Organisational Culture:
Organisation must develop cross-cultural training programmes creating conditions for development of a common organisational culture and climate. Such common culture will create an environment in which a diversified work force can co-exist comfortably, peacefully and happily.
(ii) Creating Awareness of Diversity:
Management must create awareness in the organisation that differences among people as to age, sex, education, culture etc. exist in workforce; so that people may try to understand one another in a more rational and friendly manner.
(iii) Programmes of Special Care for Diversified Workforce:
Management must design programmes of special care, like the following:
- Care for elderly people
- Special work schedules to provide convenience to female workers etc.
(iv) Avoiding Discriminations:
A very significant technique for excellent workforce diversity management is to avoid any sort of discrimination among people on the basis of age, culture and specially sex. In the most developed country the U.SA, the Glass Ceiling Commission states that between 95 and 97 percent of senior managers in the country’s biggest corporations are men.
(The term ‘glass ceiling’ describes the process by which women are barred from promotion by means of an invisible barrier).
(v) Career Development Programmes:
There must be programmes for identifying each individual’s strengths, weaknesses and potential for career development; so that the organization can capitalize on the peculiar features of a diversified workforce. In fact, people should be valued for their difference and variety.
(vi) Prevention of Sexual Harassment:
With the entry of a large number of women in organisations, the phenomenon of sexual harassment is usually witnessed; which management must prevent by all means and at all costs. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions, like – unwelcome touching, joking, teasing, innuendoes (indirectly bad and rude remarks), slurs, and the display of sexually explicit materials.
According to Jenny Watson, Deputy Chairman of the UK’s Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), sexual harassment is no laughing matter for hundreds of thousands of British workers, who experience it.
(vii) Committees of Diverse Members:
Committees of diverse members must be formed for evaluating and addressing complaints of people, regarding their sad experience of working in the organisation.
Benefits of having a diverse workforce:
- Increased adaptability. Having a heterogeneous employee base helps increase your organisation’s adaptability in the market as a diverse workforce will be in a better position to understand what the consumer wants. This will lead to better product decisions.
- One of the biggest advantages of having a diverse workforce is improved innovation in the workplace. Because the employees see things differently and also think differently, interactions with each other will result in the sharing of ideas, knowledge and experiences which makes brainstorming a lot more fruitful. Diversity in the workplace also makes your employees more receptive to trying out new things which is key to creativity and innovation at work.
- Easier recruitment and retention. High-quality employees are rare, which means you need to do everything possible to acquire the few that are there. A recent survey by Glassdoor found that diversity was an important factor for people when evaluating job offers and companies, which makes diversity key for quality recruitment. Diversity also helps your employees feel included and appreciated in addition to helping them become more loyal and feel like they belong. This helps with employee retention.
- Broader market. Having a workforce with a variety of skills and experiences (including cultural understanding and languages) allows your business to be able to provide products to customers from all over the globe. And with the ease with which businesses can make cross-border business transactions in this day and age, this is a big competitive advantage.
- Increased productivity. Diversity in the workforce ensures there’s diversity in the way of thinking. It also provides you with a broad mix of expertise and experience in certain processes which encourages your employees to interact and learn from each other. The kind of open communication that results from this kind of interactions leads to improved teamwork and collaboration. Additionally, diversity has been found to increase morale within the workforce which not only leads to increased productivity but greater employee satisfaction as well.
