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Workplace People Diversity: Definition, Types, and Acknowledging Differences
20 September 2024
Today’s interconnected environment means businesses are beginning to value the importance of a Diverse Workforce. It is not about changing attitudes to gender or race but about creating an environment where everyone’s human diversity is valued and encouraged.
This article focuses on a person’s diversity: its variety, how to manage it, and how to use it to grow the organization and create a rich, effective, and productive climate at the workplace. You will learn more if you keep reading!
What is human diversity?
Human diversity means the variations people have in features that can or cannot be seen. The meaning of people’s diversity is about various aspects of color, nationality, sex, age, sexual orientation, abilities, faith, origin, financial status, level of education, and many more that precisely define the term diversity. It’s natural to include the diversity in order to present new viewpoints and generate new ideas to reflect the society we live in.
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The 4 most common types of diversity in the workplace
The main goal is to preserve people’s diversity in the workplace since it is a way to help each employee feel valued in his office. And now, let’s consider four types of diversity that are the most common in workplaces and organizations.
1. Cultural Diversity
Biculturalism can be defined as a great degree of variation in a company’s cultural and linguistic characteristics. Since different approaches originate from different people, biculturalism benefits creativity and enforces problem-solving methods.
For example, let us consider a group from different nations to participate in an international project. Due to each team member presenting different cultural perspectives, approaches to a problem, and opinions, providing a comprehensive and effective solution is easier.
2. Gender Diversity
Gender diversity within an organization allows for a more open and welcoming atmosphere within an organization, and in addition to this, can be helpful in solving business-related issues.
For instance, let us discuss a tech firm that vigorously promotes the employment of both genders in engineering-related jobs. By accepting and implementing gender diversities in the company, it gets a wider variety of talents, thus making the working environment more creative and welcoming. Furthermore, it has also been identified that having a diverse workforce results in faster by 87% decision-making.
3. Age Diversity
Generation segregation/ mix refers to having employees of different age groups: young talents and experienced personnel. It takes the creativity and progressive thinking of young employees and combines them with the expertise and teach-me/how-to/training experience of the old generation, thus promoting skill sharing.
A good example of this type of people’s diversity is a marketing team consisting of millennials who know social media trends and representatives of the baby boom generation with experience in marketing management and good interpersonal skills. It improves the team’s complexity, creates balanced work, and fosters innovation across generations.
4. Disability Diversity
Having coworkers with disabilities assists in building a culture through which all employees can help develop the understanding that they can all contribute their strengths;improving innovation due to the wide range and variety of talents. It also encourages social equity and inclusion since it caters to the less fortunate.
How to affirm a person’s diversity in a workplace
In light of this, such factors need to be accepted and appreciated through some crucial measures that will foster the practice of respect in the community.
1. Educate Yourself and Others
Try to find out as much as you can about the people in your workplace and neighborhood in terms of their culture, origins, and experience. Encourage the provision of ongoing training and development that address questions of diversity and inclusion. This will enforce self-development and play a significant role in establishing an environment that is considerate, accepting, and free of prejudice at the workplace.
2. Encourage Open Communication
Create an enabling environment where employees will freely express their opinions and experiences. Enhance an effective and constructive conversation among the team members. This will help you eliminate barriers in communication by enabling you to speak to someone and thus overcome barriers to understanding and appreciation. This makes work close-knit and involves everyone so that their opinion is considered valid.
3. Implement Inclusive Policies
Policies should be implemented to ensure equal and fair opportunity for all people in your business hiring processes. Such policies work towards the goal of making sure that every employee in the organization feels that they are important and can also be successful. Some of them offer choices of working hours, zero tolerance for discrimination, and policies on equal opportunity. These are Sodexo, Accenture, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, Marriott, and Mastercard, which are at the forefront of providing equal opportunity to their employees.
4. Celebrate Differences
Demonstrate your abiding commitment to diversities and noticing and embracing cultural events and accomplishments typical to your team. Organize cultural fairs and festivals to make your fellow students accept or better appreciate other cultures, traditions, and people’s differences. They create a sense of harmonious incorporation with other people with whom one works or interacts in the organization, hence promoting unity and/or diversity with respect.
5. Offer Support and Resources
Offer employee resource groups, which are ERGs, diversity and inclusion, custom-tailored mentorship programs, and comprehensive diversity training. They are relevant in assisting the employees to cope with special issues and circumstances. For example, Novartis – a world’s top pharmaceutical company – is a participant of the 2023 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index. It has implemented DEI policies by providing training to promote diversity and prodiversity among employees.
Epilogue
Therefore, it cannot be overemphasized how diversity in the workplace, whether by ethnicity, gender, age, or even disability, is not only an ethical issue but also an organizational resource. It quantifies the benefits of organizations that support diversity because embracing the differences of employees can lead to higher creativity, better problem-solving ability, and increased motivation of the workers.
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