Implementing Diversity and Inclusion at The Workplace

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The term diversity and inclusion are closely related when we are talking about the workplace. While diversity means having people from different groups and communities onboard, inclusion means including everyone in the workplace processing.

It has been observed that since gender bias formed the basis of diversity and inclusion, the trend is carrying forward even today. When asked, many organizations still believe they have a diverse culture because they harbour employees of different ethnicity and gender.

Apart from the definition of diversity falling in a narrow lane, businesses work towards removing individual bias people have against one another. The goal of diversity and inclusion is much wider, which should be implemented at the organizational level – not the individual level.

Simply put, here, the goal is to reduce organizational bias. We need to bring in people with diverse thinking and include them in decision-making and important business processes.

Broader Aspect of Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity in the true sense is a medium to fuel customer interest in your organization or the product or service. When you tap into the diverse talents your organization already has, it increases the ability to improve results. When diverse creative minds and innovative individuals are brought together, you can unleash the potential of your products. You can develop products your users want to utilize in their daily lives. Having that sort of connection with your team is a strong means of driving the business towards an upward trajectory.

Needless to say, the idea is preferred by many organizations because even with a few resources, creative minds have the capability to reach financial targets.

Looking at The Less Discussed Aspects of Diversity

It is obvious that diversity is taken as the difference in appearance, religion, origin, age, and gender. But, less discussed aspects of diversity lie in the way individuals process information, solve problems, and generate ideas. It is this diversity that we need to tap into for the wider good of the organization.

It is still easier to get diverse people onboard at the time of recruitment. But, breaking the hierarchical structure to bring different minds together – that’s a real task.

Here’s how HR professionals can achieve this task by assessing the thinking and learning capabilities of different team members:

  • The importance and feasibility of the concerned project.
  • How inputs from various members can be collected to let ideas originate?
  • How the manager or the ultimate decision-maker can reduce bias by selecting the idea which is best?
  • The capability of the decision-maker to take various idea to come up with something better than discussed.
  • Ensuring consistency once the baseline is provided by the diverse members.
  • Removing the hierarchical bias and getting everyone on board.

Here, it is important to note that to achieve a diverse culture in the workplace, it is necessary for your team to accept the change. There are, of course, going to be elements that will resist change. These individuals wouldn’t want external advice and many will not want to contribute. Encouraging everyone to get in line with the idea is certainly the hardest task that lies in the hands of the HR manager.

Conclusion

Implementing diversity and inclusion on an organization-wide level is not a cake walk. You can’t just roll out a policy to achieve non-discussed aspects of diversity. It will take hard work and time. However, the benefits are clear – enhanced product value. With that, the value of your brand increases and so does the value of your relations with your customers.

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HR Connect In house Author

HR Connect In house Author

Our inhouse authors have expertise in several areas of HR and Payroll. Their content contributions have been published in leading blogs, websites and print publications.
HR Connect In house Author

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