II.

Diversity in Organizations

Diversity in the workplace means that there is an array of differences among employees such as race,
ethnicity, gender, age, religion and education. Over the past few decades, increasing diversity within
various business industries has become more common. It continues to be an important factor in many
company cultures and values.

Diversity in the workplace brings many benefits to a company as a whole. It’s known to create a
competitive advantage for businesses, meaning it allows them to differentiate themselves from their
competitors. Many companies desire employees who have different backgrounds and experiences.

The 4 Types of Diversity

1. Internal Diversity

Internal diversity characteristics are ones related to situations that a person is born into. They are things
that a person didn’t choose for themselves and are impossible for anyone to change.

Here are some examples of internal diversity:

 Race
 Ethnicity
 Age
 National origin
 Sexual orientation
 Cultural identity
 Assigned sex
 Gender identity
 Physical ability
 Mental ability

2. External Diversity

In the context of diversity, the term external is used to describe things that are related to a person but
aren’t characteristics that a person was born with. While external diversity can be heavily influenced by
other people and their surroundings, even forcibly so, they ultimately are aspects that a person can
change and often do over time.

Some examples of external diversity include:

 Personal interests
 Education
 Appearance
 Citizenship
 Religious beliefs
 Location
 Familial status
  Relationship status
 Socioeconomic status
 Life experiences

3. Organizational Diversity

Organizational diversity, also called functional diversity, relates to the differences between people that
are assigned to them by an organization—essentially, these are the characteristics within a workplace
that distinguish one employee from another. Regardless of your position or the pay you receive, any
form of work that you do may help solidify your belonging to an organization. Whether you’re working
for a private, nonprofit, public sector, or governmental organization, and even if you do volunteer work
for free, you are a part of an organized group. This could be as small as a group of two or anything
higher, as long as it’s more than one independent person, that constitutes an organization.

However, there are different subsets within organizational diversity, which include:

 Job function
 Place of work
 Management status
 Employment status
 Pay type
 Seniority
 Union affiliation

4. Worldview Diversity

The fourth type of diversity is commonly known as worldview. Even though there are a multitude of
factors that come together to form our worldview, including our internal, external, and organizational
diversity characteristics, at the end of the day, everyone has a worldview that they align with.
Worldview diversity is another diversity type that changes with time—we conceptualize the world
differently as we have new experiences and learn more about ourselves and each other.

There are still nuances within our worldviews, but some examples include:

 Political beliefs
 Moral compass
 Outlook on life
 Epistemology
The 7 Key Advantages of Diversity in The Workplace

1. Encouraging Diversity in The Workplace Improves Productivity

Productivity is in the effectiveness and efficiency of the employees, employers, and staff in an
organization. As the Department of Labour states, “Productive workplaces are built on teamwork and a
shared vision of where a business is heading. There’s a willingness at all levels to keep learning and
investing in skills". Productivity is higher in organizations where employees are appreciated and
recognized. This keeps them engaged and also helps them contribute without any sense of
abandonment.

2. Improves Creativity and Innovation

Creativity and innovation are not synonymous. Creativity is the mental ability to develop practical,
unique ideas and concepts. Innovation, on the contrary, is the extension of creativity. It is the process of
transforming these exceptional ideas into new entities.

3. Hire Employees from Diverse Pool of Talents

You often listen to successful leaders around the globe speaking how important it is to hire diverse
teams from a larger pool of talents. Diversity in the workplace helps you choose a wide range of
employees based on their abilities. When business owners do not practice diversity, they also miss out
on the widespread possibilities and customer base.

4. Fight Unconscious Biases

We make our presumptions with our preconceived notions. We do it without any proof or validation,
and that’s what results in unconscious biases. Don’t we unconsciously judge people from the color of
their skin or the ethnicity they belong to? And even from the names in their resumes.

5. Improves Employer Brand and Global Reputation

It’s pretty impossible to be in the room and not be a part of the discussion. Especially when you run a
business, you can’t afford to miss out on what your competitors are doing. So, almost every small/big
organization wants diversity in the workplace to be relevant. The criteria are to meet up the quota or
diversity policies and all the goodwill it brings. Diversity in the workplace plays a vital role in building an
excellent reputation for the company. This leads to increased profitability and equal opportunity for the
company and its employees. Thus, organizations that commit to diversity enjoy a global reputation. This
improves the employer’s brand and respect for their fair employment practices and ethics.

6. Improves Company Culture

Company culture varies from company to company. Some follow an informal and casual approach. On
the other hand, some follow specific dos and don’ts. It also depends on the company's size, work ethics,
goals, and work environment. Company culture is the personality of the company. Your employee’s
beliefs and actions in internal and external matters tell a lot about your company. Their behavior, feeling
and thinking determines the way they perform.

7. Millennials and Diverse Workforce

Millennials now are more perceptive towards their work environment. They want satisfaction in their
work and enjoy their work to reflect in the society they live in. Millennials have a unique outlook on
diversity. For them, it is a mix of identities, experiences, ideas, and opinions. This proves how important
it is for millennials to break the norms and barriers. And also to work in an environment that fosters
progressive change and collaborative team works.

Diversity Strategies

1. Using inclusive language

Using inclusive language in your job descriptions is imperative if you want to attract more women into
your organisation. Avoiding gendered language like masculine words such as dominant and challenging
or specific pronouns can discourage women and LGBT candidates from applying to your job roles. The
use of inclusive language should be incorporated into other forms of written communication and not
just job descriptions. For example, you should ensure to use inclusive language in emails and letters as
people in the workplace will want to address how they want.

2. Challenging unconscious biases

Being aware of unconscious biases is excellent as when you implement certain strategies within your
company you will understand that you will still see things in a certain way. Challenging them by putting
into place effective strategies within your organisation can help you in removing the unconscious bias
you may be reflecting into the business. The strategies to improve diversity and inclusion can
be measured so you are aware of how your company is changing.

3. Educating leadership
There are a few reasons as to why it is beneficial to educate leadership and management and have them
attending diversity and inclusion workshops. To start, it is seen as one of the least diverse areas of a
company and is mainly dominated by white males, which is certainly the case in the tech industry.
Secondly, leaders play a big role in shaping company values and deciding on strategies for the
organisation to implement. Therefore, if diversity and inclusion goals are set by a top-down approach
then it is likely that they can be implemented company-wide.
 
4. Mentoring
Discussing opportunities for mentoring can help with attracting and retaining diverse talent in your
organisation is one of the most effective diversity and inclusion strategies to implement. The majority of
women and underrepresented groups don’t feel like they have the chance to grow and therefore end up
leaving mid-career as they don’t feel valued or challenged. Therefore, bringing in a mentoring scheme
for those who want to progress can help employees achieve personal development and bring success for
the business. Having mentors can help those to overcome challenges and potentially progress into
leadership or senior roles.

5. Cultural events
Celebrating the current diversity culture within your organisation through designating a day to all of the
ethnicities within your organisation can help to retain diverse talent. It also ensures that you are
bringing inclusion to your organisation as everyone will feel valued and appreciate each other’s home
country. It is also important to celebrate events such as International Women’s Day, Gay Pride
celebrations and International Day of Person with Disabilities. Doing this shows that your organisation
values and supports diversity and inclusion and can help you to attract more talent.

6. Diversity training
Providing your employees with diversity training will make them more aware of what constitutes a
diverse and inclusive workplace. It is a perfect way of demonstrating how each other can contribute to
help the business grow and succeed. It also makes your employees aware of how they should value each
other regardless of their age, gender or ethnicity as they are all equal. This will not only help your
organisation foster more diverse and inclusive strategies but it can also encourage others to think of
new ways to help increase diversity in the workplace.

7. Core company values

Expressing your core company values can help to attract diverse talent into tech, as long as your
company values reflect a business environment that is inclusive to everyone. Applicants will always look
to access and view your company values before deciding on applying for a job role or not. People today
are looking for a great place to work that allows for opportunities to progress and a healthy life-work
balance. Therefore, showing how inclusive and diverse you are or by demonstrating how you are
implementing diversity and inclusion strategies to improve can aid success when employing.

8. Create an environment that is suited to everyone

Creating an environment that is suited to everyone is mainly down to the leadership team and
communication. Leadership must be committed to ensuring the working environment is inclusive to
everyone at all levels of your organisation. Communicating new diversity and inclusion policies internally
and externally and providing training will ensure that the working environment will be suited to
everyone. Workplace diversity is unavoidable and therefore it is essential that you bring inclusiveness
when creating an equal working environment.

9. Listen to employees
Listening to employees is one of the main things a leader will need to do in an organisation. Although
implementing diversity and inclusion strategies will have to be discussed amongst senior positions, it is
the employees who will benefit or suffer from those decisions. Creating anonymous surveys for
employees to fill out is a great way of getting their opinion on what they would like to see in their
organisation.

10. Involve employees in the hiring process

It can beneficial to include some employees in the hiring process as a way of increasing diversity and
inclusion within your organisation. Employees can provide you with a broader view of what potential
employees may bring and they may identify skills sets which you may not. Involving employees in the
hiring process will also make them feel that they are valued and that their opinions count when making
important decisions for the organisation.

https://coreaxis.com/insights/blog/the-importance-of-diversity-in-organizations

https://blog.vantagecircle.com/diversity-in-the-workplace-and-why-it-matters/

https://www.alliant.edu/blog/what-are-4-types-diversity#:~:text=Organizational%20diversity%2C
%20also%20called%20functional,distinguish%20one%20employee%20from%20another.

https://www.diversityintech.co.uk/10-effective-diversity-and-inclusion-strategies