As the workplaces have revitalized, they require a more diverse task force that comes from different backgrounds, and ethnicities to create a company culture based on inclusivity. A diverse workforce brings diverse viewpoints and perspectives that can help the company develop amazing new products and boost the business. A recent study shows that companies with diverse employees have higher revenue, show more innovation, and improved decision-making skills as compared to companies that still follow old school principles based on discrimination and bias.
Here a few tips you can follow to embrace policies, initiatives, and tools designed to increase the level of diversity in your workplace:
1. Change Hiring Techniques
While screening through potential candidates, their ethnicity and background are often overlooked. This contributes to a major lack of diversity in the workplace. So how do you change this practice? There are multiple tools and software available now that help filter candidates not only based on the job requirements but also categorize them on the basis of gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. This helps make better decisions when hiring employees. Employers can set a quota for hiring employees of different ethnicities to promote inclusiveness in their company.
2. Evaluate Executive Team
Hiring diverse employees isn’t enough in itself. Making them feel represented in all areas of the workplace is equally as important. Take a look at your management and executive team and assess whether you are whitewashing your executive team or does it has enough ethical representation. The makeup of your company’s executive team really affects the rest of the workforce and also speaks about the culture of your company. According to a consulting group, out of the Fortune 500 companies, only 24 CEOs are women and only three are black. Make sure your company is included in the list that values inclusivity in its executive team as well as low-level employees.
3. Acknowledge Religious Holidays
Employees from different religious backgrounds celebrate different holidays, and as an employer, it’s your job to make sure everyone gets time off as required and deserved. Don’t set the same holiday calendar for everyone and encourage your employees to cover for their colleagues as they celebrate their religious holidays with their families. This will encourage teamwork among employees and foster a culture of respect and consideration in the company. Companies that respect their employees have higher employee satisfaction and retention.
4. Foster Diverse Thinking:
As an employer, what can you do that makes your employees feel welcome and included? When you make such efforts, you put your company in a good position culturally and welcome diverse perspectives into your company. For example, different employees might have culturally rich ideas that help give your products a more unique touch and help market them to different cultures, and welcome high revenue. When opinions of employees of all backgrounds are welcomed, it comes with unique perspectives that can make your company stand out among its competitors and build a powerful brand. Moreover, it has been observed that this practice helps attract young employees and top talent which helps the company stay on top of its game.
In today’s world, it’s important to cater to a diverse and multigenerational workforce in order to stay in the competition and make your company flourish. Make sure all genders, religions, ethnicities, and sexualities are welcome in your company and are presented with equal opportunities as the rest of the employees. Don’t hesitate to offer them executive positions if they fit the criteria and this will help you be a part of companies that have revolutionized their workplace for good!