Diversity at workplace is a common occurrence workplace nowadays. It is also something you cannot avoid. However, a workforce that consists of different races, religions, ethnicities and gender can produce both positive as well as negative effects. And in this post, that is what we are going to discuss.
In today’s article, we are going to talk to you about acceptance and tolerance and how you can have all kinds of people in your workplace and still maintain a friendly and positive environment. Keep reading to find out!
Cultural Diversity Means:
When we speak of the term diversity, all we mean is a difference from the majority. In every culture, there happens to be a majority and several countries.
Culture is defined as a set of norms and standards in every society of what is considered acceptable.
In every culture, you will find some basic standards such as distance, eye contact, negotiation style, body language etc.
In the other ones, they will stand much closer or even further than we are comfortable. Cultures differ everywhere and that difference is called diversity.
Gender Diversity Means:
By the term gender diversity, we mean increasing diversity awareness and taking a close look at the different ranges of variations we have in gender among children, teens, adults and older people.
This is usually done with awareness, building a better community, improving the overall well-being of such people by using the right identities and the expressions.
Pros and Cons of Cultural Diversity at Workplace:
Cultural diversity in the workplace has some pros and cons. Mentioned below are some of them.
Pros of cultural diversity:
1. Boosts productivity:
Diversity as well as inclusion will bring all kinds of talents in one place and boost productivity. Not only that, when people belonging to different kinds of skills start working together, the results are always good.
It will ignite their loyalty and at the same time boost their retention. Having people from different communities is definitely the best way to get started.
2. Boosts creativity:
A second benefit of having more cultural diversity is a boost in creativity. When different minds think together, problems will be solved in a much easier way. People will be able to handle situations in the right manner and there will be lesser chances of trouble.
Experts have in the past suggested that the more we network and the more cultural backgrounds are involved, the more creativity will be stimulated inside the workplace.
There will be different ideas and perspectives floating and the network members will be able to evolve much faster.
3. Recruitment made easy:
Competition these days happens to very fierce among most of the co workers, especially those who are very talented. Researchers have stated that diversity is something that has made recruiting very easy.
A recent survey also suggested that two thirds of people said that it is diversity that has helped their company grow and given people so many jobs and different opportunities.
It doesn’t even matter who we are recruiting, the data says that these people are most likely to make your workplace much better.
4. Variety and better execution:
A workforce diversity is a place where people feel comfortable about sharing their viewpoints. Having people from different cultural backgrounds also means you will be getting a whole chunk of ideas that are different from the other.
Not only that, there will be much better and proper execution everywhere. Companies in that way will get much more productivity as well as profit and good investment.
Cons of cultural diversity:
1. Barriers of communication:
Working in a company that has people from different races and communities can be a lot of fun in the start but it also comes with a few negative points. First of all, it creates barriers of communication. It not only makes speaking to one another difficult but also tends to impact the internal as well as external processes of communication.
Work cultures which are much more heterogeneous will find methods of communication faster because they wont have to keep working harder to overcome these language and culture barriers. There are a few organizations which hire entrepreneurs as well as diversity trainers which will make the work much simpler.
2. Resistance:
When you begin to notice more diversity in your workplace, people could become more cultural resistant. That would add up to the stress and make the environment even more negative.
These changes may lead employees to get all anxious and reduce the workplace morale at the same time. Therefore it is considered important to speak to employees and train them always regarding the roles of work as well as the processes.
Experts have suggested to make sure only open minded people are recruited if there is going to be managing cultural diversity. Otherwise it would become a mess in no time.
3. Racial discrimination:
With different races also comes a lot of racial discrimination. People who have hired in a very diverse workplace will have to learn managing diversity, Otherwise it just might explode someday.
Most companies nowadays that have people from different cultures often suffer major problems because of unfair treatment that occurs due to race.
Sometimes the seniors reprimand their juniors and employees just because they can. Naturally if you happen to work in a place that is diverse culturally, you will see discrimination quite obviously.
4. Increasing costs:
Diversity also means increased costs. The process of training, development, assessment and implementation costs quite a bit of money. And you cant deny or get past any of these. You have to make use of these supplies, consultants as well as professionals so that there is harmony in your work environment.
More costs also include time which is involved by the employees of the company in getting, participating, training and several other aspects of implementing the management of diversity.
Pros and Cons of Gender Diversity in the Workplace:
Gender diversity in the workplace has some pros and cons. Provided few of them below.
Pros of gender diversity at the workplace:
1. Different ideas and views:
There are plenty of business benefits that comes with having diversity at the workplace. First and foremost, both women and men will have different ideas and viewpoints, they might have different market insights which will help in solving problems in a much smarter way. It will ultimately lead to better performance at the business level.
2. Get more resources:
Secondly, it becomes very easy to get hold of resources when you have gender diversity at the work place. You will be able to get more knowledge that way with several sources and methods of credit. That is what helps companies grow so much. Plus the customer base also keeps increasing that way. So you should definitely have a team of both men and women at work
3. Attracts more men and women:
Gender diversity will attract men and women who are smart and talented. At the same time it will help more women get employed and empower them a lot more than before. Those companies which are not able to afford or even ignore the workforce are expected to give heavy competition inside the global economy itself.
4. A very enriching experience overall:
Every person living on this planet happens to have a childhood which is unique enough. When we grow up, the experiences that we go through helps us become a part of a team.
When you maintain a good degree of diversity at your workplace, we make sure that all of these experiences have to be shared with people and that is the opportunity that gender differences provide.
It is not only a great experience overall but also something that helps people become better with that and that is the reason why you should have a team of both men and women.
Cons of Gender Diversity in the Workplace:
People could feel uncomfortable:
With gender diversity, one may begin to feel uncomfortable inside the workplace. Knowing that every person has to come up with their own concept and ideas on comfort, people may become a bit uncomfortable when they are confronted with different examples of those who go against how they tend to view the world.
Whether it is due to sexual orientation or because of religion, race or any other factor, it does make us quite different. However feeling uncomfortable is one of the worst feelings one could ever go through at work.
More hostility at the workplace:
Diversity after a point could turn into some kind of hostility. There are some people who will argue that businesses are not a good place to learn about diversity.
Instead, it has been argued that diversity in every workplace could lead to stress and if that becomes open, it could destroy your workplace with time, especially if people have differing opinions.
How to Manage Diversity in a Workplace?
Before we bring the post to an end, here are a few tips and ideas that will help you do much better at the workplace. In short, it will help you handle cultural and gender diversity the right way.
1. Becoming more self-aware:
Diversity is one issue that you have to learn how to manage at work and that will begin when you start to work on your own behaviour and attitude. You should examine yourself while handling job interviews.
Secondly, when the applicant of an ethnicity walks in for the first time, what do you think about them? Do you think they are bad people and disapprove of them right from the beginning of the interview? How do you usually respond to people who posses different kinds of communications? Having self awareness matters!
2. Assessing employees:
Since you are the manager, you have to handle employee reviews and conduct different assessments. When you are preparing for such reviews, you also have to examine the attitude of your employees and how do they think about working with other people.
If you notice that employees are racial, then you could either train them or remove them. At the end of the day, it is your problem and your responsibility to address issues the right way. You have to check the issues among all the other employees and bring up when the performance is being assessed.
3. Don’t be shallow:
You should be as open minded as possible when it comes to your work place. You have to encourage your employees to recognize them the right way, see their experiences as well as background and see whether they as individuals can help your company grow.
You must try to develop a friendly relationship with colleagues who come from differing backgrounds. You should look for those ways where you can incorporate such diverse perspectives as well as talents into efforts.
4. Try to encourage others:
When you are trying to identify different diversity related issues, you have to discuss with them some of the issues in a very confrontational manner. You should also encourage your employees so that you can work with people belonging to different backgrounds or even generations.
Conclusion:
Initiating these kinds of interactions will often encourage people around you. When you initiate these kinds of interactions, your employees will be able to learn about the style of communication, goals and talents and live harmoniously with one another.
With that, we would like to bring the post to a close. Always remember that there will be pros and cons to everything in life. What matters is how you handle these situations!
If you want to have people from different communities in your group, go ahead with that. But make sure you have read the cons at the same time so that you can avoid these situations.
Also if you have a few suggestions regarding the post, do let us know in the comment box below. We would love to get back to you. And in case you have questions or some tips and suggestions to give, make sure to send them as well.
