Workplace diversity is an important part of any company, and it can change the way you do business. Promoting diversity in the workplace leads to a creative and innovative environment where employees of all backgrounds can flourish. Here are a few ways you and other members of leadership in your company can create and promote a diverse work environment.
1. Diversity Training – Forbes reveals that giving employees diversity training makes them “more aware of what constitutes a diverse workplace.” This allows everyone to understand their responsibility to foster a good office environment. Throughout diversity training, you’re able to show each employee how they can strengthen the company.
2. Company Culture and Policy – Make sure you create company standards that line up with current equal opportunity laws set by the government. Once you’ve come up with necessary policies, establish one team that’s responsible for implementation and familiarizing the entire office with the set procedures. Make it a goal for your company culture to reflect your workforce and overall company policy as well.
3. Activities – Scheduling team activities outside of work is an excellent strategy for building long-lasting office relationships between colleagues. Social and community involvements help employees get to know each other in a different way. Who knows, workers with the least in common at work might have the most in common outside of work.
4. Disability Inclusive – Ensure that your work environment is not only diverse but also, disability inclusive. All levels of the organization should be included in this commitment to inclusivity. Companies can also be inclusive by providing all employees with what they need to do their jobs. According to EARN, this could mean providing “assistive technology, a flexible schedule, or numerous other reasonable accommodations or productivity enhancements.”
5. Communication Between Generations – For the first time, we have multiple generations (over 4) in the workplace; this includes baby boomers, as well as generations X, Y, and Z. It’s up to management to lead all generations in the office in open communication through the technology available at work. Encourage different age ranges in the office to interact with each other and learn how to work together in new ways.
Promoting diversity in the workplace allows you to hire from a wide talent pool that reflects the community in which we live. Everyone can benefit from diversity no matter how big or small the impact.