One of our previous articles referred to the workplace diversity and the advantages and disadvantages that this can bring. As we already stated, adopting a recruitment strategy that targets a larger variety of candidates with different backgrounds, will attract a staff diversity of those who build teams and work together for a common goal. Among the main advantages that diversity brings include increased productivity and promoting a positive image of the employer brand, but creating an inclusion and integration environment for these people also requires a series of actions.
Inclusion means an active involvement of all the employees in building a successful business strategy. This thing can be done by collecting ideas, initiatives, feedback or opinions on particular issues that concern the evolution and growth of the organization to which they belong. Thus, regardless of when the employees joined the company and their area of activity, asking them about several things is becoming increasingly important in the context of the diversification of customers and their needs. A list of proposals from different people could mean a sum of innovative ideas that can help maintain and attract business partners from different fields and cultures.
The Advantages of Understanding Differences
Creating a climate that promotes inclusion and integration of individuals at the workplace could bring several benefits regarding employee retention and loyalty. People who do not feel like part of the work environment in which they operate will not be entirely focused on the work that they perform. Thus, the features and aspects that make them different from other colleagues will turn into inferiority complexes, frustration, and fear of being marginalized. An environment that is reluctant to opening might make employees less involved, increase the degree of absenteeism and lower productivity.
The organizational leaders play a crucial role when it comes to the employees’ mood, and in the absence of a corporate culture that publicly condemns any discrimination, employees risk to isolate themselves, to aim to be perceived as neutral and not to remain unintegrated. Creating an environment where everyone feels integrated also involves educating this spirit. Where there is a danger that certain categories of employees are discriminated, you should promote a positive approach to diversity, perhaps through specialized training to encourage interaction with those who are different.
Promoting Diversity
When we think about diversity and fostering an environment that involves the integration of employees who, for some reason, are different from the majority, we must take into account, among other things, the perceptions on various aspects of certain cultures. For example, we need to understand that in some cultures, working with greater precision and rigor is important, while others are more relaxed, less formal and more flexible. Also, some cultures provide some restrictions regarding physical contact with interlocutors or concerning the type of communication, such as gestures that are considered normal for some, for others are inappropriate.
Let’s not forget that in the society nowadays, we even have people from four different generations working together, and each of them comes with the specifics of the times when he lived. Also, approaching conflicts can differ from one person to another, regardless of the environment from which they come, so that while some debate directly different views, others will be elusive and will avoid any controversial discussions. Keep in mind that groups are not entirely homogeneous and that everyone must be guaranteed the right to dignity and freedom of ideas, as long as it does not harm others.
BIA HR TEAM