Diverse Workforce: Importance, Advantages and Disadvantages

Diverse Workforce

 Diverse workforce! Exactly what comes to your mind when you hear those two words? What is Diverse Workforce? Diversity used to be a black and white, male and female, old and young issue. It is no longer that, now it’s more complicated than that. In this report I will discuss What is diverse workforce, why workplace diversity is so important, what are some benefits of diversity in the workplace, the disadvantages of diversity in the workplace, challenges of diversity in the workplace, and strategies or ways to deal with diversity in the workplace.

What is Diverse Workforce?

 Workforce diversity is when a job hires people that are different or similar and puts them in the same workplace to work together. It’s basically the bringing together of different people to one workplace. Some things that would make them similar or different could be their age, background, physical abilities, disabilities, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.

 Why Workplace Diversity is so Important?

 Workplace diversity is important because it lets companies grow and become more competitive. With workforce diversity comes many great perks and benefits such as creativity, innovation, and a great reputation. Having diversity in the workplace gives a company a lot of great and different types of talent. With this it makes the company more profitable and even more successful.

What are the benefits of Diversity in the Workplace?

Increasing workforce diversity has a number of benefits including: creativity, innovation, positive reputation and more. With diversity in the workplace it can be a way to solve issues and customer needs many different ways. Diversity cause many new ideas for companies. With diversity a company gets local connections, different types of  language skills, and cultural understanding this can boost the business as well as make it boom international as well as local. Diversity helps companies get the best talent and higher quality in the market world.

Disadvantages of Diversity in the Workplace.

     There are many disadvantages when it comes to diversity in the workplace. A few are communication barriers, resistance to change and negative attitudes. Sometimes it’s not easy to bring employees together when they have different cultures and communicate differently. Everyone may not speak the same language or understand the other person’s language well. This can lead to a big problem. Having little or no respect for others’ race, cultural background, or belief and making jokes could lead to another problem. With having diversity in the workplace comes training and with training their is a cost. The cost of training is not cheap. These trainings, seminars, programs, and lectures are to help promote diversity in the workplace, therefore they are greatly and much needed.

Challenges of Diversity in the Workplace.  

    There are many challenges of diversity in the workplace. Ethnic and cultural differences, differences in language and communication, age differences, and respecting and accepting the differences of other employees or people are a few that I feel are the most important in my opinion. Then also it maybe some people that are not comfortable sharing their ideas, speaking up, or being comfortable around others that are not similar to them. This can lead to them working alone or only with people of their similarity and limiting or not sharing their knowledge with others. Having communication getting mixed up, told wrong, or lost because of the translation between everyone is another challenge. This is where the language barrier becomes an issue or challenge. With diversity in the workplace comes many different attitudes, values, behaviors, morales, and etiquette. This can lead to misunderstanding and hard feelings between these workers.      

Strategies or ways to deal with Diversity in the Workplace.

     There are many different strategies or ways to deal with diversity in the workplace. It’s always best to recognize diversity. This is difficult sometimes due to the fact, diversity is not always noticeable. Making up diversity policies and putting them in employee handbooks, on the work walls, and the company websites is a start in dealing with diversity in the workplace. Make sure they are easy and in a place for everyone to review and understand. Making sure there are no discrimination going on in the workplace. Discrimination can be intentional, unintentional, conscious, and subconscious. Reaching out and celebrating diversity in the workforce can also be ways to deal with diversity. Be sensitive to others and don’t make jokes that could hurt, offend, or harm others as well as their feelings. Yet in my opinion I feel that the most important ways to handle or deal with diversity in the workplace is by communicating, respecting, tolerating, and showing compassion for others.       

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     In conclusion, as you have seen in my report diversity has always been a good thing. In my opinion it always will be. Yet with diversity also comes disadvantages, issues, challenges, tension as well as many other problems to the workforce. Due to the fact that people are very defensive as well as sensitive when it comes to issues like their race, religion and personal orientation. It’s true that a diverse workforce creates differences and some challenges, but if handled the right way it can cause the workplace to have many benefits. Companies should continue to embrace all kinds of people who will bring value to their business and make sure their employees know that it’s healthy and beneficial to learn from one another. With this being done on every job diversity in the workplace will surely bring companies nothing but benefits and a great environment or place to work in.

References

1. “Diversity Resources”; Workplace Diversity Training: Do You Know All 10 Critical Issues? Dr. Richard T. Alpert, Ph.D.; 2011
2. Fine, Marlene G. (1996). “Cultural Diversity in the Workplace: The State of the Field”. Journal of Business Communication.
3. Martin, Gillian Coote (2014-11-21). “The Effects of Cultural Diversity in the Workplace”. Journal of Diversity Management (JDM).
4. R, Darwin Joseph; Selvaraj, Palanisamy Chinnathambi (2015-02-20). “The Effects of WorkForce Diversity on Employee Performance in Singapore Organizations”. International Journal of Business Administration.
5. The Washington Post: Challenges to Workplace Diversity