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Contents How can a company encourage diversity? What’s its impact on workplace dynamics?
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How can a company encourage diversity? What’s its impact on workplace dynamics? “The World is intertwined today, much more than it was when I was coming out of school. Because of that, you really need to have a deep understanding of cultures around the world. I have learned not to just appreciate this but celebrate it. The one thing that makes the world interesting is our differences, not our similarities.” - Tim Cook
Diversity cites the variedness in the race, gender, culture, religion, political beliefs which if incorporated in the workplace can bring to the table new perspectives. Inclusion implies that in this diverse pool of talent, everyone must be valued equally, recognized for their competencies and treated with equal value and respect. Fortune along with its Research Partner Great Place to Work, compiles a list of US companies that
embrace diversity in their workplace in terms of gender, age, race and differently-abled people. The research by Gartner suggests that a diverse workforce can elevate the performance of the company by 12% and an intent to stay by 20%. Many pieces of research have depicted that workplace diversity can foster innovation, improve the company’s morale, give an all-around perspective with diverse mindsets, and skills and boost the sense of community. As per the McKinsey report, in 2019, the probability of financial outperformance with the inclusion
of gender diversity in the top quartile is likely to increase profitability by 25% and with the incorporation of ethnic diversity by 36%. As per BCG studies, diverse management work teams can alleviate the revenue by a whopping 19%. While the diversity ratios can be improved, the company can reap the benefits of diversity only when inclusion is achieved. Empowering employees from diversified backgrounds increases the talent pool at the organization which they can leverage over their competitors. If a company goes the extra mile to engage their employees and enclasp diversity, it
seems to have a ripple effect on the team’s productivity, profitability, employee retention, and morale.
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A company that encourages diversity also gains respect from their clientele and their own workforce. Teams with diversity are more likely to discern the client’s needs and find optimal solutions to their problems because of their 3
varied experiences, competencies and backgrounds. Cloverpop, scrutinized around 600 business decisions made by 200 teams on its online decision-making platform and found that diverse teams made 60% improvement in their decision making compared to their counterparts. McKinsey’s study suggests that for every 10% increase in gender diversity embraced by the company, its EBIT surges by 3.5% and racially and ethnically inclusive companies have a 35% chance to perform better than their competitors. Also, Harvard Business Review discovered that companies with diversity are 70% more conducive to expand their markets yielding higher performance. As per Forbes, although there is a 12.5% representation of Blacks in the USA, a mere 3.2% senior
positions are held by Blacks. Also, as of 2020, only 4 CEOs out of the Fortune 500 companies have black CEOs. 18.3% of Hispanics reside in the US, but Hispanics form only 4% of the workforce in the US and this is the condition of the world’s largest economy. As per a gender-diversity study conducted by Zinnov and Intel in India, there is a 30% representation of women in corporate India and there are 11% senior women leaders. Owing to the mandate which compels to have at least one woman on every board of directors, the percentage of women on boards has increased from 5% in 2012 to 13% in 2018. Global MNCs in India comprise 25% women, and Indian MNC represents 30% women. Steps that can be taken to encourage diversity at workplaces-
1. Acknowledge the lack of diversity and find the reasons for the same
Without acknowledging the problem at hand, it is tough to find a solution for the same. The company must assess the diversity at its workplace and find reasons if it doesn’t exist. This will help the company to locate where the problem persists. 2. Measure the impact of diversity inclusion and take concrete steps to achieve the same From the various researches conducted by reputed organizations, we can conclude that Diversity inclusion is not just a buzzword but it has huge financial and productivity-based
ramifications that can benefit the company to excel in various areas. Right from
comprehending the client’s requirements to the ultimate EBIT, diversity inclusion has a plethora of benefits that can’t be overlooked by a company that aims for sustainability. Hence, the right steps need to be taken to strengthen their position in terms of diversity inclusion.
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3. Change hiring practices and search for the best candidates Many HRs conform to the confirmation bias and try to hire just on the basis of the initial opinion of the candidate or on the opinion that is formed due to referrals. HRs also tend to cave to the Similarity Bias/Affinity Bias as per which they tend to hire employees which they feel to resemble them in some way or another. Halo effect and Horn effect also impact their decisions while hiring. Illusory Correlation bias exists while hiring, if the HR and the candidate are of
the same race or belong to the same place, there may be a bias. Such biases hamper the efficacy of the decision made and biases must be avoided. 4. Create a sense of belongingness and inclusivity for all Although increasing diversity is easier, designing inclusive environments is harder and must be aimed at so that your employees have a connection with your company which leads to greater engagement and creativity. Every employee must feel respected and their esteem needs must be catered to. 5. Provide Diversity Training
Cross-training programs must take place and every employee can contribute to various divisions of the company to encourage diversity. This can improve productivity and invigorate new ideas. Diversity training should be given to employees to remove the biases in the minds of the employees and create inclusive environments. 6. Give Equal Opportunities to all even after hiring It is observed that although diverse employees are recruited, very few make it to the top of the ladder. Everyone must be given equal opportunities and the representation of the C-suite positions must include diversity. 7. Take into consideration your brand The brand value can have a negative influence if you as a company don’t accommodate diversity and can bring the company into a bad light. This may reduce brand equity and may have a negative impact on the minds of the clients associated with the company and the employees as well. 8. Have empathetic and unbiased leadership When the leaders endorse diversity and inclusion, the practices thrive and are more likely to be implemented. If leaders lead by example, it is more likely that others will follow the same.
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9. Help individuals with grievance address A grievance system must address the employees’ problems and must not ward them off. Employees’ concerns need to be addressed to encourage their best performance, perceived organizational support increases the job satisfaction of the employees. As per the Affective Event’s Theory, the things at work affect the job satisfaction of the employees and may hamper their performance. Hence, addressing employee problems and keeping them satisfies is of utmost importance. 10. Let the Voice of Minorities be heard Minorities should be given the same opportunities as others and must have the same rights, benefits and decision-making power as other employees. They should not be kept away from any decision and equality for all must exist. Initiatives that are undertaken by Indian companies to promote Diversity at the Workplace ●
Zomato - granting menstrual leaves to female employees
Zomato announced around 26 months of paid parental leave to the men and women. They also recently started offering menstrual leaves to the female and transgender employees to address their discomfort and understand their pains. ●
Paytm - Increasing female inclusion and having in place an effective grievance address mechanism
Paytm places a huge focus on diversity in their workplace and takes concrete steps to ensure the same. They have a strong grievance address system which was introduced to understand the concerns of the women and have seamless communication with them to solve their problems. ●
Culture Machine - Introduced Period leaves for female and transgender employees They introduced the system of period leaves for employees and they endorsed this practice. They were amongst the first companies to start this initiative and help women and transgender employees.
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Nukkad Cafe - Empower people from different genders and people with disabilities
They encourage the participation of people from different genders, differently-abled people to give them equal opportunities. 80% of their workforce comprises of staff like this and they are proud to be offering employment to them. As the Prime Minister of Canada rightly says, “Diversity is the engine of invention. It generates creativity that enriches the world�. We all must be inclusive about diversity and embracing diversity may spark a fire for the change in the organizations and may prove to be highly profitable to the company. It is the need of the hour to focus on equality and equal rights for all rather than undermining any community or minority group. We must take a stand for them and try to embrace equality for diversity and inclusion and increase their representation.
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DIVERSITYAND INCLUSION AT WORKPLACE
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Name- Rashmi Padmawar, College- IIM Rohtak
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How can a company encourage diversity? What's it's impact on workplace dynamics Before going with how company encourage the workplace diversity. We 1st need to understand what diversity is and how it brings importance in corporate. Diversity in the workplace is the term used for the workplace of workers with various characteristics, such as sex, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. Usually, Diversity is restricted to the racial and ethic diversity. But, on a broader level, it can be of below types: •
Race
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Ethnicity
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Gender
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Age
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Sexual orientation
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Physical abilities and disabilities
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Religion
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Political beliefs
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Education
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Socioeconomic background
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Geographical orientation
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Language
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Culture
Workplace diversity is becoming a reality in the new, internationally linked culture and economy, rather than a flood of banner corporations to illustrate their commitment to accepting differences. All modern enterprises are able to market their goods internationally, attracting several diverse classes of people. Companies require a diversified workforce in order to effectively develop, present and distribute
their goods in this competitive market. Getting a diverse team goes beyond an HR workshop or conference. When done right, diversity in the workplace has real advantages. Highly diverse workers, for example, have proved to be more inventive, stronger problem solvers, more imaginative, and better at decision-making.
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Ways in which diversity can be promoted at workplace 1.
Educating leaders on the benefits of workplace diversity
A crucial one is the interaction between supervisors and staff. Particularly because of a disconnection from their managers, most individuals leave their jobs. May not believe that administrators recognise the significance of diversity in the workplace, or that they know how to hire and handle a diverse community of workers. Empower them with the talents required for a dynamic team to develop and nurture. Cultural and other sensitivity preparation is a good 1st step. Often, analyse monitoring systems and management engagement processes to ensure that administrators and their direct reports provide a consistent contact path. The capacity of your employees becomes limitless when workplace diversity is embraced, and management is provided with the necessary tools. 2. Give meaningful participation opportunities to workforce
Consider authorising workers to attend other places in another city, state, or region if the business has several locations. For an employee interview, survey the workers and figure out where they want to spend spare time or volunteer, and plan all work-based events and outings of external employee involvement. In comparison, they are able to see how other places interact in a slightly different manner with related challenges and circumstances. This will help the workers to learn
to think outside the box and carry the idea back to their own departments. Certain firms, including Salesforce, make their workers volunteer together to give back and to build stronger bonds with each other and give back to their communities. This form of exposure is a perfect way to help workers learn and interact in other contexts and provides ways for the staff to better know each other. 3. Build programmes for Mentorship
It is important to recruit a diverse staff, but mentorship services are a core component of diversity programmes in the workplace to ensure that everybody has the potential to progress. Employees with high potential, regardless of their age, colour, sex, or other considerations, should be given mentors. If a mentorship programme funded by an organisation is not feasible for your firm, there are other ways to provide comparable opportunities, including: 12
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Support opportunities for career advancement by committing to continued education for workers. The better they learn, the happier they are and the more successful they are as workers.
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Link staff, such as those committed to young adults and women's leadership, to outside resource groups.
Be sure your diversity is represented in the leadership team by recruiting and supporting diverse individuals in those positions. While these are all excellent means of fostering diversity in the workplace, it is still important from the top down to set an example. Staff take note whether the C-suite is actively active with corporate integration activities or efforts to promote equality. In specific, CEOs can support their business to recruit the best and most diverse talent by engaging in the promotion of diversity. Prioritizing diverse workforce through deliberate, concentrated, employee engagement activities encourages recruitment.
4. Communicate and build employee-led task forces
It's not sufficient to establish corporate diversity initiatives. To ensure that programmes are successful, transparent contact and follow-through is important. That implies that policies should represent the specific needs of everyone in your business. Employees should feel safe going to their bosses with any complaints due to their gender, race, sexuality, age, or other reasons, especially regarding their treatment in the business.
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Ask the staff for reviews on a daily basis and build committed diversity task forces for candidate recruiting and training with team members from every department. It guarantees accountability from the full team as well as ownership and buy-in. These task forces will help with current attempts to improve the atmosphere of the workplace and employee participation for everyone, understanding that not everybody is comfortable speaking across conventional organisational contact networks.
5. Establish policies for a more inclusive workplace Do a deep-dive into your current activities and perform a thorough review of your environment as you move to becoming a more diverse organisation. Facilitating organisational diversity, from recruiting to performance reviews and promotions, may involve developing new rules or modifying existing ones system-wide.
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Such multicultural strategies that promote organisational diversity include:
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Enabling workers to take off work for religious holidays that the organisation does not formally observe
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Offering day care on site
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To maintain an accessible facility, such as the provision of non-gendered toilets, review the office set up.
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Extending the flexible work hours option
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Using a mobile workforce app with a translation function to allow any worker to communicate in their preferred language Benefit of diverse workforce on workplace diversity
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1. Encouraging organisational diversity-Increases efficiency Productivity rests in the productivity and profitability of an organization's workers, employers, and employees. The efficient workplaces of the Department of Labour Says are based on collaboration and a common view of where an organisation is going. There is a desire to continue studying and investing in skills at all stages. Productivity in the company is higher when workers are respected and remembered. Workplace diversity increases the productivity of the company and creates productivity and efficiency. Staff with ethnic backgrounds add to the table their own individual talents. At many different levels, this helps you critically examine a problem or task. It helps you to understand from diverse backgrounds the customer base. This result in greater performance and efficiency that improves the productivity of workers. 2. Improves Innovation and Creativity
There is no synonym for imagination and invention. Creativity is the mental capacity to create new ideas and principles that are successful. On the other hand, invention is the continuation of imagination. It is the framework for converting these specific concepts into new organisations. Any other organisation is coming up with new technologies in this day of era. This is therefore very important for increasing and maintaining every organisation. 3. Hire staff from a diverse talent pool You also listen to influential executives around the world talk about the importance of hiring different teams from a wider pool of talents. Workplace diversity lets you select a diverse variety of staff depending on their strengths. They often miss out on the generalised opportunities and client base when company leaders do not practise diversity. In employee retention, recruiting different applicants also helps. 57 per cent of employees expect their businesses to be more representative and multicultural, according to Glassdoor. In order to have a diverse spectrum of staff with ethnic backgrounds, many firms conduct blind recruiting. Blind recruiting aims to eliminate discrimination depending on the candidate's gender, age, ethnicity, faith and community. These prejudices also discourage a recruiter from selecting the best candidates. You lose your money when you refuse to recruit the candidate. 15
4. Fight Unconscious Biases With our preconceived ideas, we make our presumptions. Without some evidence of validation, we do so and that's what happens in latent stereotypes. Don't we judge people implicitly by the color of skin or the race of which they belong? And also from the titles in the resumes thereof. Yeah, we do, and we do so unintentionally most of the time. Many times, these latent assumptions prohibit you from attracting the best talent. Therefore, organisations with diverse teams help very successfully counteract these prejudices. 5. Improves Employer Brand and Global Reputation Being in the audience and not being a part of the debate is quite unlikely. You can't afford to miss out on what your rivals are doing, especially when you run a company. So, virtually every small/big company needs workplace diversity to be significant in the workforce. The conditions are not only to follow the policies of quota or diversity, but also all the goodwill it provides. Workplace diversity plays a critical role in building the company's excellent image. For the organisation and its staff, this translates to improved profitability and equal opportunities. Organizations who contribute to diversity thus possess a worldwide prestige. This strengthens the brand of the employer and respects their fair policies and principles in jobs. 6. Improves Company Culture The atmosphere of businesses ranges from business to company. Some try an informal and relaxed policy. In the other hand, clear dos and don'ts are practised by others. It also relies on the scale of the organisation, the work ethics, priorities and work environment. The culture of industry is the company's identity. The views and actions of your workers in internal and external matters say a lot about your business. Their behaviours, feelings and opinions decide the way they work. 7. Millennials and Diverse Workforce Millennials are now more sensitive to their working climate. Not only do they want pride in the job they do, they want their job to be mirrored in the community in which they work. According to Glassdoor), when judging businesses and work offers, 67 percent of job seekers weigh diversity as a consideration. Another study by Deloitte) further shows that while their organisation has a diverse working community, 83 percent of millennials are active. And the stats fell to 60 percent without diversity in the workplace. Name- Pooja Chaudhary, College- IIM Rohtak
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How can a company encourage diversity? What's it's impact on workplace dynamics Diversity is valuing people because of and not in spite of the differences among them; there can be real or perceived differences among people that may affect their interactions with one another. Diversity is present everywhere, in education, workplace, family, friends etc. It started coming to light with the civil rights movement in the United States and gradually moved to diversity management in early 1990s-2000s and
now to inclusion. Some companies release diversity report every year, but it shows the numbers of diversity in terms of hiring and attrition. Therefore, firstly, there is a need for the companies to consider and showcase qualitative aspects of the diverse backgrounds also, in the diversity reports to provide a wider picture on their diverse workforce. How organizations can encourage diversity and what is its impact on workplace dynamics Although, University Grants Commission Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act recognizes men and people of the third gender also to be as vulnerable as women to sexual harassment such as humiliation and exploitation, but there is no such thing for other workplaces. According to a survey by a leading newspaper, 19% of men in the metro cities, said they have faced some kind of sexual harassment at work. But the reason they do not report harassment is because of the social ridicule and the notion that men cannot be sexually harassed. A survey by Glassdoor reveals that
around 53% of the LGBTQI employees faced anti-LGBTQI comments at their workplace and a whopping 47% of them say that they do not fully ‘come out’ at work because that could hurt their career, promotion or major important projects. Therefore, there is a need for organizations to have instruments at the workplace so that it can cover the employees who do not report such incidents due to societal ridicule. Although thirdgender employees and male employees can file their complaint against sexual harassment to an organizational Disciplinary Committee, however, the organization can clearly lay out rules and procedures, train the members of DC and vest powers in it to deal with the cases specifically dealing with the harassment of men and third-gender employees. It can also lay out a particular timeframe for speedy disposal of such cases. This would encourage the employees who are harassed to come out and file complaint if they face any such kind of harassment. 17
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This would ensure that they feel belongingness to the organization and would also not deter their productivity at work. Having such instruments at work would also reduce attrition which comes along the harassment of the employees at work. Often, there are dress code policies in the organizations which may leave the third-gender employees discriminated against. They may have a certain type of gender identity which may not match with their sex at birth. Therefore, enforcing a gender-specific dress code policy would be a kind of deterrent to inclusive culture of the organization. So, there should be gender-neutral dress code policy or no dress code policy at all.
According to NSO survey 2018, among PWDs of age 15 and above, labor force participation is just 23.8%. This may be owing to various factors including but not limited to unwillingness to hire them, accommodate their needs, less inclusive culture and others. Therefore, companies would need to carve out job descriptions which may suit the PWDs to foster PWD workforce in different roles. They would also need to train the recruiters to be accommodative of the various needs of the specially-abled candidates and if possible, train hiring managers on the sign language too. Little considerations by the organizations can turn out to be highly effective in the long run to foster diversity and reap its benefits. While designing the LMS program for employee training, the video tutorials can have big captions ingrained in them so that employees with less vision won’t have difficulty learning. These captions would also come handy for the people who have hearing-impairment. Sometimes, there may be some people in the organization who may have to take help from other employees while going out of and coming in their work area/ ODCs and also at the entrance of the building to get their laptops scanned. So, organizations can place their Employee card swiping sensors at a lower height which will then be easily accessible by people on wheelchair and by people who are short in height. Just a small consideration and it can prove to be helpful in saving time and hassle of these employees. Lift/elevator buttons can have Braille system so that when no one is around, visually-impaired people can use these and be self-independent and not wait for others to come in for help. This will make them more independent and increase their morale. Not only this will enable specially-abled employees’ inclusion in the workplace and make them retain in the organization, for they will feel valued, but also according to an Accenture study, Disability champion organizations, can clock, on average, 28% higher revenue than their peers, double the net income, and 30% higher economic profit margins. They were also twice as likely as other companies to have higher shareholder returns.
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With the rising share of millennials and Gen-Z in the workforce, it is imperative to give a wider lens to the inter-generational harmony in the organizations. While different generations may come with their own set of assumptions and unconscious bias for one another, it is important to foster an
environment wherein these assumptions and bias remain at the background and employees focus majorly on the work and how they can help and benefit each other. All the generations have certain type of skills, knowledge, experience, and competencies. While the older generations have a big repository of knowledge, skills, experience, perspectives, the younger generations generally have expertise in latest technological interventions, developments, and associated skills. Both these generations can mentor and reverse-mentor each other on these aspects. Consequently, they can
build upon each other’s skills, individual and team strengths. However, the catch here is the kind of environment the supervisor or the manager creates for his team. If he/she encourages knowledge sharing environment in the team, then multi-generations will reflect more on the positive aspects of the generation gap than the inter-generation differences. According to gender balance India survey 2016, only 26% of companies have a policy around post maternity connect, and the ones which have, they witness less than 10% women participation in them. And according to a KPMG study, companies spend up to $47 billion in recruiting and training new teams to replace women who leave after they have a child. Therefore, it is important to have women employees connected with the organization during and post maternity leave. Organizations can keep them updated which projects may be available or are in the pipeline once they join back and what are the latest developments going on in the company and their team. Post maternity, when they join back, they can be given flexible work schedules or work from home so that they remain engaged with their organization and do not opt out of the workforce because of their commitments for their child. New hires and/or interns are generally provided with a buddy to help them transition into the team/role smoothly in the organization. Likewise, women employees, post maternity, be provided with a senior female buddy/mentor so that the women employees can share their issues, if they face any, with the mentor/buddy or/and take suggestions regarding work and other related things. Women constitute only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Some of the reasons for this gap is existing gender stereotypes, fewer role models in STEM and cultural backgrounds. Organizations can provide an opportunity to women to plug these gaps by organizing STEM tests/hackathons specially for women employees and opening some STEM positions only to women. They can also encourage hiring from college campuses because that is where the largest pool of women STEM candidates can be found.
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The existing policies in the organizations give insurance policies to the spouse only which can be either husband or wife and they also require a marriage certificate to claim the benefits for the same but there is likelihood of discrimination against people who are not married and are from LGBTQI community and can’t marry in some countries such as India and hence are not able to claim these benefits. Therefore, organizations would need to come forward to talk to insurance companies to include the partners of LGBTQI employees. Organizations should also encourage employees to use names rather than the pronouns if they feel that some pronoun which the employee does not associate with can render him offended. There should be a complete framework for the transitioning employees.
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What Organizations are already doing for D&I
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Lemon tree hires people with autism, Down syndrome, speech, and hearing impairment. The company gives these employees a signage so that the guests get sensitized about their (dis)abilities. One signage is shown above in the picture. According to the HR department, these employees tend to be 15% more efficient than the ones who are not speech and hearing impaired. Also, all the employees of Lemon tree other than the ones who are specially-abled, are trained on Sign language
and the passing criteria is 85%. This training ensures that there is an inclusive environment for all kinds of employees and all employees can know how to converse with the ones who have special needs. Hiring differently-abled people gives the company a new talent pool and the attrition rate of these employees is half the rate of the other employees
Flipkart’s specially-abled workers wear special black and grey jackets in warehouses as a security measure. They also have SOS-enabled phones. This ensures their safety and security at all times.
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a) Sodexo has height-adjustable desks, sensor-enabled doors and many resting points in and around its offices. This kind of infrastructure ensures that the employees have a hassle-free work environment, thus, making them to focus more on their work than the unnecessary hassles they may face regularly at their workplace.
b) Mahindra has an 18-month developmental training program for women in middle management and it shares success stories of specially-abled people on their career web page.
There can be many organizational challenges to Diversity and inclusion. There can be reluctance to change to include people from diverse backgrounds, inflexible workplace policies, stereotypes and unconscious bias, glass cliff and glass ceiling, bureaucratic and non-inclusive culture. To overcome these, we can take baby steps in the right direction to positively have a impact on the diverse culture of the organization which will consequently help the company in the long run. And HR audit/diversity audit can be the first step towards it!
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women council in every plant Reliance has Central nt to check on women safety, career development and their engagement
It provides accessible transportation in all its development centres for easy commute across the campus
Its HR policies encourages employees from LGBTQ+ community to declare their partners and avail all HR benefits
It supports people with autism, train them for various jobs (outside Dell) and makes them independent and employable
Name- Oshin Dewan, College- XIMB
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