If you think diversity in the work place is just a matter of meeting the status quo, think again. Diversifying the population of the office space has never been more important than it is today, and it’s crucial for recruiters to understand this when helping organizations hire and retain employees.
But why is it so important?
Several reasons…
A Diverse Workforce Improves Reputation
If your organization is not focused on equality as part of its core mission, it should be. Part of every company’s values should mean treating all employees and customers with respect, regardless of their age, gender, race or any other differentiating factor.
Hiring people from diverse backgrounds will ensure that you are giving everyone equal opportunities. The reputation of your company depends on it.
Diversity Addresses Labour Force Shortages
Possibly the most important reason for diversifying the workforce is to address the shortage affecting most of Canada’s labour population. In 2016, employment of the 55 and older population grew by 2.8%, while it only grew 0.8% among the ages of 24-54.
That means that the bulk of the workforce is approaching retirement without enough younger employees to take their place. Making sure you include a wide range of ages in your employment sector can help keep your company thriving without scrambling for new employees every few years.
Diversity Broadens Your Employee Skillset
While it’s important to make sure you have enough young employees to replace the individuals reaching retirement age, it’s just as important to keep a sector of the older population in your organization for their accumulated knowledge and skills.
The fact is there is no substitute for the years a person spends in a profession, as far as developing certain skills. Allow your older generation to train and nurture your younger generation and you’ll never have a skill gap.
Another sector of the Canadian workforce that could help broaden the skillset is the immigrant population. 7% of Canada’s immigrants were unemployed in 2016, leaving a sizeable gap that could be a huge benefit to many organizations. Not only does a huge portion of this group bring with it a cultural advantage, many immigrants also bring with them degrees and knowledge earned from different countries that could add a whole new vantage point to any company. In fact, in 2011, immigrant adults in Canada represented over one third of the population that held university degrees.
Ignoring this large portion of the population leaves out a huge number of educated individuals.
A Diverse Workforce Expands the Customer Base
Your company’s reputation plays a huge role in customer growth and loyalty, as does its cultural environment. Think of the 55-year-old who decides to venture into a night club he doesn’t realize is filled with twenty-somethings. Does he immediately feel welcomed and comfortable, or does he walk out soon after arriving? Probably the latter. Why? Because we tend to gather with people most like us. “Birds of a feather flock together,” as they say.
Not only are people more comfortable in environments with at least some similarity to them, a diverse range of employees represents a wider range of conflict and problem-solving solutions. You’ll be able to see many customers through the viewpoints of your various employees if you’ll take the time to allow it.
The same goes for your organization. If you have a company with a workforce made up of only a certain population, your customer base will likely stagnate with the same population. You need a diverse workforce in order to communicate and relate with a wider customer base.
A Diverse Workforce Promotes Employee Satisfaction
For all the same reasons that diversity expands the customer base, it improves the satisfaction of your diverse employees as well. When every group of your employment sector is nurtured, they are more likely to be engaged and productive. This means an improved reputation for your organization as well as a happy and effective workforce.
But according to Simma Lieberman of diversityintheworkplace.ca, you can’t simply include all sectors in the workplace and expect them to mesh well. You have to have a system in place for nurturing communication between the different populations.
She says the potential problem is that various groups tend to stick together, and while we’ve discussed the possible advantages of this, it can also produce huge issues.
The solution is to treat employees as individuals with unique needs and personalities. Simma also suggests grouping employees together with different backgrounds and encouraging communication and group work.
Diversity isn’t Always as Diverse as You Think
As we talked about earlier, diversity is not just a matter of meeting the status quo. In fact, if your only focus is on affirmative action, you could be missing the point entirely. For example, if your whole workforce is comprised of people with different ethnic backgrounds, but they are in the same age groups, are of the same gender, have similar education and career progression and the same physical abilities, you haven’t really diversified. While these individuals may possibly have differing cultural views, their political and social views could be extremely similar.
On the same note, it’s important to have diversity in educational levels. Your organization may not necessarily have the positions available for uneducated individuals, but it’s important to vary at least on some level. For example, if your company hires only graduates from the University of Toronto, you are likely getting candidates who received similar education from professors with similar viewpoints. The same goes for the type of degree individuals hold. Some companies, of course, require certain credentials, but if your organization is a retail establishment, steer away from hiring only business majors in order to broaden the company culture.
Diversity Improves Corporate Culture
And speaking of culture…
A company’s corporate culture is the glue of the organization when developed correctly. It’s what holds the company together by creating a place where people are fighting to get in and doing everything in their ability to stay.
So, how does diversity improve this?
Simply put, diversifying the workforce improves your company’s reputation and opens the door for a much broader range of individuals. In order for this to be effective, however, companies must nurture that workforce on a daily basis, ensuring their employee satisfaction and performance levels in five key areas:
· Inclusion – taking steps to ensure that each individual feels like they are a part of the organization
· Opportunity for Advancement – every employee needs to have the same opportunities to advance within the organization if he or she desires
· Value – every employee should feel validated as an individual
· Cultural Barriers – taking steps to close cultural barriers as much as possible
· Communication – allowing employees the opportunity to be heard
In Conclusion
Diversity in the workplace is more than a deeply-held belief that everyone should be treated equally, though it certainly does involve that. It’s also a way of ensuring that your company has the advantage of multiple viewpoints, skillsets and values to continue to grow and branch out to a larger community.
A successful organization bases their hiring standards on much more than a degree or affirmative action demands. It sets in place much broader criteria, with the intent of filling every niche and facet of their unique corporate needs.
Understanding exactly what your company needs and the gaps it’s currently left with is the first step in diversifying your workforce to expand your horizons and grow your bottom line.