What is Workforce Diversity?

Workforce Diversity

You need to understand workforce diversity, so every person is different from others because of geography, origin, sexual orientation.

Diversity refers to human characteristics that make people different such as age, functional specialty, profession, and tenure with the organization.

The references of individual differences are complex, but they can group into two categories.

Those individuals have little or no control, and who have more control over individuals.

How to manage diversity among employees which have a negative impact on productive teamwork and positive action is not diversity management.

The government provides opportunities for women and minorities and the private sector also creates jobs for women, minorities.

Managing diversity is a process of environmental trends such as international competition and demographic changes.

If you want to improve your organization functions and customer market, then diversity is considered your asset.

Sources of workforce Diversity

Diversity is not just referred to as skin color and gender, so today diversity is a broad term used for all kinds of differences.

Today diversity differences refer to immigrants, disabilities, age difference, women in business, limited education of young persons or skill, employees’ educational level.

• Gender
• Education
• Older Workers
• Ethical & Racial Groups
• Culture & Religious
• Dual-Career Families
• Immigrants
• Handicap
• Limited education of Young person or skills
• Competitive advantage
• Marketing
• Innovation creativity and problem-solving
• Flexibility

Gender

Gender diversity refers commonly to an equal ratio of women and men in organizations.

So organizations need to equal opportunities for women and men because women want to work with men in the same positions.

Organizations need to manage gender diversity in the workplace.

Education

Education is another form of diversity at the workplace because the educational level is important at the workplace and you will promote due to education, so education level creates differences among higher and limited education.

Older Workers

The population of the world is increasing, so the older workers trend that expected to continue and trend toward earlier retirement.

Ethical & Racial Groups

Stereotypes experience such as workers of color, so they are experienced misunderstandings and expectations based on ethnic or cultural differences.

Culture and Religious

Culture and Religious are also diverse due to globalization in organizations.

Dual-Career Families

The world is developing and issues are also increasing with development because the people demand are also increasing and that want to more & more luxuries.

So the Dual-Career family trend is also increasing in the world because spouses want to help each other then they start the job to fulfill their needs.

This is a challenge and an opportunity for organizations, so some firms have revised their policies to allow both partners to work for the company.

Dual-career families, some organization have revised their policies because they did not want that spouse to work in the same organization.

Although some organizations developed policies for Dual-Career families because spouses are assisted by the organizations.

Handicap

The organizations have hired disabled and they work with normal people, so some governments passed an act for the disabled.

Immigrants

People are immigrating to developed countries due to unemployment in their home countries.

So they bring their norms, attitudes, values, and particular to home-country cultures and organizations manage the diversity.

Limited education of Young person or skills

Organizations hired unskilled workers on a special occasion such as holiday buying seasons, Christmas, Eid.

So they have limited education such as high school or less.

More jobs can create, it possible for lower-skilled workers to do them.

Competitive advantage

Diversity is a competitive advantage for organizations and for many years’ organizations, diversify their workforces were a legal necessity and morally.

Today many organizations hired a diversify the workforce, so it is a moral practical, business perspective.

The organization who have a diversified workforce, so they have a good reputation in the labor market.

Even employees want to work with them because they don’t feel the difference between employees, such as race, gender, etc.

Their employees are more loyal, productive, committed than others.

Marketing                                                 

Organizations are realizing that a diversified workforce work for those organizations that respect the demographical change.

Organizations can take advantage of a multicultural workforce, so they can gather data about the different cultures’ consumer habits.

So they can know about the marketplace and consumer preferences.

Even organizations can design products and meet those consumer needs.

Organizations can understand the global economy, customers’ cultures, and market needs.

Innovation creativity and problem-solving

If organizations have a diversified workforce, so a diversified workforce promotes innovation and creativity because they have belonged from different backgrounds.

So they hold a different perspective on issues and a broader base of experience from which to approach the problem.

Even they invent more options and create more solutions than similar groups.

The diverse workgroups don’t work through traditional approaches and practices.

Flexibility

Diversity makes organizations flexible to manage diversity.

The organizations can adopt corporate culture to manage the diverse workforce because corporate tolerates different approaches.

So they need less standardized operating methods, fewer policies, and procedures that enable the organization more flexible.

As well as organizations can able to respond to environmental changes.

Diversity Management and Affirmative Action Programs

The organization can diversity management by set different activities and involved in diverse employees in the workforce.

They can use their diversity to the organization’s competitive advantage.

Challenges in manage employee diversity

Diversity brings opportunities as well as challenges such as resistance against change, individual needs, fair balance among groups.

Organizations need to communicate openly with employees, build group cohesiveness

Organizations don’t need to the resentment of employees, so focus on performance, and provide opportunities for all employees.

• Stereotyping
• Tension and Mistrust
• Diversity increase in misunderstanding
• Increase of errors
• Problems in communication
• Less Cohesiveness
• Competition ration increase for opportunities
• Job Retention
• Employees backlash
• Resentment
• Resistance to change
• The communication network in the segment

Workplace Diversity Benefits

• Employee engagement
• High innovation
• Result of hiring improved
• Profit increased
• Turnover of employees’ reduced
• Making better decisions
• Increasing creativity
• Improve problems solving
• Increase in a variety of different perspectives

Conclusion

Diversity is part of our life within organizations or outside of the organizations, so diversity brings benefits and challenges in the organizations.

Those organizations, who manage the diversity then they get a competitive advantage over other organization.

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