Diversity Matters – Together We are Better!
Hasn’t every organization at some point felt the need to upgrade the strategy to enhance productivity and efficiency?
Is Diversity the Necessity of Present Times?
Workforce dynamics have changed a lot in the past decade. Organizations have faced many issues like recessions and the pandemic, which caused the work-from-home rather work-from-anywhere scenario. Furthermore, digital transformation and hybrid work model accelerates in building a progressive culture.
To accommodate the dynamic and complex market demands, there has to be a creative but inclusive strategy that businesses are considering as an option. One of the strategies, that offers different scopes or lenses for seeing the potential around has been driving the agenda of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
Even though many businesses watch DEI with a perspective of compliance and image building, however, businesses should also acknowledge that increased diversity is beneficial for individuals, employees, and business profitability. It can also facilitate the organization in creating innovative, creative, and sustainable solutions for long-lasting growth.
Fundamentally, DEI brings positive synergies, and such initiatives are efforts that an organization takes to prioritize building a diverse workforce and creating an equitable and inclusive work environment. Indeed, DEI helps build a diverse and global team and brings richness to business culture.
The DEI Bargain – Is DEI Essential?
Business leaders are constantly searching for the perfect business strategies that can help them survive ever-changing market challenges. DEI offers advantages when toped-up with other strategies to aid the business in fully reach to its potential. To break it down further, diversity draws a range of perspectives & experiences that enriches the workplace in many ways.
When people from diverse backgrounds join together, they share distinctive ideas that can lead to productive and innovative solutions to ongoing challenges. In addition, various research has shown that diversity can take the lead to increased efficiency and better decision-making.
Diversity is not prejudice, rather it is allowing everyone to have merit-based opportunities and evade discrimination. If the candidate is worthy enough, they will be given the opportunity. Equity, in simple terms, refers to fair-mindedness. Fairness is for people across the business. Equity cannot be paralleled to equality, rather it is when equal opportunities, treatment, advancement, and access are provided to all employees. Inclusion, as the word suggests, refers to building a culture where each person feels welcomed, respected, and valued, and has a sense of belonging.
Promoting a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) approach, requires a concerted effort from different stakeholders. And by considering the right moves to build an inclusive workplace, organizations can attract and retain top talent, boost productivity, and drive innovation. It is worth considering a few pointers –
- There could be several constraints on which discrimination happens, some are the basis of Race, Personal Preferences & Orientations, Gender, Religion, Language, Age, Mental Ability, Physical Ability, Veteran Status, Socioeconomic Status, Marital Status, etc.
- Also, no candidate should be given preference and special treatment basis on the mentioned factors under different circumstances.
- Promotions and rewards should always be based on the performance of the employee else impacts the sentiments of the DEI Theme.
- When it comes to equity, it is also crucial for a business to adopt this approach as it will help them have a well-balanced workforce.
- When a company follows equity, they will see that their employee will work much more efficiently, giving comparably higher productivity than without the provision of equity.
- Irrespective of differences, all the employees should be given a fair chance to contribute to critical in decision-making and developmental strategy planning sessions as required basis their capabilities.
DEI Giving Immense Benefits
There are numerous benefits of implementing the DEI approach in an organization. Some of the key benefits are as mentioned below:
- A diverse team can bring distinct perspectives to approach problems, which can help the team address challenges and obstacles in new and creative ways.
- When a collection of viewpoints is counted, decision-making is more comprehensive and thoughtful. This can result in informed decisions that are more reflective of the needs and interests of all stakeholders.
- When employees feel valued and involved, they are more likely to be engaged and dedicated to their work. This can lead to greater degrees of job satisfaction resulting in higher productivity, and retention.
- It also encourages constructive competition among the employees, since there is a fair chance for everybody to succeed as per their capabilities, the employee at an organization works towards achieving more.
- It also motivates the employees to keep improving as they know they will be rewarded for their hard work and dedication.
- The employees are happy and feel motivated, and the business can harness the best of an employee’s capabilities, ultimately providing significant profits to the company.
- A diverse workforce can appreciate and meet the needs of the customer base, resulting in higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Given the rise of work-from-anywhere culture, hybrid work models, and digital transformations, the question arises:
Can digital solutions be leveraged to drive DEI policies and practices?
Well, the answer is tricky, as these things work both ways. On the one hand, as the work-from-anywhere culture can help an employee to get employed regardless of location, religion, ability status, etc., it can also turn out to be challenging, as the employees might not be included and involved in the business due to distance factor being a factor.
Digital solutions have been a boon in driving DEI policies, as people from anywhere can connect and discuss important business ideas and actions to be taken. Similarly, people can work from anywhere, mobility is no longer an issue. However, there are a few obstructions to executing DEI successfully.
The biggest hurdle is determining the goals and the metrics, as per which an employee will be offered opportunities. Work from anywhere arrangement can cause a dent in the initial training and orientation which might not get through with the employees’ efficiency. The best course to manage the challenges is to take informed phase-wise steps and draw out achievable goals rather than being over-ambitious.
It all comes down to how business advances the functionality of DEI. One important thing to know is that it can only work efficiently when given time. It will need positive effort, time, and perseverance from everyone in the organization.
