Importance of workforce diversity.
According to global demographic data, the ratio of men to women is nearly 1:1. Women generate up to 37% of Global Domestic Product, while men contribute up to 63% of GDP (Christiansen, & Chandan, 2017). Thus companies should diversify the workforce to ensure that both genders are included in the organization’s activities to ensure maximized production. Other reasons why fender diversity should be adopted are:
To create a wider pool of human talent. Companies which restrict their activities to only one gender miss out the abilities and talents associated with the other gender and are less productive than the diversified ones.
Different perspectives. Both men and women have different approaches and points of view which come from different encounters and experiences, which can spark innovation and creativity in the organization.
Diversification creates the best reflection on customers. Some of the company consumers feel comfortable when served by a specific gender, while others are a little bit shy to share their story or experience with the opposite gender. Thus companies should ensure that their workforce is diverse just as their customers are.
Creates improved staff retention. When the company’s culture is inclusive, the morale and opportunities of the workforce are boosted (Christiansen, & Chandan, 2017). Such inclusive cultures enable the company to save both money and time because the churn rates of the employees will be much low.
Points to be included in the diversity plan.
For any company to promote an inclusive culture in the workforce, the company needs to do the following:
Ensure that the hiring process looks at an employee’s experience rather than gender
Assign leadership roles to both women and men. Most people have a mistaken belief that men make the best leaders as opposed to women which are not always the case.
Ensure equal pay between male and female employees under the same role
The work-life balance should be prioritized-Most of the women multi-task between childcare and their jobs. Companies need to provide childcare support facilities to enable such women to achieve their career goals and allow paternal leave to fathers.
Implement effective and strict policies against workplace offence and harassment.
Impacts of inclusive culture in the organization.
- The productivity of the company has greatly increased over time.
- The creativity, innovation and problem solving have been realized as a result of an inclusive culture.
- The company has attracted and retained a lot of talents.
- The communication skills and synergy has been realized.
- The company has also satisfied and maintained a diverse consumer base.
Working of the diverse workgroup in the workplace.
The diverse workgroups enable the team in any workplace to utilize diversified perspectives in solving problems faced by the company. The collaborative teams that have different experiences, backgrounds and knowledge usually find news strategies of doing things and consequently lead to innovations in the company.
Undoubtedly, the company employees have numerous important things to share between themselves and the company management as well and should be included in the process of promoting inclusive culture (Hays-Thomas, 2016). Thus, failure to engage them or take their opinions on how to go about diversifying the workforce may lead to loss of opportunities for the company’s growth and expansion.
Strategies for the incorporation of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in the workforce.
The dimensions are;
- Power Distance index
- Individualism Versus Collectivism
- Masculinity versus Femininity
- Uncertainty Avoidance Index
- Uncertainty Avoidance Index
- Short-Term versus Long-Term Orientation
- Indulgence versus Restraint.
To apply these cultural dimensions, the following strategies need to be followed:
- Review your company’s score as well as that of others which you interact with frequently.
- Reflect on the interactions you ever had with employees from other companies.
- Challenge your company to learn more a specific culture and compare your company’s score with the Hofstede’s score and discover their relevance and accuracy and try to improve yours (Cohn, & Russell, 2015).
Best practices for Inclusive culture managers
They make diversity part and parcel of their hiring process.
They are concerned with diversified talents and perspectives.
Their leadership is aligned with their goals.
They frequently examine their leadership to avoid systemic inequality.
They have a culture of forgiveness and empathy.
Conclusion
My company has made all the necessary effort to ensure that the workforce is diversified as possible. Am aware that for productivity and innovativeness, inclusive culture is inevitable. Through diversified culture, the company has grown over the years, and we expect much expansion in the near future. Am much confident that I have done all that it takes to ensure that the company remains strong through gender diversity and am much convinced that I will win the diversity award.
References
Christiansen, B., & Chandan, H. (2017). Handbook of research on organizational culture and diversity in the modern workforce. IGI Global.
Cohn, R., & Russell, J. (2015). Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. Book on Demand.
Hays-Thomas, R. (2016). Managing workplace diversity and inclusion: A psychological perspective. Taylor & Francis.