Benefits and Challenges of fostering diversity in Baby Boomers
When people in an organization are of different backgrounds and different cultures, there is a mix of different skills and perspectives which are bought to the table. The productivity in the organization increases because of high problem-solving capacity. To have a team that is split strategically makes the organization to make huge steps and strides. Having a diverse workforce ensures that information in the organization can be gathered quickly which in turn leads to the success of the organization. Though it may feel awkward for different people from different cultures working in the same place, a lot of research has indicated that having diversity improves the rate of decision making in an organization. Most employees nowadays are seeking to find Jobs in places where they can grow, they are not only looking for places where they can earn to provide for themselves Armache, J. (2012). They want to develop their skills. When the organization employs diversity, they also attract the best talents in the market. Looking at different ethnicities allows the company to be able to find good people to hire. People from the same background have a high chance that they will be having homogenous thinking. Different diversities promotes heterogeneous thinking. Employees are happy when they see different people from diverse backgrounds, it helps them to be themselves which increases their performance. The profits are likely to be achieved with high productivity levels Armache, J. (2012).
Though diversity in the company will be important it also comes with its fair of challenges. One of the serious challenges is when you want to align the diversity with the goal of the organization. For the company to be successful this alignment is very necessary to achieve the set goals. Not everybody can be on board with this idea of diversity. A lot of opposition will be seen especially with people who don’t want to move with this change. The other challenge is how to overcome the bias that will exist in the company. Every successful manager will be prone to a lot of bias. An organization must strive to achieve diversity in terms of culture age, gender and nationality Armache, J. (2012).
How to foster and Maintain Inclusivity In millennials, Baby Boomers and Generation x
- Additional Training
The first step to take is to take the company staff through training and education on the reason why the company will need diversity. The training will be very important to avoid bias that may creep in in the organization Ferdman, B. M., & Deane, B. (2014). There are tendencies of biasness especially when it comes to the company which wants diverse nationals such as Millennia
- Effective D&I
Effective D&I means making it clear what the company stands for, it is important to inform every employee what is the culture and what the company stands for. This is very important for the Boomers which is predominantly white males without female gender. This will make it possible for those who are not aligned to the companies to goals to leave and focus on those who can move the company forward Merrill-Sands, D. (2004).
- Creating a proper demography
The three companies must understand different demographics. This is by creating an understanding between the employees and the company. This is important in the inclusion program where every employee will feel included in the processes of the organization. Some employees will see technology as a blocker, hence it is important to make them understand what the company is trying to do.
- Hard Conversations.
It is important to engage the employees in conversations which they feel are important. Most managers will gloss over conversations, making it had to converse with the employees about issues which are dear to them. An environment that doesn’t promote conversations makes the employees feel very silo and unwelcomed. This will build a safe space for the different cultures Merrill-Sands, D. (2004). It is also right to stop biased pieces of training as we don’t know where this will lead. Creating those conversations makes the employee start thinking of their vulnerability and know that they are not always right all the time. Diversity means that a safe space is created by every employee.
- Collecting different perspectives
To make sure that the freelancers and the remote workers don’t feel like they are left out. This will not help the companies with their agenda of inclusion. To maintain a sense of objectivity, every opinion of the employees must be taken into considerations. This is important in understanding their cultures while still focusing on the aim set by the companies. To create a sense of inclusion among the remote and the gig workers we will include them in; survey engagements, bringing them to coffee meetings with the rest of the employees and inviting them to off-sites Ferdman, B. M., & Deane, B. (2014)… This will require very special attention because it can be put at the same level as any other process of employee engagement.
References
Armache, J. (2012). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits and Challenges. Journal of International Diversity, 2012(1).
Holvino, E., Ferdman, B. M., & Merrill-Sands, D. (2004). Creating and sustaining diversity and inclusion in organizations: Strategies and approaches.
Ferdman, B. M., & Deane, B. (2014). Diversity at work: The practice of inclusion.