Introduction
Diversity is an inherent characteristic that is found in virtually every aspect of human life. Diversity in the workforce goes beyond the issues of race, gender, and ethnicity to include differences in experience, variations in educational background and discrepancies in perceptions. Diversity is a result of differences in religious backgrounds, racial differences, and differences in cultural orientation, among other factors.
People will always have different qualities and priorities because human beings are unique by nature. Workforce diversity has several benefits to organizations, which coupled with the impossibility to avoid it, makes its accommodation a must-do task. However, there are people who wonder whether “accommodating workforce diversity is a necessity or a luxury” (DuBrin, 2011).
Advantages of Workforce Diversity
By accommodating workforce diversity, an organization attracts employees with different talents to its workforce. This is because people feel free to show and use their talents. As a result, the employees can highly contribute to organizational growth by using their skills to increase efficiency in production. On the same note, employees feel more comfortable when their diversity is accommodated (DuBrin, 2011).
Moreover, employees will easily quit a firm where their diversity is not well managed because of the conflicts that are likely to prevail there. Therefore, accommodating workforce diversity ensures that a firm is able to retain employees, thus, reducing the cost of recruiting and training new employees. In addition, accommodating workforce diversity helps in eliminating unnecessary tension between employees and management, as well as among employees (Barak, 2010). As a result, the workplace becomes friendly, and, as such, encouraging employees to work hard.
Similarly, employee confidence in a firm is enhanced when diversity is accommodated. Research shows that employees are highly motivated to work when their contributions are valued (DuBrin, 2011). In this regard, accommodating employee diversity translates into a positive attitude of employees towards work, thus, increasing output (Jackson, 1992). Furthermore, an organization where workforce diversity is properly managed gains public recognition as an employer of choice. Accordingly, many people will be willing to work for the firm, hence, enabling the firm to take advantage of the best talents in the market.
Additionally, accommodating diversity in workforce enables employees to put their skills into meaningful use, and become more creative and innovative. As a result, employees feel motivated to try their skills in coming up with new techniques for executing their duties (Barak, 2010). Consequently, employees can come up with more efficient ways of performance, which reduce the cost of operation.
Moreover, employees are known to be more flexible and responsive when workforce diversity is accommodated than when they are restricted to a specific line of operation. In this regard, decision making and problem solving become easy due to diversified views. Notably, workforce diversity is critical in continuous self-development and in enhancing self-awareness; the two are vital in improving the output of human capital (DuBrin, 2011).
Conclusion
It is a big fallacy for anybody to start imagining that a firm can operate without workforce diversity. People are socialized and trained in different ways. Consequently, there will always be diversity in the way people behave, and how they approach various issues. Though there are some shortcomings as far as workforce diversity is concerned, they are peripheral and are overshadowed by the benefits. Therefore, firms are left with no choice but to accommodate workforce diversity for their benefit.
References
Barak, M. E. (2010). Managing Diversity: Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace. New Delhi: SAGE Publishers.
DuBrin, A. J. (2011). Essentials of Management. Stanford: Cengage Learning.
Jackson, S. E. (1992). Diversity in the Workplace: Human Resources Initiatives. New York: Guilford Press.