Introduction
Diversity and inclusion are related topics that help organizations improve their workplace performance. Diversity encompasses representing various groups within the organization, including individuals from diverse backgrounds, races, perspectives, genders, talents, skills, beliefs, educational experiences, and industry expertise. Inclusion involves diverse employees’ perspectives, values, and contributions in the business environment.
Diversity and inclusion ensure that every organization member is integrated into the company, irrespective of their differences. They are supported in every section of the organization, making them feel a sense of involvement and ownership. The two aspects work hand in hand, as one cannot work without the other. For instance, implementing diversity without inclusion can create a toxic culture, while creating inclusion without diversity can result in company stagnation.
Diversity and inclusion have created various advantages, including innovation, enhanced skills, increased productivity, improved employee satisfaction, a better understanding of customers, and talent development within an organization. Despite facing multiple challenges, such as leadership involvement, measurement, training, and silos, these benefits remain.
Benefits of Diversity and Inclusion in Organizational Performance
Diversity and inclusion foster greater innovation and creativity through interaction with individuals who have diverse experiences and skills. An organization that hosts employees from varying backgrounds, knowledge, and skills has a higher chance of fostering creativity. It significantly impacts the company, which promotes its long-haul expansion. Employees exchange ideas freely and feel safe working in a diverse environment (O’Donovan, 2018).
This environment enables the business to grow differently from other companies, as it allows employees with varying knowledge to merge their ideas. Innovation areas are driven by people and are created through experience. They can bring ideas that positively impact the organization’s target clients. For instance, most organizations are currently adopting AI technology, and by incorporating diversity and inclusion, they can better cope with cultural changes and market demands.
The program provides the organization with various skills critical to its performance. Diversity and inclusion are achieved by hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds and skill sets. When integrated into the company, they provide the organization with various skills that enhance its performance (Krith & Pai, 2021).
Productivity in an organization is promoted, as many prefer working in an environment that supports diversity and inclusivity. The company hires a quality workforce determined to solve problems facing the organization. When job offers are created, companies can recruit employees based on their skills and qualifications, as most people want to join an environment that supports their beliefs and values. The team promotes productivity through cooperation, enhancing productivity (Krith & Pai, 2021).
Employee interaction among employees with knowledge and expertise in different areas enables the company’s workforce to work together in harmony, reducing conflict and promoting overall output. The workforce shares ideas and developments, implying that the company can grow quickly. Employee interaction is helpful in a competitive environment as it creates a competitive advantage in winning over rivals in the market.
Diversity and inclusion create an organization where customers are satisfied with their duties and roles. Employee satisfaction is crucial in ensuring organizational success, as it enables employees to deliver high-quality work and projects that are satisfactory to clients. A workforce that is satisfied with the work environment is essential, as it fosters loyalty to the company (Grissom, 2018).
When the company is experiencing a significant problem, it will be able to stick with the organization as it focuses on making it grow to the next level. The workforce is passionate about their assigned task, promoting positive vibes that drive development and improvement. Their satisfaction ensures higher revenues, as they have a strong attachment to the company.
Employees spend more time driving development rather than fighting their co-workers. Their performance is not mainly driven by money but by achieving goals and targets. They take pride in the company environment and strive to ensure the company is at its peak.
Introducing diversity and inclusion enables the company to better understand the clients it serves and their preferences. This is achieved through diversity and inclusion, as the company can better reflect the client’s needs and requirements by utilizing employees from a wider range of backgrounds (Grissom, 2018). The workforce promotes products and services with backgrounds similar to those of the target customers. This provides the company with growth opportunities, as it can learn what clients need from the workforce. Additionally, it provides the organization with various talents that solve multiple issues.
Diversity and inclusion offer the company various options from which it can select, as every employee is unique. When recruiting, the company selects individuals with varying skills and knowledge. Individuals with diverse talents are selected to join the workforce (Krith & Pai, 2021). This is particularly important when addressing various issues that affect the company’s performance.
Challenges in Implementing Diversity and Inclusion Programs
Although diversity and inclusion offer numerous benefits to the organization, several challenges hinder their effective implementation. They include leadership involvement, measurement, intervention and training, and silos. First, leadership involvement affects this tool as it needs to be aligned with the company’s goals and objectives. This makes it challenging, as it may fail since changes need to originate from top management (Cletus et al., 2018).
The program requires a significant allocation of funds to support the program, even when the company faces market uncertainties. The management may quit the program as it affects the company’s revenue. Like other projects, it is associated with downsides that require financial injections.
Furthermore, the program requires additional training to ensure that key company members are familiar with the changes for a smooth transition. All these factors result in a challenging conversation about whether the program should be enacted, making it difficult, as most companies are reluctant to embrace change, especially when it affects a significant portion of their revenue.
Diversity and inclusion performance must be measured to ensure it is fruitful for the organization. Tracking its performance is a significant challenge, as it requires a long-term survey, such as an annual one, which may not provide sufficient critical insight into the program. The tool requires the organization’s focus when practiced through continuous monitoring and listening (Cletus et al., 2018).
The tool provides employees with an opportunity to express their views and opinions. The workforce often holds a view that top management may not be aware of, which could help the organization resolve conflicts that may arise. However, it becomes a problem in a company where the management team is always busy.
The company may not consider the employee, as they cannot measure the program’s key performance indicators (KPI). The company must regularly review every KPI when implementing diversity and inclusion strategies to ensure they are functioning effectively. Although the company can measure diversity and inclusion, numerous variables are associated with these concepts. This includes geographical factors, gender, race, skills, and knowledge.
Valuable data can be collected, but the problem often necessitates action and follow-up. For instance, employees may claim that the organization does not recognize their efforts. This requires the company to develop programs that will make the workforce feel appreciated, which may be costly.
Training and intervention programs are necessary to ensure the success of diversity and inclusion initiatives. They are based on the company’s goals, and management must lead in embracing diversity and inclusion to ensure a smooth transition. This includes steps applied during integration and hiring talented individuals.
Managers must be trained on bias to ensure that employees are treated equally. This will promote its implementation, as the moment the workforce identifies discrimination in the workplace, they also embrace it towards different individuals (Appiah & Adeyeye, 2021). Managers require this training to ensure they are not biased during the recruitment process.
Furthermore, it requires them to engage employees to identify their daily efforts and weaknesses. Employees also need bias training to help them face the issue. The sessions must demonstrate that they have identified the bias in the workplace and possess the necessary skills and knowledge to address the problem.
Silos affect many organizations, and most have struggled to tackle the problem. It promotes exclusivity, reducing the company’s productivity by preventing information sharing and inclusivity. Identifying suitable ways to handle silos within an organization is essential, as some are ingrained in the organization’s culture (Appiah & Adeyeye, 2021). It requires a recognition program to promote diversity and inclusion, ensuring it runs smoothly. The programs provide employee recognition and promote connections among them.
Conclusion
In conclusion, diversity and inclusion offer several benefits that help promote an organization’s growth and development. The advantages include the development of skills, fostering innovation, increasing productivity, enhancing employee satisfaction, improving clients’ understanding, and supporting talent development. All these factors contribute to the organization’s growth.
However, implementing the program is surrounded by multiple challenges. It requires the organization’s leadership involvement, performance indicators that evaluate their usefulness, and training and intervention programs. Additionally, silos in an organization create a significant barrier to achieving diversity and inclusion.
References
Appiah, E. K., & Adeyeye, O. P. (2021). Exploring the challenges encountered in managing diversity and inclusion in the telecommunications industry by selected multinationals in Ghana. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 1–21. Web.
Cletus, H. E., Mahmood, N. A., Umar, A., & Ibrahim, A. D. (2018). Prospects and challenges of workplace diversity in modern day organizations: A critical review. HOLISTICA – Journal of Business and Public Administration, 9(2), 35–52. Web.
Grissom, A. R. (2018). Workplace Diversity and Inclusion. Reference & User Services Quarterly, 57(4), 242–247. Web.
Krith, & Pai, R. (2021). A review on diversity and inclusion in the workforce for organizational competitiveness. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 9(7), 159–166. Web.
O’Donovan, D. (2018). Diversity and inclusion in the Workplace. Management and Industrial Engineering, 73–108. Web.