Why you need to support diversity in your workplace

More than ever, people are seeking diverse environments because of the benefits and quality of work life that come along with it. When a business actively works towards hiring employees with a range of qualities and identities, it directly benefits everyone. While diversity is desirable for every workplace, it takes time, effort, and resources to promote an inclusive and equitable work atmosphere.

The Benefits

The benefits of diversity show themselves most when a company actively enforces policies directed towards equality. When a workforce consists of employees from different nationalities, cultures, races, ethnicities, and sexual identities, there are no doubt varying perspectives. It allows different backgrounds to come together and pool their mental and physical resources. This can increase the team effort towards innovation and increase productivity.

On top of this, when you encourage diversity, you inevitably increase your access to talented individuals. Conversely, when you limit the demographic of your employee pool, you limit your own company's highest potential. Diversity goes hand in hand with inclusion. It promotes wider understanding and acceptance of differences through continued exposure.

The Challenges

Sometimes the most difficult part for a business is to practice what they preach. You can write up as many policies and road maps towards diversity as you want. Without reinforcement, they will have no benefit to your workplace environment. It's also important for businesses to integrate diversity and inclusion with their existing mission and practices. This can sometimes prove difficult.

Once you begin to enforce these various policies, it's important to have quality leadership and management to stand by them. Sometimes it comes down to overcoming bias and internal resistance at an individual level. Humans are naturally biased and judgemental, as that's how we learn to categorize and understand the worlds around us. Reconstructing core beliefs that inhibit interpersonal inclusion can get in the way of a healthy, diverse work atmosphere.

Regardless of the benefits and challenges, promoting diversity is healthy for anyone in the workplace. It increases profits and quality of work by improving the acceptance and quality of diverse work relationships.