Creating diversity at workplace!
A February 2018 report by Deloitte Insights stated that over 69 percent of executives rate diversity and inclusion as an important workplace issue, up from 59 percent in 2014. From leading corporate setups to start-ups, several Indian companies such as Vodafone, Nestle, SAP labs, and Tata Group have implemented projects and policies to develop more diverse and inclusive work environments. But what steps need to be taken to create the diversity a company is looking for?
- Mutual respect for every individual
Every employee brings in her own values and life experiences at work. Every individual irrespective of their age, gender, races and background should get equal access to all the opportunities such as promotions, recruitment, welfare activities, and other incentives. India has been making strides with respect to recognizing rights of the LGBT community (Section 377). These rights not only develop the confidence of minorities but give them a chance to open their identities freely. - Sound organisational policies and processes
Every company’s policies are in line with its values. There are different types of policies such as healthy and safety, anti-discrimination, anti-harassment and recruitment policy. The policy needs to be explained to the staff through trainings and regular feedback must be obtained. To ensure stronger awareness, the staff can implement workplace policies. - Unbiased attitude
We may grow up with a biased attitude but to avoid it we should be open to other people’s mindset and perspectives. A company can focus on eliminating biases in certain business processes through formalizing mentorship, intergroup manager meetups, diversity goal reminder workshops, and diverse recruitment teams.
Bringing in diversity creates room for innovation and perspectives. According to India alert, India has seen a rise in women employees across different companies. More women are hired in the programming sector since 2015 and in the engineering sectors, women are given more leadership roles beyond R&D, production and product. Infact, PepsiCo research suggests the company’s to have a balanced ratio of men and women working on a project to improve the overall productivity.
