Ideas, Innovation, perspective…. A diverse workforce has a lot to offer. Diversity is no more just an element but it is the strength of a global workplace today. Organizations who embraced diversity early are enjoying a competitive edge and preference. And the rest, they too are working towards creating an environment that can support people from all backgrounds and culture. I was referring to the Canada’s Best diversity employer today, click here to get the list. The initiative these organizations practice towards maintaining themselves as a diverse and inclusive workplace is commendable.
There’s no copy paste when it comes to implementing global strategies but some things are still common among organization who are or on the way to becoming a “Best diversity employer”. What’s common …
Relocation assistance & support – The challenge is huge for employees when they move to a new county or location for work assignment. Not just the work front but on family level too. Organizations who appreciate this move provide all required assistance and guidance to employee and his family. When I made this great shift to this new county with my husband, all the help and support that his employer, IBM provided us during the initial months in terms of accommodation, travel, healthcare, made the relocation much easier than it would have been otherwise.
An environment that promotes cultural intelligence – How employees collaborate and progress in a diverse work setup depends on how culturally intelligent and informed they are. Great organizations understand this and provide workshops and training programs to help employees adapt to new social setting, understand diverse cultural behaviors and learn appropriate workplace interaction. I wrote a post on How HR can help promote cultural intelligence at work, you can read the post here.
Prove equal opportunity & flexibility to women – Female workforce has equal potential and skills to offer at work but their societal status often slows their professional growth. Organization who believe in equal opportunity at work support professional advancement and development of their female employees through training, coaching, mentoring and networking opportunities. Organizations are also open to offer their female employees some flexibility in terms of telecommuting, maternity benefits, sabbatical and “return to work programs” to support their families and career alike.
Inclusive work environment for all employee groups – I had a great opportunity to work with an employer who had a policy to hire people with disability for all help-desk tasks. A highly supportive infrastructure, on job assistance, equal rights and above all a “no discrimination” policy made it easier for those employees to sustain and perform. That’s what diversity workplaces are like; they have effective policies and practices to provide equal opportunities, no bias and a healthy work environment to employees from all backgrounds, culture and preferences.
Sometimes even small things can make a difference at work. You can read my post on diversity practices at work on EOList here.
Have more to add to the list? would love to hear
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