Bringing More Diversity and Talent to the Workplace

How much diversity exists in your company? Outside of the normal equal employment rules that require a certain level of compliance, there is a great deal of benefit to your business if you focus on diversity in your recruitment strategy. In a world that’s continually expanding to all four corners of the earth, having a team that represents many different cultures and experiences is a definite advantage.

A 2012 4Imprint Diversity in the Workplace Blue Paper (as illustrated above in the infographic) shows how diversity can be an advantage in the workplace. Diversity doesn’t come down just to ethnic characteristics, despite what some consider to be the meaning behind this concept. Having a diverse employee population means having the tools to foster innovation and creativity in the workplace, seen through the eyes of people who come from different, yet complimentary walks of life.

Consider for a moment how important diversity is to the success of your own business.  

The 4 Types of Diversity

There are actually four distinct types of diversity that may be present in any organization at one time. Each of these aspects are critical to success in a global business environment. /.

• Workforce – From the different genders and age groups to the ethnicity and religious values of your employees and contractors, a workforce should be made up of a diverse population of talent. Take the time to recognize this and help each to find a common ground with the others.
• Behavioral – Each group comes with a unique set of values and ideas about work and communications. Your business must work hard to come up with a corporate manual of behavior in the workplace that honors these aspects, yet opens the door to other ways of thinking and doing things.
• Structural – Within a single company, there may be a diverse set of structures in place that dictate how and when business is conducted. This may be on a departmental or branch level, or it may exist in teams. While this can be healthy for a business, there should be some clear codes of conduct for general situations.
• Business – In terms of the diversity found in the business world, this can differ from market to market, amongst vendors, and even within industry groups and associations. A successful business must be able to adapt to diversity at this level too.

Diversity in the business world comes from many different sources, therefore each company should be prepared with a plan to utilize and thrive in this atmosphere.

Recruiting for Diversity in the Workplace

Under Affirmative Action Law, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other anti-discrimination employment laws, the US government fully supports the actions of companies who make diversity recruitment a priority. Labor Force Statistics reports from the US Department of Labor and Statistics are available annually to track the inclusion of all groups and their employment status. As you can see, we still have a long way to go in America when it comes to diversity advancement.

There are several ways to hire for diversity:

Streamlined hiring practices – Make it easier for candidates to apply for jobs with simple, straightforward Human Resource Management Systems that take them from the application to the assessment to the interview using one platform. Overly complicated recruitment systems reduce diversity.

Employee direct referrals – Provide incentives for your current employees to refer their colleagues to your company for first line consideration of new jobs. This brings in more diverse candidates who can better fit in with the corporate culture.

Reduced cultural barriers – Take a look at your recruitment and training processes. Are they difficult to understand or are there too many steps? If so, you may be creating barriers to successful inclusion of all groups of candidates.

Recruit from many sources – Use several methods of recruiting candidates, so that a wider range of candidates can apply for opportunities with your company. Consider that not all job seekers have access to Internet in their homes, and others may not be comfortable with mobile applications.

We are proud to announce that Jobscience is a finalist in About.com’s 2013 Readers Choice awards! If you’ve found our site to be informative and helpful, please do us the honor of casting your vote between February 19th – March 19th, 2013. Winners of each category will be announced on March 27th. Reader appreciation is what drives us to create the best content possible. Thank you very much for your support!