The call for workplace diversity is louder now than at any other time in history. Whether due to gender, nationality, race, color, background, or physical appearance — organizations have long suffered from enforcing the wrong beliefs and alienating swathes of professionally qualified, talented, and high achieving individuals from their organizations.
Things must change, and committing to a diverse workforce is the first step in the right direction. Due to the current socio-economic climate, the topic of diversity is part of the discourse that can greatly influence how businesses will operate for years to come. In prioritizing diversity, your business has the opportunity to grow and flourish. Now more than ever, promoting diversity within the workplace is important to having a successful business.
Defining Diversity
Traditionally, diversity is what makes us different. Diversity is explained as the variety of humanity, what makes each of us unique from everyone else. While this is still the correct textbook definition of diversity, the 21st century has bestowed a deeper meaning. Today, diversity is defined as the acceptance of what makes us unique. Our diversity is defined by our race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, physical appearance, religion, nationality, and more. It encompasses all that makes us who we are.
Within the Third Wave of Outsourcing, diversity takes on another meaning. Diversity in the Third Wave of Outsourcing applies to hiring the best talent due to their merit, their skills, and their knowledge– without letting bias and discrimination affect the decision. The goal of creating a diverse team is to gain access to the best talent on the planet, regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, physical appearance, religion, nationality, and not just to boast about how enlightened or advanced you are.
Advantages of Diversity In the Workplace
Diversity is such an important topic but it doesn’t get the exposure it deserves, especially in the workplace. Because of this, a lot of people have no idea of all the advantages of diversity. Diversity is a cause that is continuously championed because it is a key factor that contributes to a business’ workflow.
Moreover, diversity is important because of the following reasons:
- A Diverse Team Contributes To The Workflow
As previously mentioned, diversity allows for a better workflow. A diverse team is composed of individuals from various backgrounds. A team like this is a gathering of skilled people whose ideas reflect their identities and different backgrounds. This provides a harmonious workflow because the ideas, strategies, and opinions you’ll receive encompass a larger range.
- Cultural Awareness
As a part of diversity, cultural awareness is an obvious advantage. The range of cultures you are bound to see if you hire without biases is wide. As an effect, you and your company are more equipped to handle the business on the world stage. The employees are also proven as assets because they can adapt and help with the customs and traditions needed to deal with the global market.
- Establishes Inclusive Policies
In prioritizing diversity, your company is also making room for inclusive policies. Diversity and inclusivity go hand in hand in creating a progressive business. This makes your company a safe space for your employees to be who they are. Setting up inclusive policies means better communication with your team because you are making the effort to eradicate unfair and exclusive policies to make sure everyone gets the same opportunities.
- Helps With Longevity
If your company can support diversity, that makes your company more desirable to people. As mentioned above, promoting diversity also promotes inclusion. By doing so, you will be able to retain your employees. In contributing to the discourse of diversity, you are setting up a business where people can invest their interests and stay for as long as they can.
- Increase Creative Output
A diverse pool of employees allows your team to be more creative. In prioritizing diversity, you are hiring without biases and hiring in favor of the skillsets a person has. With this, you gain access to skilled individuals from colorful backgrounds. Through their shared experiences, their stories, and identity, they can create and think outside the box.
- Boosting Your Reputation
The value and the brand of a company can go up because of diversity. A diverse workplace speaks volumes about the culture and identity of the company. Knowing that diversity is prioritized makes your company a place people would want to be. However, beware of aiming for diversity just for your company’s reputation. Do not collect employees based on their background just because you think it can make your company look good. Doing this makes your company look fake and uncaring of real-world issues. Remember that real diversity in the workplace is when you accept and hire people based on their skills without allowing biases to play into it.
Achieving Diversity with a Partner
Diversity in the workplace can be easily achieved with a partner. These are third parties that can get you a team full of the best talent. These are people hired based on their skill sets, expertise, knowledge, and attitude. Without any personal bias or discrimination, the people in your outsource team are hired how good they are. With a partner, you can expect that diversity will instantly be a part of your business because they usually operate with businesses from various parts of the world.
Who better to guide you and help you in achieving diversity?
In the Third Wave of Outsourcing, a partner is what any business owner would need to make their business win. By forming a partnership, your outsourced team can seamlessly integrate themselves into your business and help support you from the inside. By aligning your values and culture with your partner, they can easily guide you and help you achieve diversity.
