7 Tips To Manage Diversity In The Workplace

Diversity in the workplace isn’t just about hiring people from different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity. Today’s diversity has grown into massive categories of sexual preferences, sexual orientation, ethnicity and more. Therefore, it could be challenging to manage diversity in your company.

But what if we tell you it is equally easy? How’s that? By following these tips:

1. It Starts From The Hiring Process

Whoever you put in charge of the hiring process should be someone who has universal acceptance and awareness of diversity. Here are a couple of other tips that will help during the hiring process:

• Base the hiring on the qualifications, aptitude and job requirements.
• Try not to ask personal life questions that could form an opinion of the person. For example, if they are religious or not.
• Don’t dedicate any quota or requirement like ‘Hire 10% women, or 15% Asians, etc.’ These only create further discrimination.

2. Treat ‘Diversity’ As The Norm

Another great way to handle and manage diversity is to forget it exists. Instead of focusing on ‘diversity’ as the word, focus on ‘people.’ Better yet, focus on ‘employees of the company.’

If you’re looking to manage diversity, you are in some authoritative position. Being in such a position, the best thing you can do is accept another person with no questions.

For example, if a person says their pronouns are “They/Them,” you may nod and go along with the day without asking any follow-up questions. This form of acceptance makes the work culture quite chill about everything.

3. It’s About Individuality, Not Equality

Try not to impose rules about treating everyone equally. It might not be weird, but that’s how we create more differences. Instead of wasting efforts on treating everyone equally, it is better to treat everyone individually. Here are some tips and examples:

• Judge a person based on their performance at the workplace.
• Acknowledge the communication or cultural gap for better functionality.

4. Prioritise Communication And Understanding

People from different cultural backgrounds have different experiences. It is important to accept everyone as they are. To promote that, communication is essential. For instance, a person from India might not know native terms and references. So they may have a harder time processing or understanding. That’s where we need to be ready to help.

5. Create Diverse Teams And Groups

This one correlates to the third tip. Forget about dividing people based on cultural significance, race, or sexual orientation. It is better to divide them according to their skills and whatever they bring to the table. Having diverse groups means it is the new norm in the company.

6. Diversity Laws, Policies, And More

If you want to learn about managing diversity in the workplace, you need to be aware of changing laws and policies. You might even have to introduce your own additions. For instance, the zero-tolerance policy.

7. No Need To Create Unnecessary Barriers

Managing diversity is not about creating policies or regulations that benefit or work against diverse groups. It is about treating everyone equally. Even with a zero-tolerance policy, you’re not responsible for getting offended based on the person.

A person could mistakenly call a ‘they/them’ person he or she. These mistakes are natural as long as they are not done purposely. There’s no need for you to be uptight about it and create strict barriers. Keep things smooth and flexible. Humans are prone to mistakes, and you need to accept that fact while you incorporate these practices.