A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. This same concept applies to the operations of a company – each team member is a link that holds the company together. As a leader, you not only have the responsibility and moral obligation of creating a productive and safe work environment for your employees, but you are also expected to promote creativity and innovation within your organization. Checking all of these boxes requires more than simply implementing safety procedures and adhering to the minimum HR requirements. Set your team up for success by prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within your business. 

Your employees are your most important asset – investing in the right resources for them to achieve professional success is a great start to ensuring you increase your bottom line. With the help of People Solutions Center’s workplace and diversity training, your company can leverage the unique traits and backgrounds of your team members to boost company morale and increase your bottom line. 

 

Complementing a Culture of Diversity 

Diversity is more than just a percentage. When we think about diversity, we likely picture a group of people composed of different ethnicities, ages or genders. However, some features that can help you diversify your workforce are invisible to the naked eye. While having people on your team with different backgrounds or ethnicities is a great start, your company can only truly embrace this culture of diversity by complementing it with a culture of respect, equity and inclusion. 

When you hire a person who can speak another language or is familiar with another culture, you are diversifying your team by simply giving them a seat at your table. This checks the most basic HR requirement as an equal opportunity employer. 

As an innovative leader, however, you must ensure this new employee becomes a contributing member of your organization. How do you do that? You give this employee a voice that is not only acknowledged and respected, but also heard and valued. When you achieve this, you will have effectively created a sense of belonging for your team members. It’s indisputable that happy employees are loyal, high performing employees. 

 

Barriers You May Encounter

Hiring people with unique experiences, beliefs, education, thinking styles and socioeconomic backgrounds sounds like a great step forward for almost any company from a competitive standpoint. When you gather people with unique qualities to work for your company, you create a melting pot of ideas and perspectives – the perfect formula for innovation. Unfortunately, there are still some barriers you may face as you navigate the process of implementing diversity initiatives. 

When interviewing candidates, first impressions are everything. Within the first few seconds, you have subconsciously made judgments about someone based on their visible characteristics such as the clothes they’re wearing, skin color or ethnic background. This is called an unconscious bias and can often lead us to make the wrong decisions when interviewing a candidate. 

Privilege is another obstacle candidates may face when looking for a job. This is an advantage a person is entitled to, due to no effort of their own. For example, a person born into a wealthy family has the privilege of being financially stable enough to afford an expensive education, as opposed to a person who comes from a family with limited financial resources. Better paying jobs are more likely to require a college degree. Recognizing that privilege exists can help your management team better equip their team members with the tools they need for success. 

 

Creating Prosperity In The Workplace

Similar to how unconscious bias enables us to make unfounded assumptions about a person without intentionally doing so, microaggressions are negative prejudicial slights or insults toward any group of people oftentimes not meant to be offensive. An example of a microaggression could be a coworker describing their superior as being knowledgeable in sports, despite being a woman. At minimum, this creates a barrier to folks feeling like they belong – at worst, it creates a hostile work environment. 

With proper training in diversity and inclusion from People Solutions Center, your management team will learn to break that unconscious bias and learn how to identify the candidates with unique qualities that could make them an asset to your company. We can help you create a culture of belonging within your organization by making your employees feel like they’re not only included, but also celebrated. Do not settle for meeting the minimum HR requirements of being an equal opportunity employer. With the help of People Solutions Center, you can provide your company with team workshops that facilitate growth and trust while nurturing diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace.