We hear the word ‘diversity’ used more and more in the workplace.  Many businesses have long realised that diversity is good for business and most will promote it in one way or another.  According to the Oxford dictionary diversity means: a range of different things.  That sounds simple right?  But diversity refers to a variety of things such as race, gender, ethnicity, age, education, sexual preference, background and more.

While we share things in common with each other, everyone is their own person and we bring different things to the table, which is why diversity is so important amongst a team environment. Creating a workforce with different characters and at varied points of their career, help to foster creativity and offer a range of perspectives and ideas.

According to SHRM statistics, 55% of companies are big promoters of diversity while 42% of diversity programs are advocated by the CEO, top leadership, and HR heads.

Here are a few reasons why a diverse workforce is great:

Variety of viewpoints

Due to different backgrounds and beliefs you gain a larger pool of experiences and ideas.  Your business can then meet the needs of customers more effectively.

Flexibility

Working from home, job share and compressed working weeks can be beneficial to the development of a diverse workforce.  The key to making flexibility work is leading by example!

Multilingual

Being able to speak another language other than English is a great advantage for servicing your customers especially if you are a global company or have global trading’s.

Adaptability

You can supply a huge variety of solutions to all sorts of problems in regards to service and customer demands.

Your boss is a woman

We all know the saying “it’s a man’s world”.  Companies who have women in leadership roles are practicing what they preach!

You work with Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y and Centennials

While this can present challenges at times, it also shows your business has accessed a broad range of talent pools where everyone has something unique to share.

The food!!!!

Just think of the endless possibilities at Friday’s morning tea……. Need I say more?!

It has been shown time and time again that diversity promotes a wealth of viewpoints, innovation, improved decision making, employee productivity and leads to engaged employees and overall better customer service.

Happy cultural diversity week!