Workforce Diversity:

Definition:

In this era where globalization is making the world more integrated and connected every day, people from all
walks of life have come to work together in all forms of department. As Work force diversity is a multi-
disciplinary word, it does not have a single meaning. It can be explained as a complex, multidimensional
concept as a whole. It is termed as a plural term with different perceptions in different organizations,
societies and national cultures without any unitary meaning.

We cant just say that workforce diversity is related to race and gender only; it comprices of many differences
and similarities. Wentling & Palma-Rivas, in their book Current status and future trends of diversity
initiatives in the workplace, put forward the narrow and broad definitions of diversity. Narrow definitions
reflect Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) law, and define diversity in terms of race, gender, ethnicity, age,
national origin, religion, and disability. Broad definition include values, personality characteristics, education,
language, physical appearance, marital status, lifestyle, beliefs, and background characteristics such as
geographical origin, tenure within the organization, and economic status.

Types:

The more the world is getting smaller, multinational organizations and technology are getting more
interested into producing diversity at workplaces. In urban areas seeing different people work together is
common but now diversity has reached to local and rural areas as well. Diversity can be of the following form:

Age:

At workplaces you generally see people of different ages. People of the age of your grandparent or parent or
children can be seen working at the same place all contributing various experiences, worldviews and
strengths to the modern workplaces. Moreover, many elderly aged people delay retirement and prefer to
work rather than sitting idly at home.

Religion:

People having different faiths are common to be found working at the same workplace. This can be
challenging because if the cooperation wants to celebrate or organize an event related to a particular religion,
employees with conflicting beliefs may not want to contribute to the event. Moreover, employees want to
have holidays if anything special arises in their religion of faith which can affect the operations of the
cooperation.

Racial/Ethinic :

Whites, blacks, Europeans Asian etc can be found working together in all kinds of multinational companies
although sometimes people of one particular race dont treat the other racial classes fairly. At the initial
stages of globalization, people used to hire employees of other races for development of the industries but
now diversity in races can be seen at professional level as well.

Disabilities:

Now a days Governments encourages the hiring of people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities
through federal laws and by making funding available to companies to employ these workers, especially in
America. Invisible disabilities, such as depression, dyslexia and fibromyalgia, require workplaces to provide
reasonable accommodations. These accommodations help workers adequately perform their duties without
lowering performance expectations or standards.

The Changing Faces of the Workforce

In organizations where diversity exists, problems are less likely to occur but there are certain scenarios

where company has to deal with diversity issues:

Diversity is acknowledging, understanding, accepting, valuing, and celebrating differences among people with
respect to factors such as age, class, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities, mental ability, race, sexual
orientation, education background, spiritual practice, geographical background, income, marital status and
others. Such dimensions of workplace diversity however do not fit in silos, and a single individual may be a
part of multiple dimensions at varying levels.

1. Divergent Issues

The most widespread diversity issue in the workplace is religious, spiritual beliefs and political beliefs. The
accommodation of such beliefs can be very challenging.

Employers need to ensure employees do not force their religious or political beliefs on others, and strive to
ensure employees keep their beliefs independent of work. Employers however also need to ensure
reasonable accommodation of such beliefs. Such accommodation becomes even more relevant in situations
when the company providing some incentives that contradict the employees religious norms or customs.
Accommodating the beliefs and practices of some groups and disallowing the same for other groups invite
charges of discrimination

2. Gender Equality and Sexual Harassment

Recent years have witnessed the arrival of many women in the workforce, and the proliferation of dual
income families. The need to maintain gender equality and prevent gender discrimination in aspects such as
hiring, remuneration, promotions, and the like is another major diversity issue. Women were traditionally
paid less than men, and the Equal Pay Act mandated equal pay for men and women doing the same job.

Another major issue in the workplace is sexual harassment. This takes many shapes such as making
unwanted jokes or offensive words, touching or any other unsought bodily contact, unwanted flirting,
transmitting or posting emails or pictures of a sexual or other harassment-related nature, displaying sexually
suggestive objects, pictures, or posters, and the like.

3. Racial and Cultural Issues

Another major diversity issue in the workplace is preference or discrimination based on racial and cultural
considerations. A controversial related issue is affirmative action that entails hiring or promoting employees
belonging to a certain race, color, religion, sex, or national origin to benefit an unrepresented group, usually
as a means to counter the history of discrimination. Companies hiring or promoting employees from minority
groups to satisfy affirmative action however run the risk of 'reverse discrimination' or overlooking better
qualified employees.

4. Negative Attitudes
Another biggest diversity issues in the workplace is negative attitudes caused by bias and stereotyping of
employees of other races, ethnicities, and backgrounds. This results in various forms of discrimination, and if
people in the management also inculcate such negative attitudes it affect hiring, firings, promotions and other
functions of the organization.

The presence of such negative attitudes deny any benefits of diversity, and rather cause a severe dent in
employee morale and productivity, besides the organization running the risk of facing damaging
discriminatory lawsuits.

Significance:

By embracing diversity, organizations have now realized that diversity helps to improve the company by
generating new ideas and international opportunities. It adds various perspectives and new strategies to a
workplace. These ideas and opinions help to make decisions about how to start, run and finance the
operations and market the products of the cooperation.In order to employ diverse employees organizations
open their applications for people all around the world. Therefore they have more chance to attain the most
qualified candidate for their company and talented people will be readily available to them. Sometimes
language and ethinic background might create problems for the company but internationals employees are
often interested into increasing the accessibility of the company to their local markets which can bring
increased profits to the company.

Considerations and Warnings:

In organizations where large number of employees is from different countries and backgrounds, companies
have to give special training related to communication and specific skills. Language training may also be
required if employees are not able to communicate properly. In order to maintain peace and tolerance in the
environment, knowledge related to diverse work environment may also be necessary at times.