How to promote diversity for high performing multi-cultural workplaces
Consider how the steps above can improve your policies and procedures, helping you to avoid costly tribunals and develop a reputation as a fair and progressive organisation. Of course, diversity isn't just about race or culture, it's to do with diversity of personalities, attitudes and behaviours and includes other areas of difference such as religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation and age. Promoting diversity of thought will not only stop you falling behind, but lead to greater creativity and innovation (see this news article on intercultural innovation and cities). - Abide by up-to-date discrimination law such as 2010's Equality Act and ensure your equal opportunities and diversity policies are current and promoted across the organisation - Look at existing policies and processes such as training programmes, evaluation, development and disciplinary actions to ensure there is no unintentional discrimination or bias - Ensure board members and all levels of management are agreed on the priority level of diversity issues and ensure promoting diversity is a shared task important to everyone's work - rather than the task of one individual - Make understanding of equality and diversity policies essential to job roles by adding it to competency frameworks - Ask each department to form their own Equality and Diversity statement - Recognise promoting diversity as an achievement - Use workshops or training to ensure 'buy-in' and encourage staff suggestions on how promote diversity and change workplace practices - Set targets and measure change to see improvement (there are various tools for this such as The Diversity Excellence Model) - Have clear disciplinary procedures for discrimination - Offer equality and diversity training workshops and raise awareness (and identify areas for training) with self-testing on diversity - ensure training is adapted to the needs of certain individuals and departments - Assess needs for cross cultural communication training and English language for business training - these can often be short lunchtime sessions - Don't neglect external communication such as a customer services or marketing - does the organisation present itself as open to all? - In terms of recruitment advertising - is a full audience targeted and are all aspects of a job specification really essential to the role e.g. qualifications or experience? - Have a constant means for individuals to freely voice their concerns when experiencing communication problems, disagreements or harassment e.g. lunchtime office drop-ins - Be flexible with dress codes and holidays to support those from different cultural backgrounds |