An Anonymous Employee Complaint
I’ve been with the company for 4 years and am frustrated with the repetitive annual diversity training video. It feels like the company only values diversity to improve its image rather than truly embracing it. As one of the few people of color here, I feel like I’m just part of a diversity quota, with little effort made to recognize all aspects of diversity.
The Business Case for Recognizing the Importance of Diversity and Inclusion
Creating a diverse, equal, and inclusive workforce and workplace is fundamental to any company. Multinational companies are highly innovative and creative because of cultural diversity (Elia et al., 2019). Diversity is critical to success because people with different visions of the world can view the situation from different angles and set up the most effective work. Such teams succeed by coming together, generating new ideas, and solving company problems. It is essential to set up the team in a way that does not infringe on the rights of people who are different in one way or another.
It is necessary to demonstrate that each employee is equally valued to avoid problems with the diversity of the company’s workforce. Directors should monitor team leaders’ attitudes toward different employees, identify bad attitudes, and root them out. Only people who treat their colleagues fairly and do not disadvantage them can hold positions in the company. The personnel policy of today’s multinational companies must be based not only on respect for the individual, regardless of social origin, ethnicity, nationality, gender, age, or religion, but on encouraging cultural diversity among personnel, where each individual has his own work experience and sets their own goals for the future. As the number of such corporations increases, diversity management becomes increasingly important.
Creating a Mission and Goals to Reinforce Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
The company’s mission is: “Respect for every employee, regardless of his or her differences, above all else.” The mission statement should state that diversity is a success. First, the company needs to make employees feel valued. This can be accomplished by having a conversation with them in which they can talk about their problems and begin to address them immediately. Second, supervisors must allow such people to express themselves and show their viewpoints. This action will help the company with innovation, new ideas, and a greater understanding of employees.
Long-Term Actions to Address Concerns in the Anonymous Complaint
I can suggest two long-term solutions to solve the problem described in the anonymous complaint. The first involves constant monitoring of employee relations. Bosses need to monitor how employees treat co-workers who belong to diverse groups. The second solution involves hiring ethnically and otherwise diverse people to develop the company’s potential. In the complaint, the employee mentioned he was one of the few diverse employees. In this way, by developing diversity, employees will stop feeling superfluous.
A company can get more creative with employee diversity training. An interesting solution might be to offer each employee from a different group a presentation describing their culture or another trait by which they are different. This could be a story about customs, interesting facts, and more. This way, employees can better understand and get to know their colleagues. This training is essential because diversity will always be an issue. Employees must pay attention to it to maintain good relationships within the team and set up the most effective work.
Implementing Initiatives to Celebrate Diversity Beyond Race
People’s diversity is not limited to race; it can include physical characteristics. A company can implement the idea of organizing workplaces for people with physical differences. In this way, employees can feel comfortable. Another solution could be installing elevators to make walking around the building easier for people with difficulty. These initiatives can unite employees to celebrate diversity and inclusion, making everyone feel comfortable working together. People with disabilities would be able to do everything other employees do.
Another suggestion for emphasizing the importance of diversity in the company could be hands-on sessions in which members of diverse groups can work in teams with their peers. In this way, a company can build team cohesion and show that each employee is essential and their ideas are valued. Such a strategy becomes a powerful motivational tool that can greatly facilitate the implementation of diversity management in the company.
Reference
Elia, S., Petruzzelli, A. M., & Piscitello, L. (2019). The impact of cultural diversity on innovation performance of MNC subsidiaries in strategic alliances. Journal of Business Research, 98, 204-213. Web.