Diversity involves being sensitive and inclusive to your employees’ needs regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, education, age, or other personal characteristics. Combining the views and experiences of professionals from different backgrounds leads to a more creative, innovative, and competitive organization. Developing diversity at all levels improves your company brand and makes it more attractive to candidates. These are a few reasons why you want to develop diversity in your organization.

Choose among these five methods for educating your staff on the importance of diversity.

Train Managers on Diversity

Teach managers the importance of workplace diversity. The stronger the relationships managers have with their employees, the greater your employee retention is. Provide managers with the tools and skills needed to hire, manage, and nurture a diverse team—schedule cultural and other sensitivity training. Encourage promotion from within to reflect the company’s core values that celebrate diversity.

Create Inclusive Company Policies

Update your company policies to include a wider range of employees’ needs. They may include recruitment, performance evaluations, or promotions. You might tailor your job descriptions for open roles to reach a broader range of applicants. Perhaps your hiring managers will participate in a greater variety of job fairs, or partner with more community hiring offices and outreach programs to connect with diverse talent pools.  

Implement Employee-Led Task Forces

Organize task forces focused on promoting diversity throughout the organization. Ask team members from every department to be educated on diversity in recruitment and training. They’ll play an active role in ensuring open communication between employees and managers so that diversity policies are adhered to and effective. Managers should feel confident about their ability to communicate with employees in ways that use inclusive language. This sets up channels for respectful communication methods that cultivate trust.  

Cultivate Employee Engagement

Focus on building employee engagement throughout the organization. If your company has multiple locations, allow employees to visit other offices to see how other locations creatively engage their employees. Encourage staff to share what they learned and implement similar methods with their team. Send an employee survey asking where they like to spend their free time or volunteer. Use the results to arrange work-based and volunteer activities in these areas.  

Promote Professional Development

Implement methods for all employees to develop professionally. Set up mentorship programs, so everyone has opportunities to develop their potential. Contribute to continuing education. Connect staff with outside resources dedicated to young professionals, women’s leadership, or other development groups.   

Focus on Diversity in the Workplace

Emphasizing diversity within your organization keeps it competitive. Creating a team of professionals differing in gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality, education, age, and other characteristics provides the skills, experience, ideas, and knowledge required to innovate. Blending teammates with varying backgrounds enhances problem-solving ability to improve the bottom line.

Hiring diverse candidates begins with the right candidate pool. By partnering with Arlington Resources, you gain immediate access to some of the most qualified HR talent in the Chicago area. Talk with us today.