Diversity and Inclusion Within the Workplace.pptx

Editor's Notes

1. Diversity and Inclusion within the workplace. By Aaron Miller
2. Diversity. So, what exactly is diversity? Diversity is any characteristic about an individual that is different and unique. According to Dr. Evan M. Morse (2021), “At its core, diversity means embracing differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, health, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, religion, physical size, education level, job level and function, personality traits, and other human differences” (para. 16).
3. Inclusion. What is inclusion? Inclusion relates to giving equal opportunities within the workplace to everyone. As Matt Bush stated (2021), “Inclusion is ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to and influence every part and level of a workplace, and belonging is ensuring that everyone feels safe and can bring their full, unique selves to work” (para. 10).
4. Diversity Statistics. As we look at some of the statistics about the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace that Bailey Reiners mentioned (2021), “Groups formerly seen as “minorities” may reach majority status by 2044, 48 percent of Generation Z are racial or ethnic minorities, by 2065, the U.S. population will not have any single ethnic or racial majorities, Millennials are 16% more diverse than Baby Boomers, women are expected to make up 47.2% of the workforce by 2024, and more than 3 out of 4 workers prefer diverse companies” (para. 3-19). These show that the trend of diversity and inclusion in the workplace has been increasing significantly over the past years.
5. The value of diversity. So, does diversity really bring any value to an organization or group? Within my two interviews both stakeholders agreed that diversity does bring a certain sense of value to an organization as it combines different ideas, cultures, and backgrounds which helps build innovation and creativity. As Brandon Moore stated (2021), “Diversity is very important and brings tremendous value to an organization. When you have a diverse workforce, you open the organization up to learning different cultures and backgrounds. Different backgrounds mean different experiences and opens the door to more opportunities for innovation and creativity. “(B. Moore, personal communication, November 21, 2020)
6. Relationship between diversity and excellence. Is there a relationship between diversity and excellence? Within my two interviews, both stakeholders disagreed upon this subject due to perception on what excellence is. Ryan Johnson stated (2021), “Diversity and excellence do not need to rely upon each other. However, with utilizing diverse ideas and thoughts, it can help bring an added excellence to a team or group.” (R. Johnson, personal communication, November 21, 2021). While Brandon Moore indicated (2021), “I believe that you achieve true excellence through diversity. When you foster the concept of all-for one, you embrace different skill sets and enhance productivity in the workplace.” (B. Moore, personal communication, November 21, 2021).
7. So now what is excellence? How do you achieve excellence in the workplace? According to Professor M.S. Rao (2015), “Excellence is about being the best, striving to be better, with an eye to delivering quality goods and services. People are not born with excellence. They cultivate it over a period of time through hard work, wise work, and smart work. It emerges from continuous improvement over the past. It is a corollary of passion and performance.” (para. 2). Thus, excellence is about being the best and doing the best which is instilled into all of us through education and development through our early ages.
8. So now that we understand diversity, inclusion, and their relationship with excellence. Is there programs in place for organizations to use? Utilizing diversity programs develop improvements and initiatives for the organization. As Lisa Leslie mentioned (2021), “Diversity initiatives are policies and practices designed to improve the workplace experiences and outcomes of target group members. These initiatives most often target women and ethnic or racial minorities, but they can target any group who faces pervasive disadvantage in the broader society. They might include non-discrimination policies (like emphasizing merit as the basis for pay and promotions, or training employees in implicit bias), programs that support target groups (like diversity mentoring programs), or accountability practices (like hiring a chief diversity officer or implementing a reporting system for discrimination).” (para. 2).
9. Are diversity programs successful within the organization? With Covid-19 playing a huge part in how organizations and businesses are trying to recover employees and hire back their workforce, the unemployment rates would be a great indicator on how well diversity programs are doing within the United States. However, as Candice Bristow stated (2021), “After COVID-19 resulted in staggering unemployment trends across the U.S., the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported in October that Black and Latinx workers have endured far slower employment recovery rates compared to white employees. In August 2021, the unemployment rate was 8.8% among Black workers and 6.4% for Latinx workers, compared to 4.5% for white workers.” (para. 2). This shows that while diversity programs are in place to help diversify a workforce, it does not ultimately mean that organizations truly value a diverse workforce.
10. What exactly works for organizations to improve diversity and inclusion within the workplace? According to David Pedulla (2020), “First, organizations should set goals, collect data, and hold people accountable for improving diversity within the organization. Second, organizations should abandon traditional discrimination and harassment reporting systems — these often lead to retaliation. Employee Assistance Plans (EAPs), ombuds offices, and transformative dispute resolution systems can play a critical role in not only reducing retaliation but also provide fuel for organizational change. Third, organizations should check to ensure that technologies used to assist in hiring and promotion aren’t inherently biased. Fourth, companies must avoid tokenism. (summary).
11. In conclusion. After learning about the issues between diversity programs and what actually works within an organization. Discussing statistics that display the benefits and relationship of success between diversity and inclusion with an organization is important. As Nick Perry indicated (2020), “Gender-diverse companies that are also in the top-quartile for gender-diverse executive boards are 27% more likely to have superior value creation, 85% of CEOs with diverse and inclusive cultures notice increased profits, companies with equal men and women earn 41% more revenue, racially and ethnically diverse companies are 35% more likely to perform better, diverse teams are 70% more likely to capture new markets, diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions, inclusive companies are 1.7x more innovative, companies that have a highly inclusive culture have 2.3x more cash flow per employee, and inclusive companies are 120% more likely to hit financial goals. (para. 12-20). These successes can help indicate the importance of adapting a relationship between diversity and inclusion within an organization.
12. Resources