How do managers deal with diversity in the workplace?

How do you manage diversity in your workplace? Managing diversity in the workplace has become a key concern for employers and managers over the past few decades. Here we’ll cover what diversity and inclusion mean, why they’re important, and strategies for managing a diverse workforce.

What does diversity management involve?

To manage diversity in the workplace, it’s important to understand these two terms in tandem: diversity and inclusions (D&I):

Diversity

In a workplace context, diversity refers to having people from diverse backgrounds and identities working together and integrating. This often connects to issues surrounding protected characteristics, which include race, sex (gender), sexual orientation, age, disability, and pregnancy/maternity.

Related article: What are the protected characteristics employers need to be aware of?

Inclusion

Diversity management goes hand in hand with the concept of inclusion. Inclusion equates to a proactive approach to promoting and managing diversity in the workplace. As the CIPD state on their website: “to reap the benefits of a diverse workforce it’s vital to have an inclusive environment where everyone feels able to participate and achieve their potential.”

In simple terms, inclusion means “the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure”. Inclusion in the workplace is therefore important for creating a more harmonious and productive workforce.

Strategies for managing diversity in the workplace

When it comes to truly reaping the business benefits of a diverse workforce, simply having a diverse range of employees isn’t beneficial in itself; pairing diversity with strategies for inclusion is how to get a real impact.

As the CIPD state in their Diversity and Inclusion at Work 2018 report, “no matter how diverse a workforce is, there is a risk that structural, cultural and behavioural factors will prevent the benefits of such a workforce make-up being realised.”

Make a clear commitment to diversity and inclusion

First and foremost, set out your intentions for how to include a diverse range of employees. This should be clear at a policy level and also communicated clearly to senior leaders and the wider organisation. By addressing where there may be barriers to inclusion and incorporating a response to these into your business aims, you can proactively work towards creating a more inclusive place to work.

Address the potential for bias in your recruitment process

Recruitment is a key area where you can consider equality and diversity. By addressing and reducing the potential for recruitment bias, you can benefit from making more objective hiring decisions and creating a more diverse workforce. Furthermore, there is evidence for the cultural and financial benefits for organisations that do this. So, from a profitability perspective, it’s definitely worth addressing.

Providing diversity training for employees

When it comes to achieving equality and inclusion for a diverse range of employees, awareness is half the battle. Pairing your communications about the topic with diversity training will increase your employees’ awareness. Also, training can drive home how implicit biases can affect their working life and decision-making processes.

Related article: How to implement diversity training in the workplace

Consider flexible working options

Flexible working can help address issues of equality, as traditional working hours may be more suitable for particular social demographics. For instance, there is evidence that offering flexible working can help address gender inequality in the workplace due to traditional working hours conflicting with care commitments, which are disproportionately taken on by women.

Employees with disabilities can also benefit from flexible working options, as this can help them achieve a better work-life balance that takes factors of their disability into account. For example, mental health charity Mind recommend flexible working as a way to achieve a better work-life balance, avoid stressful travel situations, and make it easier to attend medical appointments.

Promote cohesion and inclusion with social activities

Social activities and bonding can promote inclusion in the workplace, because employees see themselves as part of a team as opposed to different social groups. The activities could be general social ones, such as a company lunch, or activities focusing on diversity such as these inclusion activities OfficeVibe recommend.

Ideally, such activities should occur during working hours; otherwise, people with care-giving and other responsibilities are less likely to attend.

Help give room for individual expression within the workplace

Giving employees room for individual expression is just as important as ensuring everyone feels like they’re part of a group. According to business management research on diversity and inclusion, people feel most included and respected at work when value is placed on their uniqueness as well as how they belong to the group. By acknowledging and celebrating differences and elements of minority groups, everyone within an organisation can feel more respected and included.

Read more from our blog

An employer’s guide to LGBTQ+ inclusion in the workplace

Reasonable adjustments at work: making your workplace more accessible

Tiwonge Chipeta is a Diversity and Inclusion consultant for EW Group, who has worked across all sectors in four continents in building rapport with diverse cultures.

According to census figures, in 2011, 14% of the UK population came from an ethnic minority background with only 44.9% of Londoners identifying as White British. In late 2019, 3.65 million non-UK-born people were employed in the UK, meaning that today, British companies are more likely than ever to be made up of staff born and raised outside the country.

For leaders and managers, these figures represent a crucial lesson: you cannot ignore the diverse nature of the UK workforce, and the fact that many workplaces are a fusion of a multitude of different personal and professional cultures.

To embrace these – as well as all genders, sexualities, abilities, and all the other things that make us – the answer is typically the design and development of a diversity and inclusion strategy.

What is a diversity strategy?

A diversity strategy allows you to make your business more open and welcoming to all: staff and customers alike. Diversity strategies have many aims; to increase the number and seniority of ethnic minority staff within your business, make your workplace environment and culture friendly to all, and/or ensure your business is meeting its legal obligations, for example.

Diversity strategies support you in offering the workplace benefits of diversity and inclusion, whilst accessing the business case for D&I – more perspectives, greater employee wellbeing, increased innovation, a larger talent pool, better customer understanding, improved problem solving, and enhanced business performance.

These benefits are clear and proven, but to unlock these advantages and both welcome and champion all employees, what specific strategies can you use to manage diversity in your workplace?

Recruitment

Your approach to recruitment is one of the most significant drivers of (or impediments to) workplace diversity. If your managers or recruiters make decisions based on bias, or your business is not appealing to diverse candidates, your workforce and leadership will become homogenous over time, likely compounding the issue.

We have identified seven key strategies to make your recruitment diverse and inclusive – view the seven strategies in full.

1. Write inclusive job descriptions
2. Widen your applicant search to include diverse groups and talent pools
3. Inclusively design your application process
4. Make shortlisting fair
5. Allow for reasonable adjustments at interview
6. Prepare for an inclusive interview
7. Run an inclusive interview with the right tone, asking the right questions

Also see EW Group’s Five employee retention strategies for diverse workforces.

Day-to-day management

Staff members may have different understandings and expectations when it comes to time management, work-life balance, workplace socialising and all the other activities that typically make up our day-to-day working lives.

As such, it is important for managers to try to understand employee perceptions of work, and make sure they understand what the expectations of the organisation are. This extends to employee development – staff should develop clear objectives alongside their managers and agree what will happen if they achieve them.

Enabling an open dialogue will create a level playing field for all staff, reducing any sense of confusion or resentment, and making sure that everyone can work effectively, together.

Company policy

Closely related to day-to-day management and the need to promote transparency are developing clear, standardised and regularly updated policies, which are crucial to managing diversity in the workplace.

Documentation – By setting out policies and rules in a document such as an employee handbook, all staff can be made aware of your business’ code of conduct, as well as the diversity policies regarding non-discrimination, remuneration, flexible working, and conditions of employment. When hiring, be sure to list your business’ diversity policy in the job specification too. Policies and guidelines – for instance, around reasonable adjustments and menopause at work – are also important tools for your managers to provide the best possible support to their teams.

Legal requirements – All UK businesses are required by law to protect individual rights and promote equality, diversity, and inclusion. These requirements are set out in the Equality Act 2010 – view our guide to learn more.

Zero-tolerance policies – One of the most immediate, effective strategies to manage diversity in the workplace is to introduce a zero-tolerance policy against harassment, bullying, and discrimination. This ensures that any such allegations are taken seriously and investigated. Learn more in EW Group’s guide.

Culture and environment

How you cultivate your workplace culture and environment is key to managing diversity at the workplace and ensuring that employees of all backgrounds and cultures feel welcome and play a valuable part within your organisation.

1. Improve communication – You must promote transparency and dialogue between yourself and your staff. This might mean keeping employees abreast of changes and priorities within the company, but importantly, policies, work expectations, and processes. Provide plenty of clear information and encourage staff to share their thoughts and experiences, and you will be able to overcome cultural barriers and guarantee every member of staff is on the same, productive page.
2. Celebrate individuality – Diverse teams are exactly that. As such, it is important that you treat your staff as the diverse group of individuals they are – without unduly focusing in on their backgrounds.
3. Encourage diverse teams – While it may not be possible to establish all teams as visibly diverse, diversity is multi-faceted. Try to encourage team members to work in non-homogenous groups. This can improve cultural understanding among team members, as well as unlock the benefits of workplace diversity.
4. Training your staff to welcome diversity – Unconscious bias, diversity, or inclusive culture training are all excellent ways of breaking down and understanding established inequalities and negative perceptions of diversity within your organisation. At EW Group, our training is designed to be sensitive to all participants; a way for individuals to constructively comprehend their own prejudices, better understand the views and backgrounds of others, and use this knowledge practically in everyday work.

These are some of the most common strategies used to manage diversity in the workplace, but every business is different. That’s why the EW Group employs a tailored approach to diversity strategy development that accounts for your business’ particular make-up and objectives. Contact our team of experts today to learn more.