It has been proven time and time again that diversity brings great rewards – super empowered staff, loyal and happy staff, people who believe in your organisation and what you do and are keen to voice their ideas and more.
However, diversity is often piece meal or not genuine, from advertising styles to actual employee numbers. It’s almost oh we have one……(diverse individual) we have ticked that box, but it is not genuine.
Fear is often the factor – how do we manage staff members who are not as we are? How do we deal with their individual needs and beliefs – how do we get rid of them without facing a tribunal? How do we manage our diverse workforce and they then outnumber us?
More work for employers to do and of course they have to manage the prejudices of their staff, often already rife with who is going to get promotion first (depending on whom is having a fling with the boss), who is “in” with HR; unfilled promises creating negativity; flexible hours for some, not for others and so on.
Time to plan. Have a robust and proper diversity plan and evaluate it every six months and believe in it, which amounts to not only having a genuine vision but also that every employee you have has their own personal development plan which is taken seriously, addressed and supported, so that everyone achieves their goals, whatever they may be.
Just as you have a First Aider and H&S person in your business, however small, have a dedicated diversity person (not their sole responsibility, but part of their role with x hours a week dedicated to this), who has no axe to grind, can build bridges and enlist support from bodies who support diversity, however it manifests itself – tough but possible. (We are all individuals not robots after all, not yet and hopefully never despite the advances of AI.) You must listen to them though! You will then be on your way to true diversity and will flourish and retain staff.