Within this answer, I am going to discuss the definition of diversity management as well as giving an example of a business case discussed in one of our lectures and giving a few suggestions of ways in which, a business can create and maintain a diverse workforce.
Diversity management can be defined as when a business recruits a diverse range of people with differences within their workforce working for them. By ensuring this, the business will be more productive and can meet organisational targets and goals in a more efficient manner as well as creating a competitive advantage for themselves against competitors as in recent times. This is because diversity has become more popular and more attractive to job seekers as well as acting as a motivator to those already working in the business as it makes them feel valued.
Many large organisations with mass influence in our modern society, such as tech company Samsung and accounting firm Deloitte, believe that there is a strong business case present for diversity management due to the competitive advantage it can bring by increasing performance amongst employees and therefore for the business as well as leading to employee satisfaction due to them feeling valued. In one of our lectures, there was an example business case discussed involving a law firm, Linklater. The firm heavily suggested that one of their main aims was to create a culture of commitment with their employees by creating an environment of comfort and inclusion for their diverse workforce. To defy stereotypes against gender and increase the diversity in their firm, they have made a commitment to strive to include and increase the female leadership roles to ensure it is at least at an equal level as the male gender. This will continue to help lower the problem of the gender pay gap of 18% in the UK as according to the UK government this is the lowest it has ever been, showing that society is progressing into a better position and not defying or being unfair towards people due to their gender. The firm is also attempting to be more inclusive of people from all different types of backgrounds whether it be their social class, race or religion and this would in turn create a more diverse, valued and happy workforce.
In my opinion, I feel there is a business case for diversity management as firms like Linklater are attempting to make an effort to be more diverse. Although I am aware that others may feel there is not a business case due to reasons such as the fact there is already legislation in place for diverse groups such as it being illegal to pay men and women different due to their gender. Following on from this, there are multiple different ways for businesses to create a diverse workforce. Firms can start by ensuring their human resource management process is adequate and is purposely seeking to recruit a range of diverse people which will create a diverse workforce with a variety of different talents and abilities they can bring to the firm. For example, accounting firms such as PWC and Deloitte visit different schools to promote their apprenticeship programmes for school leavers which in turn will allow for them to have an increased diverse workforce due to the different locations of schools they visit. Another important way to create a diverse workforce is to identify and acknowledge that the firm has a lack of diverse people and needs to branch out as this will speed up the process of diversity management due to the firm being self-aware of their situation.
Firms should already have ensured they have a rigid training programme in place for their employees but they can increase diversity by making an optional ‘module’ of diversity training which means employees have the option to do additional training which would help them better understand the importance of diversity in the first place. The last point I am going to make is also important and it is suggesting that firms should ensure they are celebrating all of their employees. This means that firms should be celebrating the likes of Christmas and easter which are the obvious holidays to celebrate but firms should also branch out and educate themselves on other celebratory days for their employees such as the likes of LGBT month and women’s history month. In conclusion, I feel that diversity management is important for firms to define in their culture and I personally agree that there is a business case for diversity management and I also have identified that there are many ways for firms to create a more diverse workforce.
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