Top 7 Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace

A diverse workforce can help give your business a competitive advantage and speed up the process of finding solutions for complex problems. Cultural diversity in the workplace can also make for a more enjoyable working environment and cut down on turnover in your company, which can help you save money on training employees.

If you’re wondering about the benefits of having a diverse workplace, our list of seven benefits can bring to light some overlooked opportunities that can help your team excel and your business grow.

Increased Innovation

When you put a group of people together that have a diverse range of talents and experience, they can try out different ideas and get feedback from their peers that they wouldn’t get from a more homogenous group. For example, if one person is great at thinking outside of the box, that could be very useful when leveraged with individuals who have the experience to execute.

Innovation also comes from unlikely places and having individuals with different strengths and weaknesses means that collaboration is critical. Since these unique individuals will approach each problem differently, you’re more likely to get a solution that can provide a competitive advantage instead of one used over and over in the industry.

Skills, Talent, And Experience

Companies that have a more diverse workplace are more likely to attract candidates from different backgrounds and skill sets. This range of candidates means you’ll likely be able to get an individual with skills that better complement your current team, instead of settling for the person who best fits the requirements but is not ideal.

A diverse workplace also allows for more talent and experience to blend, and this means that the strengths of one employee can complement the strengths and weaknesses of the group as a whole. A more excellent range of expertise also promotes:

• More creative thinking when it comes to problem-solving
• Better decision making overall
• The ability to avoid a more significant number of potential pitfalls or mistakes

To gather diverse individuals, you can also offer benefits like flexible scheduling that helps make working more accessible for individuals such as students, retirees, and stay at home parents. If your business requires a scalable warehousing or call center workforce, MyWorkChoice can build flexibility into your current operations, making your jobs appealing to these individuals.

Opportunities Created By Language Skills

A more diverse workforce puts your company in an advantageous position when it comes to community outreach and relations. Language skills are a valuable tool when reaching out to specific demographics and having someone on staff to help the company easily navigate these waters can save you both time and money.

Another invaluable aspect of language skills is that they allow your company the opportunity to overcome obstacles more easily when expanding into other countries, and smooths the transition as your company grows towards operating on a global basis.

Reduced Turnover And Improved Hiring

We know that a diverse workforce is less likely to see as much turnover as one that is more uniform. Still, an often-overlooked fact is the improvement in hiring that can take place when diversity in the workplace is a priority.

Diversity in the workplace makes the working environment more vibrant for employees and offers up a chance for learning new things as productive work takes place. Establishing diversity in the workplace can also help the company to make better hires in the future as they attract higher quality talent.

Increased Employee Performance, Engagement, And Creativity

Cultural diversity in the workplace can help make all employees feel more comfortable and accepting of others that they work alongside. When employees feel comfortable and accepted, they are much more likely to engage in active problem solving and productivity. 

The increase in creativity can also link to the variety of backgrounds that people in the workplace have, which helps them contribute based on the varied experiences that provide them with a unique perspective.

Likewise, when employees receive exposure to a broader range of experiences, perspectives, and views, their creativity increases as a result of this stimulus. Putting individuals together that come from different backgrounds is an excellent way to get higher levels of engagement and more creative solutions that are cutting edge.

Better Problem Solving And Decision Making

Whether your company needs problems solved quickly, or whether you have some time, finding solutions is critical. Harvard Business Review found that when teams formed using cultural diversity principles, they were able to find answers to problems faster than when individuals were more similar to their peers.

The Harvard Business Review found that when there’s more diversity in age, gender, and ethnicity, the teams were more productive, creative, and able to execute swiftly despite team sizes averaging 16 people.

The teams in question included graduate students, senior executives, scientists, general managers, teachers, and teenagers, and the results primarily stem from cognitive diversity that influences perspectives and processing styles when it comes to information.

Improving The Company’s Reputation

Cognitive diversity may be less visible than other kinds of diversity, but the solutions and smart decisions that your employees come up with can directly impact your company’s reputation. It’s not enough to hire employees that are a mix in terms of age, ethnicity, and gender, as those characteristics are only half of the equation when it comes to a diversified workforce.

Cultural barriers may get in the way of cognitive diversity, but the company can break down these barriers when they alter their hiring practices to prioritize finding individuals that bring with them highly varied experiences, perspectives, and skills.

Once the word gets out that your company has changed its practices, your reputation will quickly improve with potential employees. After you hire these individuals with their valuable skills and talent, you’ll also see the status of your company adjusts as your employees work more effectively and efficiently as a diversified team.

Final Thoughts

Increasing the diversity of your workforce may seem daunting at first, but when you prioritize the experiences, skills, and talents available in different individuals, you can increase the effectiveness of your company while also improving your overall reputation. 

Another useful feature is that employee retention goes up, which can decrease training costs and knowledge loss that may hinder different parts of your business. Once you begin to create diversity in the workplace, you’ll also see how it pairs nicely with other features like flexible scheduling.