Workforce Diversity Notes

With the growing globalization of today’s economy, achieving diversity in the workplace is a
smart move to make. Most people think of a diversified workplace as a working environment
that includes employees of different genders, ethnicities, and racial backgrounds. 

The meaning of diversity has become more complex. A diversified workforce includes people
with variety across a number of different categories, such as:

Religion

Culture

Sexual orientation

Language

Educational backgrounds

Skills and abilities

Embracing the changes related to diversity in the workplace will take your business to great
heights.

The Advantages of Having a Diverse Workplace

When you put a variety of individuals together in the same room, you’ll get different
perspectives and opinions that can benefit your business. This will allow your business to grow in
a number of ways.

Below is a list of 5 advantages that a diversified workforce can bring to your company:

Greater Creativity and Innovation

Whenever a group of like-minded people are put together, they will generate similar ideas. This
is because their thinking patterns are very much alike. However, if you change things up by
mixing diverse individuals together, you’ll have a workforce that’s more prone to creativity and
innovation — two important ingredients for success.

A heterogeneous workforce will be able to exchange unique perspectives and spark fresh ideas.
A good example here is the Disney brand, which boasts a highly diversified enterprise with more
than 200,000 employees worldwide.

Increased Productivity

Diversity and productivity go hand in hand. Research has found that diversifying your team
can boost productivity by 35%. A diverse workforce is more likely to understand your customers’
needs and come up with ideas to fulfill them. Diversity in the workplace will also increase
employee morale and instill a desire to be more effective and work more efficiently. This will
greatly increase the productivity of your business.
Reduced Employee Turnover

A workplace that encourages diversity and inclusion will make employees feel valued and
accepted. This will ensure happiness among your workforce. Happy workers will stay with your
company for longer, meaning you’ll spend less money and time on recruiting. By reducing your
employee turnover, you’ll have more time and funds to invest elsewhere in your business.

Connect to a Wider Range of Consumers

If you want to target a wide range of consumers, you’ll need a diverse workforce. By hiring
individuals of varying backgrounds, languages, etc. you can ensure that your company appeals to
a wider target market. Because your employees come from different backgrounds, they’ll be
able to connect with consumers from all walks of life.

Increased Revenue

Increasing revenue is a priority in any company. By reaping all the benefits of a diverse
workforce, you will come closer to your ultimate goal of increasing profits. A recent study by
the Boston Consulting Group found that companies with a diverse workforce and increased
innovation generated 19% more revenue than companies with lower diversity scores. The proof
is in the numbers.

The Challenges of Creating a Diverse Workforce

As with anything in life, creating a diverse workforce doesn’t come easy. Below is a list of 3
challenges you may face along the way:

Unfair Prejudices

Unfortunately, there are individuals who cannot tolerate people who are different from them.
This can result in acts of racism, sexual harassment, or even religious discrimination.

If these difficulties develop in your company, it can create an uncomfortable (and even
dangerous) work environment and damage your company’s reputation.

You will need to implement strict policies against any forms of discrimination in the workplace
and take immediate action against those who don’t adhere to the rules.

Communication Barriers

Having a diverse team could mean that some of the members speak foreign languages. This
could result in a communication gap between employees, which will negatively impact your
company’s productivity.

You can avoid this by hiring multilingual individuals to perform translations. There are also
various translation apps on the market that you can choose from. You can even consider sending
employees to educational courses to learn new languages. As a side bonus, this will aid them in
communicating with foreign customers.

Bridging the communication gap between employees will make your company grow and open
up more doors to success.

Different Interpretations of Professional Etiquette

 Different cultures have different traditions. In addition to that, they also have different values
and etiquette when it comes to the workplace. This may cause misunderstandings between
team members and potentially lead to conflict.

For example, in Japanese culture, it’s customary when visiting someone else’s office to wait until
the host asks you to sit down. Therefore, a Japanese employee may find it offensive when a U.S.
colleague enters their office and immediately takes a seat.

To overcome this and prevent conflict in the workplace, make sure that your employees
understand and respect each other’s traditions.

SOME OF THE WAYS FOR SOLVING WD ISSUES INCLUDE:

Encouraging the use of common language in the organization among the employees

By conducting various motivational and mentorship programs

By keeping the channels of communication open among the employees and employers

By encouraging employee participation

Further one should accept the fact it is not the matter of culture in fact it is the matter of quality.
Therefore, for improving productivity, quality has to be maintained and not thrown out.

Steps of Planning WORKFORCE DIVERSITY

Step 1 – Set Strategic Direction:

An agency’s vision, mission, and measurable goals and objectives drive the identification of future
functional requirements. In turn, those requirements drive the analysis and elements of the
workforce plan.

When identifying future functional requirements, focus on function, not on the people needed to do
the job. The overreaching question is – “What key function needs to be performed in order to
accomplish the goals and objectives set out in the strategic plan?” This may include many of the
organization’s current functions, in addition to forecasting important future and activities.

Step 2 – Conduct Workforce Analysis:

The key element in the workforce planning process is an analysis of workforce data. It considers
information such as – job classification, skills, experience, retirement eligibility, diversity, turnover
rates, education, and trend data. This step reviews the work that will be required for an agency to
achieve its goals and objectives, the knowledge and skill sets, and the staffing levels necessary to
perform that work.

There are two phases in conducting the workforce analysis:

The Workforce Demand Forecast identifies the future workforce needed by an organisation. The
focus of this step should be on the work the organisation must perform and on the staff needed to
perform that work. In this step, identify the current work functions being performed and on the staff
needed to perform that work.

In this step, identify the current work functions being performed, future or new function that will
need to be performed, and how the work will be performed in order to achieve the goals of strategic
plan. We may also identify current function which will not be necessary in the future due to changes
in technology or responsibility in providing specific services.

The Workforce Supply analysis focuses on an organisation existing and future workforce supply. It
answers the question, “What is the existing profile of the current workforce, and what does it need
to be in the future to accomplish the organisation goals and objectives?”

Once the work functions that must be performed have been focus on defining the staffing, or
workforce, needed to perform those functions, possess to successfully perform the work, determine
the number of staff with these competencies that the organisation will need to accomplish its
functions.

Step 3 – Conduct Gap Analysis:

Gap analysis is the process of comparing the workforce supply projection to the workforce demand
forecast, an analysis should consider the composition of the workforce, including demographic
characteristics, geographic location, size, and employee competencies level. The agency will
establish workforce strategies based on the results of this analysis.

Analysis results may show one of the following:

i. A gap (when projected supply is less than forecasted demand), which indicates a future shortages
of needed workers or skills; it is important to know what critical jobs will have gaps so the necessary
training or recruiting can be anticipated.

ii. A surplus (When projected supply is greater than forecasted), which indicates a future excess in
some categories of workers and may require action. The surplus data may represent job
classifications or skills that will not be needed in the future or at least may be needed to some
extent.

Step 4 – Develop Strategies:

Once an organisation identifies a workforce gap, it needs to develop and implement effective
strategies to fill the gap. Critical gaps should be analyzed with care to ensure that timely action is
taken before these gaps become a problem for the organization.

A wide range of strategies to address future gaps and surpluses exists, Strategies include the
programmes, policies, and practices that assist organisations in recruiting developing and retaining
the critical staff needed to achieve programme goals.

Strategies can fall into broad categories of:

i. Position classification actions, redefining title series, adding new job classification, reallocating job
classes, and rewriting position descriptions to better reflect future functional requirements.

ii. Staff development strategies to find and hire qualified candidates from various sources to include
other organisations or the occupations.

iii. Recruitment/selection strategies to find and hire qualified candidates from various sources to
include other organisations or the private sector.

iv. Retention strategies to encourage employees to stay in the agency.

v. Organizational interventions such as – redeployment of staff or reorganization.

vi. Succession planning strategies to prepare to ensure that there are highly qualified candidates
capable of filling critical positions.

vii. Knowledge transfer strategies to capture the knowledge of experienced employees before they
leave the organisation.

Strategies should be kept to a manageable number. They should be prioritised to allow an

organisation to focus its resources on the most important strategies first.

Step 5 – Implement Strategies:

Implementation brings the organisations workforce plan to life. An agency may need a separate
action plan to address the implementation of each strategy in the workforce plan.

Before implementing the plan, organisations should:

i. Ensure that there is executive support for the workforce strategies.

ii. Allocate necessary resources to identify workforce strategies.

iii. Clarify roles and responsibility in implementing strategies. This includes identifying who is
involved in implementing what, and where coordination among different parts of the organization or
with different agencies is needed.

iv. Establish timelines.

v. Determine performance measures and milestones and expected deliverables.

vi. Communicate the plan. The basis of the plan, as well as its elements, should be communicated to
all employees, as to why and how it was developed, how it will be applied, and how it will affect
staff.

Step 6 – Monitor, Evaluate and Revise:

Ongoing evaluations and adjustments are important in workforce planning and are key to
continuous improvement. If an organisation does not regularly review its workforce planning efforts,
it risks failing to identify and respond to unanticipated changes.

Organisations should establish a process that allows for a regular review of their workforce planning
efforts to:
i. Review performance measurement information.

ii. Assess what is working and what is not working.

iii. Adjst the plan and strategies as necessary.

iv. Address new workforce and organizational issues that occur.

MCQ (Bold= Correct Answer)

In a _____workforce environment, everyone will work hard to give their best.

reductive

inductive

vindictive

conducive

Most innovation comes from feedback and__________,

brainwashing

conflicts

brainstorming

none of these

When people are happy at work, the overall__________improves

morale

discussions

income

none of these

As a business leader, a company can foster diversity through training _______and building
exercises.

body

money

team

customer

5.__________is discrimination and stereotyping based on age.

racism
 communism

ageism

none of these

As a business owner, one must consider recruiting prospects from a________pool of resources.

broader b) narrow c) total d) higher

All_________creates a healthy atmosphere at workplace,

exclusiveness b) inclusiveness c) separate d) Mix

Business leaders attribute high company morale as one reason that __________is low.

Employer turnover b) turnover c) employee turnover d)sales

9.__________is an expedient means by which people are grouped and identified based on
geographic origins and physical attributes.

Run b) Win c) Cast d) Race

10. An___________distinction may cross national borders and is often identified as a minority
group.

Ethnic b) unethical c) cast d) race

11. An organization should recognise the________advantage of a diverse workforce

monocultural

bi-cultural

multicultural

none of the above

12. ______and internalization are two of the gifts that workforce diversity brings to the table.

World War

Globalisation

Education

none of these

13. If management gets an___________understanding of the culture of a particular culture

superficial

overall

in-depth

none of these

14. Effective___________is of utmost importance for success of an organization

communication
polarisation

monetization

centralination

15. Even in a__________workplace exclusive social groups naturally happens.

diverse

non-diverse

mixed

none of these

16. ____________is an unfair and unreasonable opinion or feeling, especially when formed
without enough thought or

knowledge.

sub-judice

prejudice

perjury

none of these

17. Local market knowledge and insight makes a business more competitive and_______

profitable

differentiable

domitable

none of these

18. ___________communication can be misinterpreted or difficult to understand across

languages and cultures.

casual

personal

professional

educational

19. Certain managers or employees may be prone to making incorrect casual___________,

retributions

attributions

contributions

none of these
20. People from diverse backgrounds can provide ideas for adapting to_________ customer
demands.

dynamic

static

conservative

regressive

21. As the __________diverse an organization is, the more difficult it is to attract diversity to
that organization.

more

less

mild

none of these

22. In case of__________hiring, it is important to keep in mind that the goal is to hire diverse
people.

network

group

individual

none of these

23. Recruiters should ___________seek to recruit diverse people.

passively

foresightedly

actively

none of these

24. The posting should clearly communicate that the organization does not____________

incriminate

negotiate

discriminate

adjust

25. for drawing the most value out of a diverse workforce, it is important to avoid ________of
diverse people in some departments or functions.

separating

segregating
clustering

d )none of these

26. It is important to communicate that the organisation values diversity also when it comes
to________

promotions

hiring

firing

separations

27. Diverse associates in the organisation will appreciate knowing that________is not tolerated

enjoyment

collaboration

competition

harassment

28. A__________training will communicate that the organisation takes diversity and inclusion
seriously

voluntary

mandatory

Optional

none of these

29. Organisations may view__________workers as being more aware of the organization

experienced

young

temporary

none of these

30._________ has an important part to play in fostering and promoting diversity

marketing

HR

employee

chairman

31. Workforce diversity is becoming a key agent of change in strengthening________companies.

national

local
multinational

none of these

32.______programs can be of great help in bringing on nontraditional workers within a

company.

mentoring

hiring

training

none of these

33. Managers supervising a diverse workforce must be prepared to manage___________needs

in a sensitive and

appropriate manner.

ability

disability

manageability

none of these

34. Diversity training is an essential part of building wareness anda _________work environment

divisive

by submissive

regressive

cohesive

35. An effective diversity and inclusion training program starts at the___________of any
organization

top

middle

lower

none of these

36. Workplace diversity training is an____________in your employees

disinvestment

investment

refinement

none of these

37. Workplaces with greater engagement also have greater____________

turnover

attrition

retention

none of these

38. Diversity training brings issues of cultural ____________and discriminatory practices to the
light.

bias

similarity

separation

none of these

39. For a minority employee,___________is often the only method by which to seek the
appropriate resources to complete

an assignment.

hide and seek

one size fits all

trial and error

none of these

40. Assignments that__________employees tend to maintain their enthusiasm and increase

their performance.

demotivate

Enhance

exhaust

challenge

41.___work teams enable employees get to know and value one another on an individual basis

another on an individual basis.

similar

concurrent

diverse

none of these

42. Managers must recognize their own cultural biases and______________,

prejudices

beliefs
ideas

none of these

43. Managing diversity is a__________process for creating a work environment that includes
everyone.

separate

defining

powerful

none of these

44. An__________culture is one where everyone feels valued and respected and is able to fully
contribute to the

organizational goals.

inclusive

exclusive

submissive

regressive

45. Diversity is______to innovation

subordinate

central

supplementary

none of these

46. An Inclusive Leadership Model identifies___________ mindsets.

one

two

four

five

47. Organisational ____________play an important role in setting the tone for the shift towards
increased diversity

shareholders

leaders

employees

none of these
48. An__________approach can help to negate many fears that people have when it comes to
addressing diversity,

motivational

oppressive

educational

none of these

49. Each individual is __________and does not represent or speak for a particular group

same

unique

simple

none of these

50. Diversity and inclusion is best nurtured in an_________work place where mistakes can be
used for learning

closed

b) fixed

open

none of these

51. Diversity can help to create a climate of ______and prevent a company from making
mistakes.

competition

hatred

respect

none of these

52. When a company's culture is_________ ethnic, it's easier to limit one down in the bubble
and think that our views are

universal

di

mono

tri

poly

53. In some cases,____________leads to the creation of policies that make it harder for women
and minorities to succeed.

comfort
struggle

discomfort

none of these

54 Having a_________worldorce helps to build even more diversity allowing companies to cast a
wider net when searching

for new talent

disparate

similar

creative

dj none of these

55. Diversity in the workplace should start with____________,

owners

employees

subordinates

supervisors

56. Employers who fail to do so are likely to experience__________reduced productivity

support

conflict

unity

none of these

57. Companies should hold diversity_________sessions to reinforce policies and encourage

appropriate behavior.

talking

training

working

investment

58.________helps new employees to become familiar with the company

recruitment

selection

transfer

orientation

59. Organisation must develop________ cultural training programmes

cross

straight

mid

none of these

60. the goal of __________approach is to create a company that truly provides equal
opportunity for people of diverse

backgrounds

brand image

affirmative action

culture of acceptance

none of these

61. Diversity is _____ in order to maintain a competitive business advantage.

comparative

optional

imperative

none of these

62. It is incumbent upon organizations to capitalize on the______ of our diversity

richness

hollowness

worthiness

none of these

63. Success in workforce diversity begins with an active and visible_____________by senior
leaders.

detachment

commitment

separation

agreement

64. Demographic shifts create __________in organizations.

calmness

aloofness

tension

none of these
65. Diversity can be__________ or perceived differences between people.

artificial

varied

real

similar

66._____is more complex than simply noticing the diversity or differences that exist in society.

multiculturalism

monoculturalism

biculturalism

none of these

67.___________diversity is about understanding the differences that exist within and between
different countries.

local

regional

global

none of these

68. Poorly designed training programs are__________to the promotion of diversity in MNCs.

most productive

counterproductive

cost productive

none of these

69. Many firms prefer diverse teams because they often perform better than_____teams.

homogenous

indigenous

heterogenous

none of these

70. Businesses and companies that fail to foster inclusive workplaces experience
have_______turnover rates.

lower

basic

higher

best
71. with aging population and more people delaying retirement _________discrimination is
gaining attention.

gender

racial

age

religious

72. With unemployment at a low, there's a general__________shortage.

talent

labour

money

none of these

73. Industry experts argue the most effective way to move the needle on diversity is to
create___ personal

profitability

feasibility

accountability

none of these

74. The boundaries between workplace and political movements are ______

increasing

fading

widening

enhancing

75._______or webcasts enable businesses to ensure that staff is always connected.

seminar

manuscript

webinar

none of these

76. Teams characterised by diversity have the capability to access________networks of

relationships.

narrower

broader

slimmer
none of these

77. There may be times when employees'_______ beliefs clash with the organization's diversity
policies.

cultural

financial

religious

none of these

78. Discrimination on the basis of_____ is not prohibited under the law for those involved in the
private sector.

religion

sex

class

Language