Benefits of a diverse organisation

⇢ We live in a land of diversity. Organizations in

this country have employees from different
religions, speaking diverse languages,
belonging to various castes, regions of origin
and even dissimilar sexual orientation. More
women have entered the workforce, and those
Benefits with a physical disability are beginning to find
a place for themselves. To top it off, 65% of
India’s population is below the age of 35,
making even generational diversity a huge
force to reckon with at the workplace.
Organizations are dealing with the various
forms of diversity like never.
But the good news is that many top organizations are doing a great job of
harnessing the potential that diversity brings with it. Those who focus on building
inclusive environments for collective growth have reaped significant financial
dividends too. Here are a few examples of how they do it.
 ⇢ Globally, organizations want to benefit from
gender diversity not only because it is the right
thing to do, but also because it results in
tangible benefits to the organization. Women
are known to be creative and excellent at multi-
tasking. They unite co-workers, accept
Gender feedback and communicate better thereby
directly enhancing the productivity of an
Diversity organization. Women also impact 70% of
purchasing decisions either directly or through
a multiplier effect of their families whom they
influence or for whom they buy. As employees
who are incidentally dominant consumers, the
presence of women in organizations makes a
positive difference.
A look at the analysis1 done by The Boston Consulting Group and the Technical
University of Munich in the relationship between diversity in management and
innovation reveals this. ‘Organizations with the greatest gender diversity (8 out of 20
managers being female) created 34% of their revenues from innovative products and
services in the recent three-year period. Compared to those companies with the least
gender diversity (only 1 in 20 managers were female) who created innovation revenues
of 25%. The study showed that innovation revenues begin only when >20% of
managers at an organization are female’.

SAP, for instance, has taken gender diversity very seriously. In 2017, it achieved its
commitment to increase women in leadership positions to 25%.

Several other companies are emulating such practices.

 ⇢ Chances are that you have heard of the
inclusion of people with physical disability at
‘The Lemon Tree group’. As on 21st July
2017, it employed 662 ODIs (Opportunity
Deprived Indians including those with a
Physical physical disability), which is around 22% of
its workforce.
Disability ⇢ Aradhana Lal2 (Vice President –
Sustainability Initiatives at The Lemon Tree
Hotel Company) mentions that the
productivity of the specially-abled staff is at
times higher than that of regular staff.
While the housekeeping room boys clean around 16 rooms a day, a person with
SHI (speech and hearing impaired) cleans around 19 rooms a day making them
nearly 15% more productive than their colleagues.
Employing those with physical disabilities not only helps businesses give back to
society, it also helps them raise their productivity.
 ⇢ To tackle generational diversity, most
organizations have begun designing
policies and practices around ‘cohorts’, a
huge move from their earlier ‘one-size-
fits-all’ approach.
⇢ For instance, Schneider Electric,
Generationa Starbucks, and Verizon use Instagram to
post job ads to target the millennial’s
l Diversity who aren’t very active on Facebook or
LinkedIn. Microsoft has adopted the
practice of ‘reverse mentoring’ sessions
where millennial’s mentor leadership, to
help them stay abreast of what
millennial’s truly look for.
The tricky part of generational diversity is handling the conflicts arising due to the
differences in the interpersonal work-style between a boss and a team member
(belonging to different generations). Millennial’s are the first generation born with
digital technology and hence hooked to it. They get bored easily and expect a fast
pace growth in their careers. A boss belonging to an earlier generation has a
significantly different approach towards life, effort, rewards, growth, spending habits
etc. when compared to the millennial’s. This difference eventually spills over to work,
creating conflicts. Even more so, when the millennial is the boss and team members
are from Gen X for instance.

A very common problem is the baby boomer generation expecting respect for
seniority, while millennials respond with meritocracy and independence.

Tacking the sensitive aspects of generational diversity wisely can help organizations
utilize the strengths of the various generations effectively.
 ⇢ The recent Pepsi advertisement that
features Kendall Jenner fell into controversy
for undermining
Religious the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Several
critics questioned the diversity of the team
Diversity & of creators of the advertisement. They
argued that had it been a truly diverse team,
Region of such an ad would have never made it out to
origin the world.
Organizations benefit largely by hiring people of diverse outlooks, religions and
regions. Employees with diverse upbringing, bring fresh views and ideas to the
table increasing the collective creativity and innovation levels of the teams.
Organizations tread gently when it comes to religious diversity. Those that
understand the sensitivities of a deeply personal topic like religion have set
practices in place to ensure that the organization stays neutral.
Work culture is influenced by the decisions on whom to hire and whom to
promote. If promotions and hiring have any religious undertones to it or
implications of ‘region of origin’ to it, it can bias existing employees and cost the
company its reputation as well.
Organizations need to ensure that bosses are absolutely merit oriented in their
decisions regarding team members.
It is only by favoring diversity and indoctrinating the concept of inclusion, that
organizations can create an environment of respect and involvement. This allows
best perspectives and ideas to flourish leading to the employees and organization
benefiting collectively.