Diversity And Inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion

It is imperative for an organisation to be diverse in terms of people constituting the organisation. The reason is definitely not socialistic. It rather lies in synergy that diversity creates by sheer different palates it brings to the organisation in terms of thought processes and creativity. An organisation will surely not sustain if it fails to incorporate diversity in its fabric. A company which fails to diversify will definitely lose out on a large customer base that will definitely not identify with it. A very good example is, HSBC which strongly focuses on diversity of all kinds in its talent pool, which allows it to operate successfully throughout the world. A company that sees itself thriving for a long time must therefore seriously recruit from different ages, genders, geographies for each brings a perspective which can give a new dimension to the business.

Diversity also brings with it a lot of conflict of ideas and inclusion is a way of managing all these differences in a healthy manner. Inclusion is providing a sense of belonging and respect to a person with an assurance that there would be fair and unbiased treatment irrespective of any clauses. Productivity depends a lot on the way diversity is managed and inclusion brought in. Although these are great values for an organisation to succeed but they need to be handled in a very sensitive way. This surely is a challenge to most organisations as many-a-times fair treatment of one group is seen as naturally unfair to the other. The organisations also need to be very open in their approach and unambiguous on such issues so that wrong perceptions do not float. For example in case of recruitment or appraisal both the criterion for performance and diversity should be clearly published so that no conflicts arise later.

A very important question which organisations face is – how much diversity is right? The answer lies in the strategy and the mission of the organisation. A strategically aligned diversity policy creates value for customers and itself.

Diversity paired with inclusion is what sets a truly global business apart from the rest.