Human Resource
vate a culture that encourages collaboration, flexibility, and fairness to enable individuals to contribute to their full potential and further retention. The whole essence of inclusion is work due to the differences, not despite them. The impetus for Diversity –Inclusion programs should come from CEO and/or the board of directors, i.e, the top management. Also it has to be made one of the core corporate values of the company. Practicing inclusion involves reviewing leadership development programs for any barriers, mentoring for aspiring executive level employees, developing and implementing succession planning system for mission-critical occupations etc. Cultivating a fair, inclusive, supportive, welcoming work environment is at the heart of inclusion management. It demands flexible workplace policies and employee engagement encouragement which extends beyond telework, flexiplace, wellness programs, work-life flexibilities and benefits. In addition, counseling employees when Inclusion-related problem arises and continual talent development also need their fair share. Many companies have realized that internal employee networks help to keep the Diversity discussion alive, and to pinpoint areas where further work is needed to diversify teams and departments. Designing and administering a robust orientation program for new employees would play an important role in aligning the employees with the organization culture, and in providing them with networking opportunities. To ensure a supply of qualified, diverse candidates for senior-level jobs, focus must start at the bottom of the pyramid by grooming promising employees. Though the center point of all these activities is the Head of HR, these programs can best be implemented through line managers. More importantly, there cannot be a single Diversity goal for organizations around the World. It should differ according to the local culture of the company. Ongoing training and communication would help to create and maintain a corporate culture that welcomes Diversity. The search for new diverse talent pool should also be ongoing, to meet evolving staffing needs. All these should be topped by establishing a quantitative Diversity goal and matrices to track its progress in place. In addition, appropriate management incentives need to be given for the effort of Diversity recruitment and promotion to the middle managers. Apparently, promoting diversity creates inequa lity. Employee selection is majorly based on physical and social characteristics rather than their pure performance. Sensitivities about the fairness implications of setting quotas and practicing what some view as “reverse discrimination” has complicated the process of defining Diversity goals and tracking results. Recruiting a diverse workforce changes the way people interact in an organization in turn affecting the company’s culture. For the same reason, the biggest resistance to diversity implementation comes from within the organization. Training is hence considered more important than recruitment to increase the understanding of each other thus improving the way they work together. However, the companies can only go so far in encouraging a mindset of Diversity among their employees. When Diversity of thoughtdue to differences in cultural or educational background, or to individual psychological make-up—exceeds a certain range of acceptability, Diversity becomes counter-productive. For the continued ability of a company to function, some degree of cultural conformity is necessary. The main issue is to ensure that the differences remain within a certain bandwidth. A very large company can exercise control through governance and processes more easily if there is a common belief system and common norms and behaviors. Perhaps because Diversity complicates the completion of tasks in its initial stages, the biggest barrier is found in middle management, where departmental or team projects are carried out. Similarly, from the senior levels of the organization, the greatest barriers to Diversity are a lack of top-level commitment, a general attitude of indifference and a sense that management is sufficiently diverse. Another barrier to implementing Diversity programs is legal complexity surrounding the collection of data on recruitment and promotion. In certain countries, assembling racial and ethnic data on employees is expressly forbidden. In addition, companies try to establish the relation between Diversity and bottom-line which could be hard to asses in most cases. Companies need to understand that qualities like trust, confidence, team-cohesion etc. cannot be measured quantitatively. Diversity and Inclusion have come to be accepted worldwide as a collective business topic. They have become essential business tools today. The reasons vary from moral considerations to profitability. Nevertheless, having a diverse yet inclusive atmosphere would help in using those resources which would otherwise remain under-utilized. By honoring Diversity and Inclusion, an organization would be able to create an environment of trust, respect and tolerance along with appreciating, recognizing and utilizing the unique insights, perspectives and backgrounds of others. A combination of fresh thinking and experience is the most powerful ammunition an organization can have in its arsenal to beat the competition. The more organizations focus on creating an inclusive culture, the better opportunity they have to demonstrate agility in overcoming today’s economic barriers.
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iNM - Magazine Vol. 4