Diversity is a vital component of HR regulation

Why should your HR department ensure diversity?

The Human Resources department has a responsibility to not only encourage diversity, but also strengthen it.
First, what exactly is diversity? In simple terms, according to Business 2 Community, diversity is the differences between communities, including age, ethnicity, gender, religion, and culture, among many others. Why is it important?
Maintaining a diverse workforce has a range of benefits for both workers and office environments.
A lack of diversity can:

• Create a hostile or less than welcoming workplace
• Decrease productivity
• Decrease the range of new applicants
• Hamper efforts to retain workers.

If you’re struggling with diversity as a whole, creating a team of HR employees that deal specifically with diversity standards and changes may help. According to a Forbes Global Diversity and Inclusion Study, almost 70 percent of companies have an internal board or committee to oversee diversity.
Once a team is created to address diversity issues, creating a plan is a great next step. This plan should include goals, both long-term and short, in addition to a dissection of company culture and employee input.
Keep these four tips in mind in relation to diversity:

• Always have an open door policy: HR teams should keep their ears to the ground when it comes to inner office interactions and happiness. If issues arise, employees must have somewhere to turn to for help and guidance.
• Choose candidates from a diverse applicant pool: Diversity should begin with the hiring process. Ensure hiring teams are pulling from a wide pool of applicants with diverse backgrounds and skills.
• Focus on job requirements: Personal skills are important, as are people skills, but be sure to focus on job skills as well.
• Understand cultural biases: People are different and these differences should be used to enhance worker productivity and experience. Be aware of known cultural biases you or a company may have and eliminate them as fit.

Check out Mastery’ video-based e-learning courses on diversity and harassment.
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