Building a diverse and inclusive workforce which reflects the community is good for business. Use diversity planning to embrace employees with a range of skills and personalities, of any age or gender, from all backgrounds and cultures and of all abilities.
Workplace diversity benefits all businesses and organisations no matter their size, industry or location.
Benefits of workplace diversity
- Access to the widest possible talent pool
- Increased workplace productivity and efficiency
- Diverse experiences, talents and points of view in the workforce. See: More Diverse Personalities Mean More Successful Teams
- Research shows gender or ethnically-diverse companies record higher financial returns. See: Why Diversity Matters
- People with a disability often have less absenteeism, fewer injuries and greater retention.
Developing a diversity policy
Hiring job seekers from all backgrounds doesn’t only help them. It helps you.
Use diversity planning to hire employees with a range of skills from
- any age or gender
- all backgrounds and cultures and
- all abilities.
Diversity planning starts with creating a diversity policy. Your diversity policy sets the agenda for developing your workforce and guides your employees on what you expect from them.
Your individual business needs and goals will determine the policy’s details. However, generally speaking, it usually covers:
- hiring policies
- staff conduct
- working arrangements.
In some cases, it may extend to ensuring your suppliers share your diversity values.
Creating a diversity plan
Once your diversity policy is finalised, decide how you will put it into practice:
- Compare your policy objectives against your current workplace arrangements, programs and processes to identify if any need review.
- List the work required to align your existing business activities with the objectives of your diversity policy.
- Develop a task priority list and set time-frames for making the changes.
- Set target dates to measure your progress and to ensure you meet your diversity goals.
Implementing your plan
Good communication is vital to successfully implementing your policy and plan.
- Clearly outline to staff what is happening, how they can help and how everyone involved will benefit.
- Provide opportunities for staff to ask questions and give feedback.
- Review your plan every 12 to 18 months and update it to reflect any changes in your business.
Find more information on workforce diversity from the Federal Government’s business website.
Or visit the JobAccess site for information on employing a person with a disability.
Contact us to discuss how we can assist you to diversify your workforce.