A Diverse Workforce
Having diversity in the workplace is an important matter. In her book Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce, Natalie Holder-Winfield explains why this is key to any organization and how to bring diversity into your workplace. ADVANCE asked Holder-Winfield a few questions on this topic. For more information, check out her Web site.
A: What are some tips for recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce?
NHW: For starters, companies can partner with professional trade organizations geared toward minorities and college and graduate school affinity groups to recruit minority talent. Smart companies will also rely on these professional trade organizations and affinity groups to provide them with the information, feedback and resources they will need to understand how to level the playing field in their workplaces and create an environment that will not only attract but also keep the minority talent they recruited.
A: If you are a member of the minority and you feel marginalized at work, what should you do?
NHW: The professionals I interviewed for my book shared a number of strategies one can use if they feel marginalized at work. For instance, one woman doctor of color who felt like an outsider amongst white male Jewish doctors (who kept kosher) found she was excluded from the social network and access to informal mentoring.
Some strategies for overcoming these barriers include creating allies in the majority, participating in office functions (even when you don't want to), and not being afraid to ask for the help you need.
However, if the workplace shows no signs of warming up to the outsider, I found many of the professionals I interviewed were not afraid to leave and find a more welcoming work environment.
A: What are your ten common barriers to inclusion in the workplace and why are they a problem?
The ten most common barriers to inclusion are:
1) Lack of Informal Mentoring: Employees expressed frustration with finding informal mentoring opportunities and role models who could assist with maneuvering through and understanding the company's corporate culture.
2) Promotions and Lack of Quality Work Assignments: Employees resigned from companies once they determined there were limited growth opportunities.
3) Perceived Underperformance: Despite their demonstrated ability to complete quality work, employees felt unfairly criticized, and sometimes penalized, for work habits deemed unconventional by management.
4) Cultural Insensitivity: Employees witnessed managers and colleagues make inappropriate jokes or comments about people because they were different.
5) Inability to Recover from Mistakes: Employees were not given the same opportunities as members of the majority to redeem themselves after making a mistake.
6) Aggressive Communication and Behavior: Employees were exposed to managers and colleagues who exhibited hostile and unprofessional behavior.
7) Dual Identity: Employees felt conflicted by professional work identities that did not allow for the expression of their personal identities.
8) Stereotypes, Assumptions and Biases: Employees felt limited in their advancement because of the company management's assumptions and biases about their abilities and capabilities.
9) Being the First: Employees who were the first in their families to pursue a particular professional career found themselves playing catch up to their majority colleagues who had extensive resources and connections.
10) Isolation: Employees were disappointed when they believed their companies did not value diversity or did not encourage all employees' advancement.
When employees--from doctors to nurses to any professional who works at a hospital--encounter these barriers, they often do not feel as though they have an equal opportunity of advancement and may (consciously or unconsciously) not invest their whole selves into their work. (It's simple--who is going to invest her 110 percent into a situation and not see any return on investment?) By not investing their ideas and perspectives, employees are not at their most productive and subsequently, the workplace suffers. This is a lose-lose situation for the employee who feels like an outsider and the workplace.