Diversity enhances corporate culture and service delivery

We have heard the word ‘Diversity’ at our workplace, schools, home and in the community.

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance of different cultures while building respect towards each other to help support a better community.

Comprehending Diversity

It means understanding that everyone is unique and recognising our individual perspectives which can be along the dimensions of age, race, language, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, job schedules, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, cultural beliefs, educational background, income, marital status, food, festivals or other ideologies.

Diversity is the exploration of these cultures in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment.

It is about understanding each other, embracing, and celebrating the myriad rich dimensions contained within each individual.

Let us look at diversity statistics New Zealand, which has a diverse ethnic mix. We have 70.2% European (3,297,860 people), 16.5% Māori (775,840 people), 15.1% Asian (707,600 people), 8.1% Pacific Peoples (381,640 people), 1.5% Middle Eastern, Latin American and African.
Editor’s Note: These figures relate to Census 2018. 

Meaningful engagement

Are we not proud to live in this multicultural nation! It is imperative to support and protect diversity by valuing individuals free from any prejudice and by nurturing a climate where diversity, equity, empathy and inclusion are fundamental to help foster good mental health and wellbeing.

We have noticed that organisations engage people of different cultures in their teams. This is because businesses want to create a successful, cooperative, and caring community and to stimulate individuals’ intellectual strength, and well-being, and harvest innovative solutions from the collaboration of its people.

“Diversity” means acknowledging and accepting multicultural and multilingual people and understanding the core values of strong business culture and appreciating interdependence of cultures, practising mutual respect, and building allyship so that we can work together to remove all forms of discrimination. We recognise that all cultures are equal, where everyone is invited to the table and no person or culture is superior to another.

It is important that people with diverse backgrounds feel more included, treated more equitably and given the opportunity to have their voices heard at the table.

Inclusive workplaces

Companies deliver great customer experiences when their employees feel inclusive, supported, and respected in their workplace. It is inherently important to place the power on empowering people to bring your full self to work without any fear or hesitation. It is the leadership’s responsibility to create innovative and collaborative workspaces where people can explore their capabilities and contribute to their full potential. Workplaces can be productive when leadership fosters work-life balance to enhance employee wellbeing.

An inclusive workplace provides a safety net for its people to protect them from psychological harm. When we say that Mental health is as important as physical health, it is about ensuring good physical, mental, and emotional well-being of an individual in their workplace and beyond where people can share their individual experiences and traditions without any hesitation or fear of a negative reaction.

Companies can formulate a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Programme to enhance better and safer workplaces where there are opportunities to hear and learn about every individual’s needs. Leadership teams can take the responsibility and accountability to implement such programmes, set goals and metrics to monitor the identified lead and lag indicators and create pathways for a robust sustainable environment crucial for a successful business.

Sai Bedekar is a self-employed professional with local and international experience in Business Management, Occupational Health and Safety, Injury Management and Rehabilitation services. Working with General Motors International Operations, Transdev and Accident Compensation Corporation, she understands laws and issues relating to Work Safety. She lives in Auckland and can be seen as a photographer at business and community events.