Common Issues Caused by Diversity in the Workplace

In a diverse workplace, the workforce is made up of individuals with different nationalities, races, ages, genders, and even abilities. While this may seem like a very complicated setup or situation to work in, companies that go for diversity are often the ones who are more productive and have employees that are inspired and satisfied. So how do companies manage to keep workplace diversity to their advantage? Well, this isn’t an easy task either. In fact, companies in Canada, for instance, have developed diversity management programs to make sure that they continuously benefit from the diversity in their workplace. 

Without such diversity plans and programs, these issues will arise:

Conflict among employees: For companies, workplace diversity allows them to be more creative and get better ideas on various aspects of the business. For the employees, however, diversity can cause conflicts on the basis of difference in gender, age, and cultural background. Of course, you cannot expect people from different parts of the world to be able to work in harmony that easily. That’s why it is very important for supervisors and managers to address whatever issues there are among their subordinates. It is vital also for employees to be well-oriented on working with people who don’t share the same values and beliefs with them.

Poor communication within the organization: One of the biggest challenges that managers face in handling workplace diversity is how to address language barriers within the organization. A supervisor himself should be fully aware of the difficulties being faced by those who are not fluent in the language used in the company. Thus, he must come up with a plan that will help make everyone comfortable in communicating with one another. In fact, many companies offer language classes to their employees who speak a different native language. If such problems with language barriers are not properly addressed, there will surely be poor communication within the company, which then can result to loss in productivity.

Lack of individual progress: Successful companies see to it that their workers grow as they grow. Smart employers believe that their workers’ career development is their development as well. This isn’t an easy task to accomplish in diverse workplaces because employees who feel isolated and undervalued are likely to lose their confidence in themselves and in their skills. As a result, they become unproductive and they lose their motivation to even remain in the company.

In Canada where there are thousands of new Canadian immigrants coming every year, companies even consider getting the expert services of career planners and coaches to help their employees figure out how they can achieve career advancement. This is a very important move on the part of employers because it involves some degree of investment on their part as well. But then again, the benefits they gain out of such programs are significant to their overall success as well.