Diversity plays an important role in our society, especially in the U.S. workforce. According to a report by CareerBuilder, the number of female workers has increased to 4.9 million as compared to male workers of merely 2.2 million in the past 13 years. Furthermore, Hispanics are predicted to be the second largest group in 2025, accounting for 17 percent of the total labor force [1].
As the role of females and minorities continue to develop in the workforce, companies that embrace the nation’s changing demographics will maximize the benefits and achieve the competitive edge. However, understanding how to interact and work with people with diverse backgrounds is even more crucial than merely bringing them into the workforce.
How do you manage a diverse workforce? Managing diversity is more than simply recognizing the differences among people; it involves recognizing the value of those differences, combating discrimination, and carrying positive attitudes against the stereotypes that have existed for centuries. Such stereotypes include:
- women are responsible for serving families – preparing food, taking care of housework and kids, while men are the main financial source to support the family;
- women work in traditionally “female” occupations such as teaching and nursing instead of engineering or manufacturing;
- Latinos are often assumed to speak Spanish;
- unconscious bias that high level positions are considered nontraditional for minorities.
How can we address years of stereotypes in today’s workforce? How can we avoid personal biases and prejudices even though we have applied all the Federal and State equal opportunity practices? How can we create a more supportive work environment to help women and minorities perform their best? A great approach to consider is the “ABC-DE” strategy outlined below:
A – “Accepting people for who they are”
Discrimination against women and minorities still exists in today’s workplace, even though organizations are continuously making efforts to avoid such practices.
Accepting people for who they are in the workforce requires us to understand and appreciate other different cultures and backgrounds. Each diverse group has unique strengths and perspectives that larger communities can benefit from.
For example, as a Chinese female intern here at DirectEmployers Association, I never felt I was treated differently from my colleagues and they are always curious to learn more about the Chinese culture and customs. It turns out that part of my job is to blog and create videos on cultural differences in the U.S. workforce from a Chinese perspective, sharing fresh ideas with a larger community under the spotlight. We need a wide range of ideas and wisdom to solve problems and enrich the work environment. An appreciation of cultural diversity will therefore benefit the company in the long term.
B – Being an ally to people from diverse backgrounds
An ally is any person who supports, empowers, or stands up for another person or a group of people. We have all probably experienced disappointment when relying on help from others for help, or got blamed for something that we didn’t do, or were targeted simply for being different from the others. Sometimes, being an ally simply means reaching out and caring, or it means taking a stand against race or gender prejudice. It could also mean speaking out publicly against injustice [2].
Take Facebook for an example. If you are a female and have received friend requests on Facebook recently, you might have noticed a subtle yet important change made to the friend request button. Facebook designer Caitlin Winner observed, “the woman was quite 
literally in the shadow of the man” and worked to update the icon so that the female figure appeared in front of the male figure. Winner and many others are becoming allies for women and minorities in their own ways, and are calling for more people to join them [3].
C – Create opportunities to empower women and minorities
While nearly 52 percent of professional jobs are held by women, we’re substantially underrepresented in leadership roles. According to ForbesWoman, only 14.6 percent of executive officers, 8.1 percent of top earners, and 4.6 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women [4].
Empowerment of women and minorities in the workforce means allowing them to have more control over their lives. It means giving them more freedom to make their schedules, learn more skills, and achieve personal improvements. On average, companies with more female board representation achieved a significantly higher financial performance than those with fewer female representatives [4].
In order to build a supportive environment that empowers women and minorities to lead, encourage mentorship and collaboration to provide real-life examples. Second, let everyone speak up and share their ideas – not just agreeing with male employees. Lastly, create a more family-friendly work atmosphere that allows women to have more flexibility and ease their pressure from work.
DE – DirectEmployers’ perspective
Diversity is more than just a multi-cultural issue. It is about embracing people with different ethnic backgrounds, regions and age groups and bringing them into a cohesive and productive unit. It is evident that women and minorities still have a long way to go to combat those stereotypes and achieve the real equal opportunity in the workplace. Therefore, the challenge for you and your organization is to create a culture of change, where obstacles to success for people with diverse backgrounds are not part of the problem.
At DirectEmployers Association, three out of five Vice Presidents are female – who are all doing fantastic jobs in their areas. As being both a woman and a minority, I am so proud of our organization and enjoy such a diverse workforce as we are learning and sharing new ideas from time to time.
Being different is not a bad thing. As long as you remain curious, receptive and open to learning about different cultures, your staff will benefit – and so will you.
Additional Resources:
[1] Lanier, P. A. Women and Minorities in Management. Available from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Tr-Z/Women-and-Minorities-in-Management.html.
[2] Community Tool Box. Learning to be an Ally for People from Diverse Groups and Backgrounds. Available from: http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/understand-culture-social-organization/main
[3] Winner C. (July, 2015). How We Changed the Facebook Friends Icon. Available from https://medium.com/@caitlinwinner/how-we-changed-the-facebook-friends-icon-dc8526ea9ea8.
[4] Ilgaz Z., (August, 2014). Lead Like A Girl: How To Empower Women At Every Level. Available from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ellevate/2014/08/25/lead-like-a-girl-how-to-empower-women-at-every-level/.
Posted by Iris Huixian Wang, former Marketing Intern for DirectEmployers Association.
