Exploring Some of the Benefits of Cultural Diversity in an Organization

The world has become one due to immense development of technology. Gone are the days when people from similar backgrounds worked together. Today with global economies and multinational corporations people work in a benefits of cultural diversity in an organization environment. It has therefore become essential to adapt to changing conditions and comfortably work in a multi-cultural environment. To survive in the competitive forum and to stand out from others it is essential to gel to the changing practices and to collaborate with people from varied backgrounds. So, the organizations are taking efforts to take a lead in cultural diversity.

Understanding Cultural Diversity

Before getting into the benefits of cultural diversity, let us understand what cultural diversity is? Cultural diversity is creating an environment of being open to hire people from various walks of life, regardless of religion, culture, nationality, etc. There are lot of benefits that an organization promoting a diverse culture by bringing in people from different walks of life.

We do understand that human race in general is very diverse and spread across with varied culture. So, in the era of globalization organizations are moving to focus that their workforce is also as diverse.

Let’s move on to exploring some of the benefits of cultural diversity in an organization.

• Greater productivity
• Enhanced creativity
• Increased profits
• Better employee engagement
• Lesser employee turnover

Greater productivity

Diverse environment brings together varied talents and skills, while everyone will be aiming towards a common goal with multiple approaches. There was a research conducted in US and the findings suggest “more multicultural urban environment makes US-born citizens more productive.” Organizations also have a benefit, as people from multicultural background offer different perspectives and everyone will have an opportunity to learn from each other. This way new and novel ideas are born.

Enhanced creativity

One very powerful benefit of a culturally diverse workforce in greater creativity. As highlighted prior people from different walks of life think differently and provide varied ideas, thus enhancing the capacity to come up with diverse set of results to the problem in hand.

Increased profits

There is a directly proportionate relationship between cultural diversity and heightened profits, and many studies shows evidences for this statement. A research in 2013 by Think Tank showed that companies with diverse population at the senior management level reported increase in the profits compared to the previous year. While only very few companies without a diverse workforce showed similar improvement.

Better employee engagement

When there is a diverse environment, and everyone feel valued and heard that increases the employee engagement. As this allows an opportunity for employees to discuss, share and learn from each other which would impact their personal and professional growth.

Lesser employee turnover

Organizations promoting cultural diversity naturally target a wider pool of candidates and this creates a better image for the company. Hiring from larger pool means not only reaching a wider group but getting the best from the industry. With everyday changes and improvement, it is essential to hire people with different sets of skills and talent to withstand.

These are some of the major benefits of cultural diversity which positively impacts both the organization and individual development. Another benefit of cultural diversity of it helps not just in withstanding but succeeding in the competitive market.