What is workplace diversity?
Workplace diversity builds on the principles of equal employment opportunity to include inherent differences such as gender, age, ethnicity, race, cultural/linguistic background, sexual orientation and/or gender identity, intellectual and/or physical ability. Diversity also refers to other ways in which people are different, such as life experience, socio-economic or educational background, personality, marital status, religious beliefs and family responsibilities. Managing workplace diversity involves recognising the value of individual differences in the workplace to realise the full potential of all employees and help the department achieve its business goals.
Benefits of workplace diversity
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Workplace diversity strategies help to build the department’s relationship with the community, enhance the contribution of its employees and improve the quality of its programs, products and services. Workplace diversity creates a more inclusive and supportive work environment, better team work and more effective client service delivery. It increases productivity, encourages greater creativity and different ways of thinking for improved decision making. From a business perspective, the financial and business benefits for many large private sector organisations of investing in supporting diversity have been significant and have resulted in increased profits and productivity.3 The implementation of effective diversity strategies in the department will have the benefit of improving employee retention, enhancing productivity and reducing expenditure on recruitment processes.
Most new migrant workers vastly underestimate the impact of cultural differences in their work. Whether it be accountants, engineers, doctors, technicians and tradespeople, the common belief is that the technical skills can be universally recognised and that these skills are what will “make or break” the professional equally in any country. This belief is common among BOTH NEW MIGRANT WORKER AND AUSTRALIAN EMPLOYERS.
• Culturally different applicants are often passed over at some stage in the recruitment process, not because of lack of technical skills, but rather because of cultural disconnects or misunderstandings. Organisations are cutting themselves off from an incredible talent pool because they are misinterpreting the behaviours they are seeing in resumes, interviews, and probation periods.
• By being coached on cultural differences, BOTH EMPLOYER and NEW MIGRANT WORKER can make a number of minor changes to their approach that will allow them to connect successfully.
The purpose of cross-cultural understanding is not so that we can necessarily do things in the style of the other person. Rather, the purpose is to be able to choose, from a position of understanding, an approach for the particular situation that is more likely to help everyone involved reach his or her professional objectives. It aims at helping everyone to interpret the actions, words, attitudes, and behaviours of both employer and new migrant employee.

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