Why Diversity Management? Remote colleagues overseas, a new English-speaking employee in the company, an elderly gentleman who helps out in the company every Tuesday and Thursday to supplement his pension: our living and working world is becoming more and more diverse and international. Globalization ensures that many different people network, meet, and work together – with different backgrounds, cultures, different age groups, genders, gender identities, sexual orientations, different faiths, differentiated world views, and completely different physical and psychological abilities.
What at first glance reads as an explosive mixture of potential sources of misunderstandings, language, and cultural barriers, or other difficulties and makes entrepreneurs and executives sweat, can actually be a key to success: diversity or – internationally – ‘diversity’. Because exactly where many differences combine to form a great common goal, there is enormous potential for both social and economic opportunities. More ‘diversity’ in companies in the form of personal and cultural diversity promises greater economic success.
That is why diversity management has become increasingly important as a part of personnel management in recent years – but it is still in its infancy, as a study by the Diversity Charta organization from 2016 shows: Of 250 randomly surveyed companies, two-thirds have not yet implemented any Diversity management measures in their own company – and only 19 percent plan specific measures for more diversity in the company in the future. And this is despite the fact that more than 65 percent of those surveyed are convinced that active diversity management would bring specific benefits to their own company.
But why does this incongruity arise? How complex is it actually to establish structured diversity management in your company? In this article, we want to present you with various options for more diversity in companies and ideas for implementing diversity management measures. Before doing so, however, it is essential to take a look at the precise definition of the term ‘diversity management.
What is ‘Diversity Management’?
The term ‘diversity’ (from the Latin diversity ) means in German ‘variety’, ‘difference’, or ‘difference’. As part of strategic human resources management, the area of ’diversity management’ strives for “the recognition and utilization of diversity in companies”, as Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon writes.
For the German Society for Diversity Management (DGDM), diversity “represents the mosaic of people who bring a variety of life and work experience, perspectives and values as capital to their work area. Diversity management means the targeted perception and conscious appreciation and use of differences, especially in the primary and secondary dimensions. […] Diversity is the key issue of management and increases corporate success through increased productivity and an improved position on the market.” Diversity in companies is therefore not only a social necessity but also a virulent economic factor.
As the definition says, diversity is expressed in several dimensions:
- The primary dimension includes (innate) characteristics such as age, gender, ethnic origin, physical condition, sexual identity, and religious affiliation.
- Meanwhile, the second dimension includes factors such as income, work history, geographic location, marital status, parenthood, and level of education.
Basically, all diversity characteristics differ through visually perceptible, externally defined factors, as well as subjectively perceived differences. Anyone who suspects that diversity management is an invention of the 21st century is wrong: companies have been dealing with diversity for more than 60 years – although the focus has shifted over the years.
Long ()story short: Reorganization of diversity management
Diversity in companies was already on everyone’s lips in the 1960s – not in Europe, but in the USA. The concept of ‘diversity management’ originally developed as a socio-political movement at the interface between women’s rights and civil rights movements (Civil Rights Act 1964) and initially found its way primarily into public institutions. The US diversity debate was specifically directed against the discrimination against people who were discriminated against because of their skin color – a scenario that was common not only in society but also in the labor market at the time. The declared goal of the diversity movement in the 1960s was equal opportunities, which were made mandatory in personnel structures in 1965 through ‘Affirmative Action’ programs.
In Europe and Germany, the topic of ‘diversity in companies’ developed primarily through gender debates and was only discussed scientifically in the 1990s as diversity management. Some organizations already recognized the relevance of intercultural management competence in personnel management at this point in time – even without legal requirements. In the 1990s, diversity management was understood more as a form of social policy to strengthen minorities.
At the beginning of the new millennium, various legal European directives were implemented, for example, the Anti-Racism Directive (2000) or the Directive on Equal Treatment for Men and Women (2006). In 2006, the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG) came into force, a German federal law that “prevents and eliminates discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic origin, gender, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual identity”. target.
A double paradigm shift in diversity management
Looking at the history of diversity management, a two-fold paradigm shift can be noted:
- Shifting focus: While the 1990s saw ‘positive discrimination and ‘affirmative action programs aimed at the inclusion of disadvantaged groups, today the focus is on profound changes in corporate culture that value the individual for his conscious uniqueness. Workforces are becoming increasingly heterogeneous.
- Diversity instead of homogenization: The homogenization strategy that has been in use for many years, which was intended to level out any differences in the workforce in favor of the dominant corporate culture, has given way to a personnel policy that takes diversity into account. Diversity management recognizes the diversity and can use it fruitfully. Today’s diversity management measures often go beyond the goal of equality, as you will read later.
Spoiled for choice: Different approaches in diversity management
Three different approaches are suitable so that you can use the different individual competencies, characteristics, attitudes, and cultural backgrounds in your company:
1. Discrimination and Fairness Approach
This approach pursues the goal of treating all employees equally and giving everyone the same opportunity. The approach is particularly widespread in the USA but is also increasingly taking hold here in Germany, for example through quotas for women in boardrooms in German companies.
2. Access and legitimacy approach
The aim of the ‘access and legitimacy’ paradigm is to make the diversity of the team a competitive factor and to incorporate differences productively in order to achieve market advantages. Diversity management thus becomes a strategic element here: An attempt is made to reflect the qualities and characteristics of customers in the workforce in order to achieve greater economic success.
3. Integrative approach
The integrative approach combines the two previous approaches and thus combines the economic advantage of diversity in the company on the one hand and the desire to treat all employees fairly and equally. Different competencies, qualifications, and individual characteristics as well as characters are networked and thus bring the company productively forward. For this purpose, a new corporate culture with a holistic approach must be established. In this way, the company is strengthened internally and externally.
Now that you are familiar with the theoretical background – the approaches, goals, and history – of diversity management, it is now time to put it into practice.
Greater diversity in companies must be well planned
There is no template for active diversity management in companies that can be transferred at any time and to any company. Rather, diversity must be worked out individually for your company and meticulously planned – preferably in five steps.
First, consider what (1) benefit diversity management has with regard to customers, employees, or business partners. You then have to consider the (2) initial situation in your company: Are there already diversity measures that you are not even aware of? The composition of your employees is also interesting, as is the clientele, which should be taken into account in your measures.
A good plan is already half the battle here: You should not start with diversity management measures without meticulous (3) planning. You should not only be able to clearly state the duration of the implementation, but also consider the opportunity and implementation costs as well as impact and risks. With a plan in hand, you can now take care of the (4) implementation of the measures – here, too, you should always act in a considered and goal-oriented manner.
The last step is to evaluate the (5) success: Were the measures fruitful? Is there a need for post-optimization? In some cases, the success of your diversity management can even be checked mathematically, for example, you can statistically record the satisfaction of employees and customers, the fluctuation rate, but also the variety of applicants.
Diversity management measures: This is how diversity becomes a key aspect of your corporate culture
As a manager, you have numerous opportunities to live diversity in your company and use it productively. Based on a catalog of measures for diversity management from the Competence Center for Skilled Workers (KOFA), we would like to present concrete examples of measures in four major areas below – however, you should always bear in mind that you always have to adapt their functionality to your company-specific initial situation.
Area 1: Intercultural opening for more diversity in companies
Intercultural Calendar
A relatively uncomplicated measure of diversity management for an intercultural opening of your company is the implementation of an intercultural calendar. This should be placed in a prominent place in the employee portal or other central communication platforms of your company.
The intercultural calendar offers your workforce an overview of the various cultural and religious festivals of your employees. In this way, all festivals and public holidays can be taken into account in vacation and company planning and additional background knowledge can be imparted by explaining the individual public holidays/festivals in detail at the click of a mouse. This diversity management measure shows your workforce that you respect and appreciate different cultures and religions. At the same time, the diversity of your company is visually present and also promotes intercultural understanding in the company.
Actively promoting diversity: cultural mediators
In order to actually promote the coexistence of different cultures within a company, it is essential to involve your employees personally in this process – a suitable measure for this is, for example, a team-internal ‘cultural mediator’.
In every team in your company, at least one employee should complete further training in intercultural competence and deal with both theoretical and practical exercises. These include topics such as equal opportunities, prejudices, understanding of culture, discrimination, racism, etc. In his team, the ‘cultural mediator’ is responsible for always keeping diversity present and helping to ensure joint participation in projects such as a diversity day in the company or the development of an integration plan.
In this way, your employees are not only made aware of the topic of diversity in companies but also work together with you to eliminate prejudice and create equal opportunities. Diversity is therefore not just an empty phrase in your corporate mission statement but is actually lived every day.
Area 2: Personnel recruiting – more diversity right from the start
Recruitment program for foreign professionals
The shortage of skilled workers has been noticeable in many industries for a long time – especially in the IT and tech sectors. A special recruiting program for foreign skilled workers is suitable to avoid the shortage of skilled workers in the German labor market and at the same time ensure more diversity in the company. The program should consist of previously determined steps in which you, as an entrepreneur, support your potential new specialist and thus successfully integrate them into your company.
Until the employment contract is actually signed, you should be available to international professionals at all times not only for work-related but also for private questions. Because international travel involves tedious organization, your program should provide internationals with travel assistance and schedule interviews in a way that avoids jet lag and long travel times. If a foreign skilled worker comes to your company, you should always offer support for dealing with the authorities – and at the same time take care of the integration of the entire family at the new place of residence, for example through a daycare place, relocation programs or similar. Your skilled worker should not only be personally looked after from the first day of work, but also be coached individually – according to their needs and level of knowledge. Also, offer measures that integrate the new employee directly into the team and establish contacts for networking.
The recruiting program for international employees makes it easier for foreign professionals to arrive and integrate into your company and in a new country. It also clearly marks the importance of diversity in your company.
Diversity in personnel recruitment through special support programs
Traditionally, the ‘hard facts’ such as grades, proof of qualifications, and successful training paths tip the scales when it comes to hiring new employees. An effective diversity management measure, however, is to expand the criteria for personnel selection in addition to these formal points.
Important are social skills and respectful cooperation, which should be trained again and again in workshops. In this way, you give people the opportunity to develop not only personally but also professionally. Post-qualification courses for migrants or special offers for people with disabilities (inclusion initiatives, special support programs for trainees with disabilities, workshops) also improve the way applicants are addressed and increase the success of your company.
Do you need help with personnel recruiting? Here you will find tips for recruiting online or for IT recruiting.
Area 3: How diversity management positively influences personnel development in your company
A special initiative to support women
Since there is still no equal opportunity for men and women in many areas today, you should give special and specific support to women in your company. For example, offer workshops on topics that women in your company consider particularly relevant. In addition, salaries should be checked and, if necessary, adjusted so that female employees are not disadvantaged. Also, create opportunities for home office, part-time work, and childcare allowances to advance the careers of women with children or to make it easier for them to return to the company.
With this specific support measure, you can increase the proportion of women in management positions and thus benefit from the benefits of a changing corporate structure. In addition, you increase your employer’s attractiveness for female employees through family-friendly working models and a positive working atmosphere.
Cross tandems promote togetherness
Cross tandems are a productive diversity management measure that can be implemented in your company without much effort. The aim is to bring employees with different characteristics together, encourage discussion and thus promote learning from and with one another.
The tandems are made up of employees with differences in all facets – regardless of ethnic origin, cultural background, religion, worldview, sexual orientation and identity, gender, and age. Through regular meetings, the couples can exchange information on various topics, but also specifically on knowledge and experiences. The whole thing should be coordinated and accompanied by managers. In this way, you not only promote mutual understanding and appreciation of diversity but also increase the innovative strength of your employees through the exchange of opinions and perspectives.
Area 4: More diversity in corporate culture and management strategies
Offer further training and communicate successes of diversity management measures in the company
Diversity in companies that are presented, discussed, and analyzed publicly (company) can promote a rethinking or different thinking in each of your employees. It is important that you publish and highlight success stories from various teams – but also encourage other employees to exchange ideas with these teams in order to benefit from their experience. Managers should also report on their personal diversity management and present workshops and training courses that are offered in the company. Above all, workshops on the topic of diversity management by external coaches, who address various issues, impart know-how, and sensitize the workforce to diversity in companies, should be made possible on a regular basis.
Both through increased internal company communication on the topic of diversity and the offer of training for your employees, ensure that diversity becomes a present and living part of your corporate culture. In addition, you motivate your employees with success stories and emphasize the enormous relevance of diversity in your company through the visual presence and regular discourse on diversity management.
Offer diversity competitions for the workforce
Sometimes it doesn’t take much: A diversity management measure that is relatively easy to implement is the regular offer of diversity competitions for your employees in order to increase the presence of diversity in the company. Here you can let your creativity run free. For example, how about nominating the best international recipe or the most beautiful photo on the subject of diversity?
In this way, you encourage your employees to regularly and independently deal with the topic of diversity in the company as part of the competition and thus also strengthen their identification with the relevance of diversity management through creative work together.
Your leadership style is crucial for the implementation of diversity management in your company: lead your workforce in an appreciative and empathetic manner and pay attention to their wishes and needs. In this way, you will motivate your employees in the long term and encourage them to contribute their diverse skills to their everyday work. Diversity must also be anchored as a fixed – and practiced – value in your corporate philosophy.
What advantages do active diversity management measures bring to your company?
Basically, diversity is a key to the success of your company. Diversity management and its diverse perspectives make your company (1) more innovative, improve your team’s problem-solving skills – and thus increase your competitiveness. Only companies that deal with the topic of diversity in a targeted and active manner are (2) sustainable because they deal with the side effects of globalization and digitization. The targeted employment of older people, people with disabilities, or people with a migration background, for example, means that you feel the effects of an acute shortage of skilled workers less severely.
Diversity management will also ensure that you increase the satisfaction of your employees and thereby (3) bind them to your company in the long term. In addition, you as an employer (4) increase your attractiveness through an open and tolerant personnel policy – and thus send a positive signal to the outside world. (5) New markets and diverse customers can also be opened up through a wide range of intercultural skills and a cosmopolitan company image has a positive effect on international customers, but also on possible (young) applicants.
Controversy in diversity management: the ‘backlash effect’
Diversity management in companies is undoubtedly a sensitive topic, which is nevertheless an integral part of modern human resources management in the 21st century. Again and again, however, voices are raised that denounce the so-called ‘backlash effect’.
This ‘setback’ can occur when positions are filled too superficially not on the basis of qualifications but primarily on the basis of diversity. A popular example here is the women’s quota. Employees who move into a certain position through diversity programs are usually referred to in companies as ‘quota women’. This stigmatization overshadows the actually high qualification and performance of female employees: Many women do not want to be promoted or promoted because they identify themselves as women, but because of their skills – i.e. through their own efforts – to convince. For this reason, female employees often actively withdraw from diversity programs. This leads to the backlash effect when the decision ultimately falls on a less-performing candidate due to a lack of alternatives.
Of course, the backlash effect also applies to other characteristics such as ethnicity and age. This implicitly results in the sometimes justified criticism that diversity management measures sometimes promote the ‘wrong’ employees.
Conclusion
The fact that diversity is becoming more and more relevant in companies is shown by the study by the HR consultancy PageGroup, which surveys more than 300 employees in HR management on the subject of diversity every three years. There is a clear increase in the importance of diversity management measures in companies: While in 2015, only 45 percent of all respondents stated that diversity was relevant for their company, in 2018 it was already 63 percent. In 2021, the value will increase by another 6 percentage points to 69 percent of HR employees.
In the study, four thematic priorities in the use of diversity management emerged: 90 percent of those surveyed felt the use of employees with diverse cultural backgrounds to be particularly relevant, 78 percent value a balanced gender ratio in the company. There has been a sharp increase in open dealings with LGBTQ issues from 33 percent in 2018 to 54 percent in 2021 compared to 2018. 47 percent also see the active integration of employees with disabilities as an important topic of diversity management in companies.
As our article shows, you can implement numerous measures in your company’s diversity management in a targeted manner: from mentoring programs for certain groups of employees to breaking down language barriers through language courses and creating awareness and sensitization for diversity in the company through awareness training to a diverse range of dishes in the canteen, a prayer room and family-friendly working hours – diversity has many facets.
It is, therefore, all the more important that you adapt your diversity management measures to your company and your workforce. You should also plan the implementation of measures step by step and check their success and effectiveness. This is how you lead your company into an intercultural, diverse future and benefit from the great advantages that sophisticated diversity management brings with it.
Editorial Team
