In many workplaces, there is a variety of cultures present. While some workplaces may try to force everyone to look and act the same, others see the diversity of their staff as an asset. To honor cultural diversity in the workplace, employers can focus on several activities that both showcase and encourage sharing among employees.

What Is Cultural Diversity?

Before we can consider how to implement greater cultural diversity in the workplace, we need to understand what cultural diversity is. Whether you live in a small town or in a large, metropolitan city you probably know people from a range of different cultural backgrounds. Your next-door neighbor might have moved from Mumbai or Mombassa. Your assistant at work might be a transfer from Qatar or your nanny might hail from the British Isles.

This mixing of different people is taking place all over the country and the world. Cultural diversity in the workplace is of greater importance now than it has ever been. There are more trained professionals entering the marketplace with a greater range of skills than have existed at any point in human history. To bring these people in so they can contribute to your organization, you’ll need to understand cultural diversity in the workplace.

Consider how each new hire you make, or each person you work with, might fit together as part of the team. What does your current team look like? Are the majority of members male? Female? Are most of the employees you work with from the same background, or do you have people from all around the country and the world?

Using Cultural Diversity In the Workplace

If you notice a striking similarity between employees, this may not be a bad thing. This means it’s probably easy for these people to come together and relate to one another. This creates a sense of cohesion which is necessary in order to get things done. But you could be missing out on something valuable that could give your team a competitive edge.

Cultural diversity in the workplace creates more opportunities for growth and innovation. Inviting in someone who might see the world differently means that your company or group might find solutions that others wouldn’t. It might also help you with audiences, markets, or groups of consumers that a homogenous group of workers would have little understanding of.

Imagine your company sells products to consumers, and you’re hoping to expand into a new market in some far-flung region of the world. Wouldn’t you want for someone on your team to have first-hand knowledge of that region that you could use? Having this person working on the project might give you insight into the buying patterns, cultural values, and customs of the consumers you’re hoping to reach.

Gaining Advantage through Cultural Diversity in the Workplace

Cultural diversity in the workplace can give you a competitive edge in all sorts of different arenas. Say a vendor or another company you want to enter into a partnership with is based in Korea. Since you have a junior executive who speaks fluent Korean, you’re able to utilize their talents to form a strong bond with decision-makers. This advantage might translate into a favorable business relationship.

Cultural diversity in the workplace fosters an exchange of ideas as well as drawing the best and brightest minds from sectors all around the globe. Your business has specific needs. You might find some positions, especially highly technical ones, hard to fill with qualified candidates from your local area. There is a diverse range of candidates from faraway shores that could be the perfect fit.

For all of these reasons, you should do what you can to encourage people from all backgrounds to work as partners in your corporate team or organization. But what does it mean to celebrate cultural diversity in the workplace, and why does it matter?

Why Is It Important to Celebrate Cultural Diversity in the Workplace?

In an increasingly modern and globalized world, all of us are coming into contact with people from all over the world. As such, it’s important to understand the diverse ways that people from other places think, live, and behave and to relate to them accordingly. Understanding people is a worthwhile pursuit in all aspects of life, but it’s especially crucial in the workplace. You don’t want a misunderstanding to make a coworker or client feel uncomfortable.

Say, for example, that you’re talking with someone from a conservative background where fraternization between men and women is discouraged. A friendly pat on the arm might seem innocuous to you, but this innocent action could be seen as too familiar and repel the person you’re trying to form a connection with.

Discussions in a Culturally Diverse Workplace

When speaking to someone from another culture, consider their background. If you don’t know what’s acceptable to someone and what isn’t, it’s okay to ask them. Just make sure you recognize that being from a different culture isn’t the same as representing everyone from that culture. In other words, your friend from China is a Chinese person not an emissary from China sent to inform you of Chinese codes of etiquette.

How to Field Questions about Diversity

If you worry that a question or comment might have unintended negative consequences, consider what your intention is. Are you genuinely interested in learning something about a fellow human being that might enrich your understanding of their experience? Or are you making a shocking, potentially offensive statement with the expectation that the person it’s directed at will laugh?

If it’s the first scenario, you’re probably in the clear. Decency and a real interest in creating a connection is a universal value that people from all backgrounds can understand and relate to. Just make sure you are as polite as possible when speaking about culturally sensitive subjects you’re unfamiliar with.

However, if your intention is to get a laugh by saying something shocking, you should stop and reconsider. Yes, the person you’re talking to might be a ‘good sport’ and not be offended by your joke or comment. On the other hand, they might be hurt or feel threatened, and it’s not worth the risk of a negative reaction. Better to keep comments like these to yourself.

The goal should always be to understand and celebrate what’s unique and interesting about others and treating them with respect and openness is the best way to do that.

How to Celebrate Cultural Diversity

So now that you understand the potential benefit of cultural diversity in the workplace, how do you put take the diversity you have and celebrate it? Does your office have a bulletin board, or maybe just a space on the wall in the break room? If it does, then this might be a great place for you to build a diversity display. You can encourage everyone to put up something they value about another culture whether it’s from their own culture or someone else’s.

More Ways to Celebrate Diversity

You might also dedicate a Diversity Day so that coworkers are encouraged to explore the value of other cultures and learn about them. Even in diverse nations with people from lots of different backgrounds, many people still lack awareness of cultures other than their own, including groups of people from their own countries. Diversity Day might help with this.

A potluck is a fun way to introduce people to new foods from other cultures, and it’s a great way to socialize too. Why not organize an after-hours potluck and encourage everyone to bring in food they think their co-workers might not have tried before?

Above all, you should make it clear that yours is a workplace where everyone is valued and should be treated with respect and kindness. Cultural diversity in the workplace should be something cherished by your organization. You can make this clear with a reference in your company’s charter or another document that stipulates all are welcome and encouraged to be who they are.

Conclusion

The leaders of every company owe it to themselves and their employees to foster cultural diversity in the workplace and help people from diverse backgrounds feel like they’re part of the team. Fostering diversity shouldn’t be a chore, it’s a challenge to be met head-on. Discovering what’s unique and interesting about other people is something that we all should strive for.

Doing Your Part for Diversity

You can do your part to promote diversity in the workplace no matter what your role is in the organization. The best place to start is by engaging in the diverse range of different people you meet at work so that your life and theirs can be enriched. You’ll never regret taking the time to get to know someone and forming a real bond with them.

You can also help to encourage diversity in the workplace by joining diversity-oriented organizations in your workplace or start one of your own. If you’ve been a part of an organization for a long time, become a mentor to someone from a different background so they feel included in the group culture. There are so many ways to celebrate diversity and help encourage the growth of cultural diversity in the workplace.