How can you learn to think outside the box if everyone you hire is just like you? Without a commitment to hiring diverse employees, how will your company grow and evolve?
Imagine you’re saving for retirement. You are unlikely to put all your money into a single fund. You would want to diversify for a better return on your investment. The same goes for organizational productivity. Along with an increase in diversity comes an increase in innovation and ultimately, revenue.
So whom do you hire when looking to improve diversity in your office? If you’re familiar with employment laws, affirmative action plans, the department of labor, and the OFCCP, you might say that diverse pool includes people of color, individuals with disabilities, veterans, females, etc. The intent of these employment laws is to ensure equal employment opportunities, but that doesn’t mean we should only focus on the diverse traits we can see or count. Diversity is much more than that.
While my gender, skin tone, or even age might make me a diverse candidate, if those things are the only reasons for hiring me, you don’t understand diversity. My background includes work in a variety of industries in which I worked on different sized teams, on projects of different scales that allowed me to travel, coach, develop training, and much more.
It’s time for your organization to look beyond the company diversity statement, bring someone on board with a different perspective, and watch your company grow.
To read more about my thoughts on diversity in the workplace, read my full blog post on the University of St. Thomas’ Opus Magnum blog.
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