In a hyper-competitive business
landscape today, Human
Resource practitioners are making an all-out frenzied pitch
to ensnare top-notch and diverse talent. Getting a diverse
workforce is increasingly becoming a sine qua
non of today's HR strategy. A vastly diverse and hugely
engaged employee today is germane to enduring organization success.
A diverse workforce has become a new praxis for soaring
productivity, cutting-edge innovation and unbounded creativity in an
ever-burgeoning competitive milieu. Diversity in the workplace
differs for many organizations. Today, diversity in a typical workplace
goes beyond broad-stroking. Diversity doesn't lean heavily on gender
and race anymore. It encompasses a much wider canvas and has a
much broader meaning today. Admittedly, a constellation of various forces
are changing the very idiom of diversity today. Demographic changes
are forcing companies to re-choreograph their
business strategies. Scratch the surface and numbers stare you in the
face. The 2000 census data brought to
light how exponentially the demo-graphics in USA are changing
ever. Diversity has radically altered the way business is done. Diversity
has opened up new markets and business opportunities. The collective
buying capacity of diversity community is ratcheting up.
Nimble-footed organizations that `gets it' is
better poised to deliver on goals, foray into new emerging markets and
morph into employer of choice. All this and more, are forcing companies to
roll out their diversity recruitment plans.
Today, diversity is a word layered with many meanings. Diversity
just hasn't been come to be identified by race and gender alone. It
has traversed a long way from merely being an
anti-discrimination initiative and inclusive
charade. Diversity in today's context includes minority group both
racial and ethnic, women, older people, individuals with
infirmities, persons with alternative sexual orientation and
non-traditional groups. Diversity may also include characteristics that impact the
way we lead our lives and values we epitomize. It includes among
other things, an individual's income, religious beliefs,
avocation, educational profile, family background, and life
experiences. Workplace diversity means a
place that has male and female employees from varied ethnic
background, races, sexual orientation, age category, cultural affinities
and religion. Such places may also include people who are aged or
have serious disabilities. |