Importance of Workforce Diversity and Employee Engagement in an Organization

This report explains about the importance and benefits associated with workforce diversity and the implementation of employee engagement in an organization. It also covers key strategies that can be used to deal with the challenges faced by the Schwartz Group.

CONSULTANCY REPORT

Executive Summary
This report explains about the importance and benefits associated with workforce
diversity and the implementation of employee engagement in an organization. This report also
covers key strategies that can be used by the Schwartz Group in order to deal with the challenges
it is facing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Concept of diversity.....................................................................................................................1
Potential business benefits of diversity strategy..........................................................................2
Recommendation to implement diversity in business.................................................................3
Employee engagement and its dimensions..................................................................................4
Benefits of employee engagement strategies...............................................................................5
Recommendation to implement employee engagement strategy.................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Workplace diversity refers to the people with different backgrounds, race, religion,
gender, thoughts and ideologies etc. Diversity has become a very important issue for the
organisations to consider for running its business successfully. By using diversity company can
improve its productivity and efficiency positively. It will improve the organisation's reputation,
creates a great place to work among its employees, provides new perception and ideas. Along
with workforce diversity, employee engagement is also an important part of the organization.
Employee engagement helps the organization in building a strong relationship with the
employees. It results in number of benefits but the core benefits is that it helps in improving the
employee's motivation level, increases interest in the work, creates the feeling of belongingness
among the employees. It makes employees involved in the work which results in achieving the
organizational goals effectively. Present report deals with Schwartz Group which is a privately
held organisation that is based in UK. It has the main business of providing insurance services.
The organization is having two divisions, that is, domestic and corporate. The domestic division
is offering car, home and life insurance and also undertakes call centre services. The corporate
office deals with providing insurance services to commercial property owners. It has been
dealing with the workplace diversity issues pertaining to the pay gap between men and women
and also providing jobs to disable people, lower employee satisfaction level, low morale and
high employee turnover rates etc. The report will provide a complete information about the
diversity and its importance for the organisation. This will also involve recommendations for
implementing the diversity strategy in the organisation. It will also be providing about the
employee engagement and the benefits of employee engagement strategy with relevant
recommendation.
MAIN BODY
Concept of diversity
Diversity refers to understanding every individual as unique and to recognize the
individual differences. It could be along dimensions of ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, gender,
age, socio economic status, religious beliefs, ideologies and other beliefs (Adobor, 2019 ). It is
defined as exploration of the differences in a positive, safe and for nurturing the business
environment. It is intended to understand one another and to move beyond the simple tolerance
for embracing & celebrating rich dimensions of diversity in individuals working in organisation
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for the growth and success. Workplace diversity is becoming increasingly a issue faced by most
of the organisations as they are not able to deal with diversified workforce of the business in
positive manner (Bhowal and Saini, 2019). There are several characteristics associated with the
business diversity. Organisations are filled with people from different backgrounds and the
differences gave direct influence over the working environment of business. There are several
aspects like from the production to marketing and to the corporate culture are not only influenced
by the diversity but also by the manner in which diversity is perceived in an enterprise.
Potential business benefits of diversity strategy
Diversity for a business should be considered more than compliance issue of law but
should be embraced in the organisation as it greatly benefits the enterprise in boosting its
productivity, efficiency (Bauwens, Huybrechts and Dufays, 2019). It strives towards building
society which is having more acceptance. There should be diversity implemented in the
enterprise at every levels from recruitment to the senior executives levels. Potential benefits of
accepting diversity could be explained as below.
Adaptability
The biggest challenge in every organisation is to accept the people from diversified environment.
The HR managers are required to promote the business strategies for minimising struggle for
new employees and making it easier for employees to engage with others actively (Cachat‐
Rosset, Carillo and Klarsfeld, 2019). The diversified workplace tends to have more efficient
working environment where they get acceptance. People from diverse backgrounds will be
responding to business issue and market changes positively.
Broader services
A diverse workforce have the ability of accepting the market challenges effectively. The
differences can be used positively by the business for understanding the diverse environment in
which company is planning to serve. This will help in meeting up with the future uncertain
challenges that an organization might to facing. As diverse workforce will also be diverse in the
skills required to be dealing with such situation.
Better decision making
There is a direct link between decision making and workplace diversity. When a diverse
team takes a decision, it surpasses the individual decisions as diverse team will have diverse
perspective which helps in creating potential (Carrillo,2019). Diverse workforce comes with new
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and fresh ideas which are very useful in taking informed decision which can add value to the
organization. Decision making is one of the important function of the organization and effective
management of it will help in effective functioning of the organization and helps in the growth of
the organization.
Increased profits
Companies with diverse workforce helps in better decision making which in turn gives an
advantage over its competitors. As a result, better decision making will lead to improved
performance and increase in profits. This benefit helps in attaining the one of the objective of the
organization. Having a strong financial stand as compared to the competitors will positively
affect the employee's behaviour towards work and will feel motivated.
Reduces employee turnover
Organizations with workplace diversity are more inclusive of individual characteristics
and perspectives (Chakraborty and Ganguly, 2019). Diversity and inclusion helps employees feel
accepted and valued in the organization. Also, employees feel happy in the workplace and has no
intention to leave the organization.
Better hiring results
Diversity in workplace builds and boosts the organization's employer brand and makes
company a desirable place to work. Attaining workplace diversity is an asset for attracting top
talent from diverse pool. This helps in getting better hiring result.
Higher innovation
An organization with diverse workforce, employees are exposed to different perspective
and when these perspectives come together, it results in higher innovation. While engaging with
one another and sharing idea may lead to the emergence of a unique and creative idea which will
be beneficial for the organization.
All the above discussed factors are the benefits that an organization will get after
implementing diverse workforce in an organization. As a result, it will help in efficient
functioning of the organization, effective work management and achieving desired goals.
Recommendation to implement diversity in business
There are number of ways that can be used to implement diversity in the workplace. In
order to reach diverse candidates, organization should consider positing on different and diverse
job boards such as diversity working, hire purpose for veterans and military spouses and recruit
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disability for job seekers with disability. HR team can also ask for referrals from the existing
employees from any under represented groups and in turn can offer additional rewards for
recommending candidates from the diverse background. Also, there should be diverse members
in the interview panel for recruitment panel which helps in uncover biases and improves the
fairness and equality principle of the process. Organization should also train their recruiters to be
more sensitive to biases and to avoid bias in recruitment.
Thus, all these strategies will help in introducing diversity in the workplace which
consequently results in effective management of the organization and builds positive image of
the organization.
Employee engagement and its dimensions
Employee engagement refers to a relationship between employees and the organization
where employees are physically, emotionally and psychologically involved at work. An engaged
employee is the one who is fully absorbed and enthusiastic about their work and takes actions to
enhance the organization's reputation (De Rosa, McElwee, and Smith, 2019). In short, it is an
emotional commitment of the employee towards organizational and its goals. An engaged
employee cares about the work and the performance of the organization and wants to feel that
their work could make a difference. Employee engagement helps in driving performance. It is the
extent to which employee feels dedicated about the job and feels committed to the organization.
It is the concept that has grabbed the attention of all the corporates which simply means that
higher levels of employee engagement will lead to higher level of profitability. It is a major
differentiator when it comes to growth and innovation. Organization will not be able to achieve
their objectives just by defining their mission nor by fostering high performance culture until
relevant steps are taken. There are four different dimensions of employee engagement that make
organization to differentiate itself from others.
What do I get:
Employee engagement depends upon what people or employees will get in exchange for
the job performed by them (Garrido-Prada, Delgado-Rodriguez and Romero-Jordán, 2019). This
includes basic compensation, benefits, rewards, organizational culture etc. These elements
motivates employees to improve their performance and work hard and complete the task with
full dedication.
What do I give:
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Employee engagement is a two way process and setting clear goals for the employees
plays a crucial role. Setting goals helps employees in understanding what they are expected to do
and organizations expectations from them (Gode, Johansen and Thomsen, 2019). This includes
defining roles and responsibilities of each employee along with guidelines and time frame within
which task is required to be completed. It is duty of the human resource department and other
supervisors to tell employees clearly about the job role and what they are expected to do. This
helps in creating a meaningful relationship among seniors and work groups.
Do I belong to the organization:
Social interaction is the basic need of everyone. Even employees likes to work in an
organization where employees are treated as an integral part of the organization and just not for
the sake of getting the job done. Having an interactive work environment gives employees a
sense of satisfaction and motivates them to enjoy their work and improve their performance for
the effective achievement of goals.
How can I grow:
Employee works hard with the objective to grow continuously (Vertovec, 2019). This
growth includes hike in salary, promotion, rewards, incentives, recognition are the few essential
tools used by the organizations to retain employees. Giving employees new challenges and
opportunities to learn new things helps in keeping employees motivated towards their work life
and also motivates them to give perform their best at the time of crisis.
Benefits of employee engagement strategies
Employee engagement is not just a strategy that is implemented to achieve specific goal
but it is used for the long term success of the organization (Robertson, 2019). It is not a one time
process but it is required to be processed in different interval of time which comes with various
advantages. There are number of benefits associated with the implementation of employee
engagement strategy. A detailed description is given below.
Better performance: Employees who are engaged with the work and organization usually
performs better than those who are not engaged (Saks, 2019 ). Such employees are more
attentive to the towards work and are likely to take extra work. This results in better performance
as employees feel satisfied and motivated.
More innovation: Employees who are more engaged in their work and loves what they
are doing are tended to be more innovative as compared to those who just want to get the job
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done (Shankar and Shepherd, 2019). To come up with new and innovative ideas, it essential to
get involved in the work and understanding it properly.
Higher staff retention: Employees who are enjoying their work are less likely to leave
the organization whereas those who don't enjoy their work and looks for new opportunity are
more likely to leave the job.
Manageable workload: Every engaged employee tend to work in a way which will be
beneficial to the organization (Sternad, Krenn, and Schmid,2019). Such employees find their
work easy to manage. Managed work can be easily completed on time if properly managed by
the employees and it reduces the stress level of the employees while completing the task.
All these points are the key benefits that can be derived by implementing proper
employee engagement strategy. If organization successfully implement employee engagement
program it will definitely help in increasing its efficiency, productivity of the employees, morale
of the employee and helps overall success of the organization.
Recommendation to implement employee engagement strategy
There are several ways and strategies to boost employee engagement. Firstly HR
manager should listen to the employees, know the issues and concerns they are facing and
accordingly take corrective steps. In this way, employees will remain motivated and engaged to
the organization. The HR team should recognise the employees accomplishments and skills in
order to reward them. This strategy boosts the energy level of the employees and creates
competition with other employees which increases employee engagement and overall
productivity. The HR team could initiate some training programs for the employees for
upgrading their skills and for providing motivation which helps in increasing the productivity
through strong employee engagement. Methods of influencing the employees and using evidence
based argument is also an effective tool in increasing employee engagement. Also, HR team
should come up with activities that will help in reducing the stress level of the employees. And
also consider well being of the employees.
So, all these strategies will help in increasing employee engagement which will result in
increase in the employee's productivity.
CONCLUSION
From the above, it can be summarized that diversity and employee engagement in an
organization is very beneficial. It has become relevant and important for every organization to
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introduce diversity and employee engagement which will helps in gaining multiple benefits such
as positive public image, increase in employee motivation level and dedication towards work.
The organization Schwartz group is facing the employee related problems because of lack of
workforce diversity and implementation of employee engagement strategy. From the total
workforce, the organization only having 1% disabled employee, the decreasing job satisfaction
among the employee and increasing staff turnover rate is the another issue. To overcome such
issues it is recommended that organization should take corrective steps under both the scenarios.
The number of benefits with respect to the introduction of diversity in the workforce such as
increase in profitability, emergence of innovative ideas, better decision making etc. will have a
positive impact on the organization. Also, the benefits that employee engagement can bring will
be an added advantage over diversity. The different employee engagement dimensions that are
required to be properly understand so that effective employee engagement program can be
introduced. Apart from this, some strategies are recommended that can be implemented by the
organization to overcome the challenges it is facing. On the whole, every company wants to hold
a strong position over its competitors in order to gain higher talent and maximum market share.
It will eventually lead to the increase in the productivity, performance and profitability of the
organization. So, it is essential on the part of organization and human resource team to keep an
eye on the employee needs and preferences so that timely actions can be taken to reduce the
negative impact on the business and will result in smooth flow of business.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adobor, H., 2019. Opening up strategy formulation: Benefits, risks, and some
suggestions. Business Horizons. 62(3). pp.383-393.
Bauwens, T., Huybrechts, B. and Dufays, F., 2019. Understanding the diverse scaling strategies
of social enterprises as hybrid organizations: The case of renewable energy
cooperatives. Organization & Environment, p.1086026619837126.
Bhowal, M. and Saini, D., 2019. Employee engagement strategies with special focus on Indian
firms. In Management Techniques for Employee Engagement in Contemporary
Organizations (pp. 165-179). IGI Global.
Cachat‐Rosset, G., Carillo, K. and Klarsfeld, A., 2019. Reconstructing the concept of diversity
climate–a critical review of its definition, dimensions, and operationalization. European
Management Review, 16(4), pp.863-885.
Carrillo, R. A., 2019. The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership: Achieving Success Through
Employee Engagement. Routledge.
Chakraborty, T. and Ganguly, M., 2019. Crafting Engaged Employees Through Positive Work
Environment: Perspectives of Employee Engagement. In Management Techniques for
Employee Engagement in Contemporary Organizations.(pp. 180-198). IGI Global.
De Rosa, M., McElwee, G. and Smith, R., 2019. Farm diversification strategies in response to
rural policy: A case from rural Italy. Land use policy. 81. pp.291-301.
Garrido-Prada, P. and et.al., 2019. Effect of product and geographic diversification on company
performance: Evidence during an economic crisis. European Management Journal.
37(3). pp.269-286.
Gode, H. E., Johansen, W. and Thomsen, C., 2019. Employee engagement in generating ideas on
internal social media. Corporate Communications: An International Journal.
Robertson, M. B., 2019. Employee Engagement in the Goal Setting Process: Can employee
engagement theory improve the goal setting process? (Doctoral dissertation, University
of Liverpool).
Saks, A. M., 2019. Antecedents and consequences of employee engagement revisited. Journal of
Organizational Effectiveness: People and Performance.
Shankar, R. K. and Shepherd, D. A., 2019. Accelerating strategic fit or venture emergence:
Different paths adopted by corporate accelerators. Journal of Business Venturing. 34(5).
p.105886.
Sternad, D., Krenn, M. and Schmid, S., 2019. Business excellence for SMEs: motives, obstacles,
and size-related adaptations. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 30(1-
2). pp.151-168.
Vertovec, S., 2019. Talking around super-diversity. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 42(1). pp.125-
139.
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