Diversity at Workplace: HR Strategy and Business Benefits Report

This report delves into the critical role of diversity in the workplace, emphasizing its significance for organizations. It defines workplace diversity as encompassing differences in gender, religion, cultural background, abilities, education, and languages, highlighting its importance in human resource strategy. The report explores the benefits of diversity, such as improved reputation, varied perspectives, enhanced employee engagement, and innovative ideas. It examines the human resource strategy, illustrating how organizations like Facebook utilize diversity in their hiring processes to build a diverse workforce. The report further discusses diversity issues, including lack of mutual respect, prejudice, and communication barriers, and suggests effective management strategies, such as inclusive practices, diversity training, and fostering effective communication, to mitigate these challenges and create a more productive and inclusive environment.

12/14/2019
RUNNING HEAD: DIVERSITY AT WOKRPLACE 0
Diversity at Workplace
Student’s Details-

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 1
Introduction
Diversity at the workplace means that the organization has different gender, religion,
cultural background, varied abilities, education and languages (Harvey & Allard, 2015). It is
most important aspect of human resource strategy in which the organization strive for achieving
the purpose that includes improving the reputation and is also liable for many other intangible
benefits it gives to the organization. Moreover, there are certain issues related with the diversity
and the management of the same is crucial for the organization in order to be effective in the
future (Roberson, 2019). The paper will discuss the human resources strategy and the diversity at
the workplace to determine the importance of diversity into the organization. It has taken into
account the example of the Facebook which is the popular social networking site of the world.
The paper has discussed the significance of diversity in the hiring process of Facebook.
Role of Diversity at Workplace
Basically, diversity is concerned with the hiring of the people who have different cultural
backgrounds, ethnic groups and demographics which in turn helps the organizations to show
commitments towards the marginalized workers (Hunt, Layton, & Prince, 2015). There is huge
role of diversity at the workplace as it gives the opportunity to get different perspectives because
of different cultural characteristics and backgrounds. The organizations make the hiring strategy
that includes diversity to make sure that they have talented pool that can make the better
decisions and faster problem solving because of the different perspectives of the people from
diverse fields (Downey, van der Werff, Thomas, & Plaut, 2015).

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 2
Similarly, Facebook majorly focus on the diversity hiring as people from different
cultural and religious backgrounds are relying on Facebook who are the customers of the
company and the company can serve them in a better way when the company has diverse
workforce (Facebook, 2019).
Apart from this, diversity helps in making the employees engaged due to the inclusion of
diverse workforce. It also plays a vital role in the building of mutual trust within the employees.
As people from varied culture, work styles and disabilities work together, it creates a norm as
employees work together in the teams which builds synergies (Cui, Vertinsky, Robinson, &
Branzei, 2018). Further, the business organizations can enhance their reputation through the
efforts made by them towards the recruitment of the diverse people. Moreover, this makes the
company socially responsible which in turn builds loyalty with the employees and lead to more
employee satisfaction.
This can be well understood by taking the example of Facebook who has hired people
from different communities to enhance their company’s reputation. Additionally, the company
has made a target of employing ‘traditionally underrepresented groups’ within the next five year
and is proved to be the ambitious push for the company which is determined to be the company’s
efforts to increase the profits and increasing the business goodwill through better customer
satisfaction (Weinberger, 2019). Diversity is helpful in getting the innovative ideas which can
later be helpful in the overall productivity of the company as the diverse workforce have the
tendency to meet the several kinds of expectations of the company in terms of the innovative
techniques being used by the organization.

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 3
HR Strategy and Diversity
Human resource strategy is concerned with the making the plan for the company
regarding the management of the human resources of the organization. Diversity is one of the
HR strategy that helps the organization to foster the environment in which employees feel
involved and engaged and thus informing the recruitment strategy to be used for the retaining of
diverse pool of employees. The organization have the HR strategy to ensure diversity at the
workplace which in turn helps in the effective HR activities through the reduced employee
turnover and creating an inclusive culture (Konrad, Yang, & Maurer, 2016).
Similarly, Facebook has made diversity as the most effective HR strategy for increasing
the reputation of the company. For example, the company has employed traditionally
underrepresented people at the company since 2014 which is evident from the fact that
percentage of women employed at the company has seen an increase from 31% to 36% today
(Williams, 2018). Also, the company has increased the number of employees of Asian, Black
and Hispanic employees.
Moreover, HR strategy is also regarded as the crucial part of the organization which
seeks to employ the efficient workforce and manage them accordingly for the purpose of
achieving the goals of the organization. The main role of HR is to make recruitments of the
diverse population that can facilitate in the competitive advantage over the competitors (Tamzid
& Parves, 2017). Moreover, Facebook has incorporated the HR strategy wherein the company
has made the efforts for the recruitment of the diverse groups to increase the rates of the
underrepresented people which has created the inclusive environment for the employees which is

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 4
turned out to be the HR strategy of the company. Thus, the goal of HR includes the hiring of the
diverse people that can make the significant contribution in the success of the company.
Purpose of Diverse Workforce
Purpose of diverse workforce is to bring people from different characteristics and
backgrounds and the religions under one place in order to get different perspectives and opinions
that ultimately brings creativity and innovation in the company. Diversity is treated as the main
goal of the organization in which the organization attempts to increase the goodwill of the
company. The main purpose includes increasing the productivity of the company through the
earning of the competitive advantages (Narayanan & Raina, 2018).
The purpose of diverse workforce is to bring different kinds of perspectives in order to
undertake proper strategies for the problem solving. Apart from this., organizations include the
diversity into the overall HR strategy for the purpose creating the trust level of employees and
also keeping the employees engaged and satisfied. It can be noted that workplace diversity helps
in increasing the morale and the motivation of the employees for fulfilling the purpose of the
company and thus satisfying the main aim of the organization. Similarly, Facebook has fulfilled
their purpose of diverse workforce through the hiring of the diverse workforce in which the
company has improved the service delivery and improved the experiences of the customers.
As per Mark Zuckerberg, it is important to employ diverse workforce as it can help
Facebook company to serve the communities and is crucial for the country. Because of this, the
company has been making efforts for the diversified workforce which is the main purpose of the
company and is not an option. Moreover, the diversity is seen as the major goal of the human
resource activity of the organizations in which humans are managed in order to make an

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 5
inclusion with the employees that leads to increased employee satisfaction (Saxena, 2014). This
leads to the urgency of the diverse workforce that can lead to the improved reputation of the
company.
Besides, the organization’s make the diversity in the human resource strategy and realize
that it is main purpose of the company. At the same time, diversity is seen as the big challenge
for the company in which the company faces challenges in the far treatment and providing equal
access to all the employees from the varied culture and the religious background (Byrd, 2018).
Diversity Issues in Business
There various kinds of diversity issues that are faced by the human resource and
recruitment professionals that needed to be reduced for the purpose of making the organization
productive. Firstly, the organizations might face the diversity issues in terms of mutual respect
between the employees. Due to the lack of acceptance values and beliefs, it leads to the conflicts
between the employees (Oinas, 2017).
Also, differences in the beliefs and the cultures, there is challenge for the company in
making sure that their personal values are independent of their responsibilities. There diversity
issues in Facebook as well wherein the company has people from different community and the
demographics and the faces big challenge in the management of the marginalized groups
(Williams, 2018). Besides, the company faces the diversity issues in terms of varied ethnic and
cultures which might lead to prejudice and discrimination that is the biggest challenge these
days.

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 6
Further, diversity issues arise with the lack of rules and regulations that can lead to
various inequalities at the workplace with the respect of gender, education, religion and culture.
Diversity issues can also be faced with respect to different generations that create the challenge
for the employees to adapt to the changes and that can create the situation where the employees
of the certain age are isolated from the team (Freeman, Parmar, Dresnick, & Mead, 2017).
Lastly, the organization faces issues due to the differences in the languages which creates
the barriers in the communication and later can create a problem for the managers and the
employees having difficulties in transmitting their messages. Moreover, the organizations have
to make the contribution in the hiring and training of the employees. However, these diversity in
the organizations are crucial in the organization for the getting benefit in the long run. Diversity
issues need to be solved and managed accordingly for making the organization effective.
Managing Diversity at Workplace
As diversity is the major issue for the company, it should be managed accordingly for
reducing the negative impact of the issues. The companies undertake the inclusive practices
along with the conscious steps and the initiatives as it is beneficial for the company. The
inclusive practices might include the policies that will not favor and at the same time do not
discriminate the other person on any grounds and making the employees aware of the
organizational rules (Syed & Ozbilgin, 2019).
Besides, the employees should be given diversity training that ensures that the employees
have the knowledge of the fact that the employees must respect and value one another at the
workplace. This is to make sure that the employees are aware of the various cultural and
religious biases that includes the stereotypes and the discriminations that must be clearly

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 7
determine by the employees. Besides, the organizations make efforts for managing the diversity
through the facilitation of effective communication within the workplace (Harvey & Allard,
2015). It is to make sure that all the employees understand the safety rules, policies and
procedures at the workplace by removing the cultural and language barriers.
In the light of maintaining the diversity at the organization, it should ensure the hiring of
the diverse people who are aspiring and also leads the organizations towards the goal that the
company wants to achieve in terms of diversity. For this, the company needs to acquire a diverse
interview panel that can undertake the interview of the people free from the prejudices and the
various kinds of biases (Downey, van der Werff, Thomas, & Plaut, 2015).
Finally, the company can make efforts for the understanding of the various groups
through encouraging interaction. This can create the tendency of the company to appreciate and
respect each other. This encouragement can not only create the understanding of each other’s
values and beliefs but also expand their views and experiences of the team members and thereby
appreciating the combined perspectives and the talents of the employees. In this way,
organizations can make efforts to manage the diversity issues and also reduce the various kinds
of challenges that the company faces in terms of the varied cultures and beliefs.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that the diversity is crucial for every organization as it is
beneficial for the company in the long run and it is also important for the company to make the
HR strategy in which the company can make efforts for the employment of diverse workforce for
the increased reputation of the company and fostering the facilitation of different perspectives.
The paper has discussed the role of diversity at the workplace and the way Facebook has made

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 8
the HR strategy to employ diverse people at the workplace. This HR paper has identified the
issues of diversity that are faced by the company and also the ways by which the organizations
can manage the diversity issues.

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 9
References
Byrd, M. (2018). Diversity branding strategy: Concealing implicit stereotypes and biased
behaviors. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 20(3), 299-312.
Cui, V., Vertinsky, I., Robinson, S., & Branzei, O. (2018). Trust in the workplace: The role of
social interaction diversity in the community and in the workplace. Business & Society,
57(2), 378-412.
Downey, S., van der Werff, L., Thomas, K., & Plaut, V. (2015). The role of diversity practices
and inclusion in promoting trust and employee engagement. Journal of Applied Social
Psychology, 45(1), 35-44.
Facebook. (2019, January 1). 2019 Diversity Report. Retrieved December 14, 2019, from
Facebook Diversity: https://diversity.fb.com/read-report/
Freeman, R., Parmar, B., Dresnick, J., & Mead, J. (2017). Differences and Diversity Issues:
Selected Vignettes. Darden Business Publishing Cases, 1-9.
Harvey, C., & Allard, M. (2015). Understanding and managing diversity: Readings, cases, and
exercises. Pearson.
Hunt, V., Layton, D., & Prince, S. (2015). Diversity matters. McKinsey & Company, 1, 15-29.
Konrad, A., Yang, Y., & Maurer, C. (2016). Antecedents and outcomes of diversity and equality
management systems: An integrated institutional agency and strategic human resource
management approach. Human Resource Management, 55(1), 83-107.

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 10
Narayanan, S., & Raina, D. (2018). Effect of Primary Dimensions of Workforce Diversity on
Employee Engagement: A Literature Review. International Journal of Mechanical
Engineering and Technology, 9(3).
Oinas, P. (2017). Proximity, distance and diversity: Issues on economic interaction and local
development. Routledge.
Roberson, Q. (2019). Diversity in the workplace: A review, synthesis, and future research
agenda. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 6,
69-88.
Saxena, A. (2014). Workforce Diversity: A Key to Improve Productivity. Procedia Economics
and Finance, 11, 76-85.
Syed, J., & Ozbilgin, M. (2019). Managing diversity and inclusion: An international
perspective. SAGE Publications Limited.
Tamzid, M., & Parves, M. (2017). Human Resource Management Policies and Diversity
Management (A Case Study on Sainsbury’s). Human Resource Management,, 8(4).
Weinberger, M. (2019, July 11). Facebook Just Made a Huge Announcement About Its Diversity
Hiring Goals. Retrieved December 14, 2019, from Inc.: https://www.inc.com/business-
insider/facebook-double-women-black-hispanic-employees-annual-workforce-diversity-
stats.html
Williams, M. (2018, July 12). Facebook 2018 Diversity Report: Reflecting on Our Journey.
Retrieved December 14, 2019, from Facebook:
https://about.fb.com/news/2018/07/diversity-report/

DIVERSITY AT WORKPLACE 11