Guidelines to Manage Workplace Diversity

The best managers are ones who promote diversity and accept all types of people.

business colleagues preparing for business meeting image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com

Diversity in the workplace is an increasingly relevant issue and refers to the differences between coworkers--whether ethnicity, sex, religion, age, background or position. According to an article from ZeroMillion.com, an online business resource, in the 1960s, more than 60 percent of American workers were white males. Now, with a variety of people in the workforce, the best managers are ones who can effectively manage and promote workplace diversity.

Even the best of managers cannot create diversity and cultural awareness out of thin air. During the interviewing process, look for people who can contribute to a diverse staff or people who are on board with your vision for workplace diversity. Add diversity to the list of requirements--or at least an awareness--for prospective employees. Hiring a diverse and culturally aware staff will increase the number of perspectives in the office, open lines of communication with more groups and, in turn, increase productivity, according to a 2004 diversity article at DiversityWorking.com.

An office retreat, whether a day trip to a park or a weekend in the mountains, can be a great time for your employees to get to know each other. Maybe you've recently added some diverse individuals to your team and you want them to have a seamless transition. A retreat allows your employees to get to know each other out of the office and see each other in a recreational setting. Set up board games, sporting events and team-building activities for the day or weekend. Be open about the fact that it's a diversity and team-building retreat. According to a University of Nebraska article by John Leonard Harris about how to plan a diversity retreat, an essential component is to appoint a facilitator to guide the weekend. This person must have a working knowledge of current and relevant issues, people skills and be well-respected in the workplace. The facilitator will lead discussions about a variety of diversity topics and inspire conversation between employees.

Despite how much diversity training you provide your staff, issues will arise. People will feel unfairly treated, people will treat others unfairly and diversity will not always be on employees' minds. But a way to combat the slip-ups that will occur from time to time is to keep an open door policy. Inform your employees that you are available to chat about diversity and workplace issues, productivity concerns and relevant issues. Allowing employees to express their concerns when they need to will result in happier, more productive individuals while giving you an idea of how to improve diversity in your workplace, according to a diversity article by Lenora Billings-Harris, a nationally renowned performance improvement consultant, on SideRoad.com.

Mitchell Holt has a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Abilene Christian University and has been freelancing since 2009 with work published in various newspapers and magazines like "BostonNOW" and "The Abilene Reporter-News." Holt also writes sales copy for small businesses. His clients include The Kyle David Group, ITNewton, 18 Vodka, RoboQuote and more.