Discuss: Diversity in the workplace

Workplace diversity is the variety of differences between people in an organization. This can refer to race and gender, among other things.

A tipped scale

It is no doubt that we have seen quite the tipped scale when it comes to diversity in the workplace. My colleague Steven wrote in his article that when an entrepreneur builds a startup, chances are that he’s a man, and that he’ll hire male managers as the business takes on its early employees.

And that is a monotone picture familiar to anyone watching the tech industry. Silicon Valley too struggles with bringing a sense of diversity within the workplace.

Apple’s US based workforce comprises of 56 percent white, 19 percent Asian, 12 percent Hispanic and 9 percent black. Do however note that these statistics include retail employees. Google and Facebook however, are still trailing behind in the numbers of minorities hired.

With the world slowly closing the gender gap, we are still finding that in the workplace, the more senior the role, the worse the gender/pay gap becomes.

Harmony is the way to go

It is disheartening to see the lack of diversity in the workplace, especially in this time and age.

To me, it all starts with the founder, and is best started early on. Diversity allows for unique experiences and perceptions, and having exposure to different ideas would better help the company grow as well.

The call for diversity sometimes also extends outside the startup. One such company is 99.co, which has implemented an all-races-welcome indicator on their site to allow for housing rentals to anyone regardless of ethnicity. They also encourage agents to source for such listings, which will be placed more prominently on the website.

Race, gender, and religion shouldn’t be huge factors for consideration when hiring. Instead, an individual whose behavior and work ethics/values are consistent with that of your company’s will make for a perfect fit.

Let’s discuss

• What is your take on diversity in the workplace?
• How diverse is your workplace?
• Ever came across a bad experience with regards to a largely homogenous workplace?
• What can founders do to create a harmonious and diverse workplace environment?