Why Diversity Training in the Workplace Enhances Company Culture

Organizations of all kinds are putting a whole new emphasis on their “company culture.” A strong and positive company culture promotes employee well being, satisfaction, and drive—which translates into higher retention of key talent, increased productivity, and a better bottom line.

Diversity training in the workplace enhances company culture in a few key ways:

Making the Workplace More Welcoming to New Hires

Globalization continues to increase the integration of different groups of people into the workforce. Not just people with different nationalities, but also different religions, sexual orientations, hobbies, health issues, and countless other identifying characteristics that contribute to their unique identities.
Also, as the age for retirement increases and more workers feel the pressure to keep working into their golden years, companies are seeing a greater amount of diversity in the age groups they employ.
Diversity training plays a key role in preparing employees for increased diversity in the workforce. This, in turn, helps new employees with diverse backgrounds integrate into the workforce—creating a welcoming company culture that makes it easier for a majority of workers to integrate with the company and excel at their work.

Improving Employee Collaboration

Diversity training highlights the need for a variety of viewpoints, as well as the benefits of cooperating with and being considerate of others. This can lead to increased collaboration between employees on work tasks—both for current employees and future hires—as the spirit of cooperation becomes ingrained in the workplace culture.

Encouraging the Sharing of New Ideas from All Employees

One of the core benefits of a diversity training program is that it can help encourage a freer flow of thoughts and ideas from employees at all levels of an organization. This is largely because diversity training often places an emphasis on valuing the thoughts/opinions of others.
By making managers/team leaders more welcoming of new thoughts and ideas, input can be gained from all levels of the organization—allowing leaders to collect insights into company processes that they might not otherwise have gained.
Another benefit of this idea sharing between workers and management teams is that it can deepen the bond between the two—creating trust in the company’s leadership while improving employee engagement and job satisfaction.

Improving Company Reputation and Attracting Best-in-Business Talents

Organizations that care about their reputation, particularly when it comes to attracting new employees, should be very aware of their company’s perceived culture. A toxic workplace culture has a way of making itself known to potential employees—whether by word of mouth from current and former employees, or “Worst Companies to Work for” lists assembled by different news, entertainment, and job posting sites.
The problem with a toxic company culture is that it tends to repel the best and brightest workers. Such workers often have several potential employers to choose from and will avoid companies where they feel their work may be undervalued.
Diversity training can help with this by promoting a more inclusive workplace that makes workers feel valued and appreciated. This, in turn, helps improve the company’s reputation in the industry—making it more attractive to potential hires.
Get more insights into workplace diversity training, its challenges, and its benefits, by checking out exclusive Big Think+ training videos from industry-leading experts!