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What are the Top Advantages to a Diversity Program?

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Paul Pelletier Project management key note speaker, author, corporate lawyer, and executive| Paul Pelletier Consulting Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
I often get asked "what are the tangible benefits of investing in a diversity program?" According to American Express, here are some of the top advantages of workplace diversity:

1. It builds your employer brand. Having a diverse workforce makes your company more interesting, people can expect to learn more from your employees and you can attract better talent from around the world. 
2. It increases creativity. When you bring a variety of different people from various backgrounds together, you''ll end up getting better solutions to business problems. If you don''t have a diverse workplace, you might not be able to tackle problem the best way. 
3. It encourages personal growth. This is a major advantage to workplace diversity because it can help employees learn new ideas, perspectives and connect intellectually and personally to different people. 
4. It makes employees think more independently. If you have similar people at a company, it will be harder to solve complex problems. One study by Katherine Phillips, a professor at Kellogg, shows that by even adding one employee from a different background can get people out of their comfort zones and thinking different about a situation.

Can you think of others?

For the full article see: https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-b...-the-workplace/
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Peter Ambrosy Weinheim, Germany
Powering innovation and competition are the key advantages. Diversity is a very important topic for the leading german companies (see also the logos at the end of below URL where you can click on company specific statements):

https://initiative-chefsache.de/en/initiat...embers/siemens/
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Paul -

It also helps you attract the best talent.

Kiron
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1 reply by Mayte Mata Sivera
Oct 02, 2017 2:17 PM
Mayte Mata Sivera
...
Great point! I was preparing my last presentation and I found that according to a Glassdoor survey, two-thirds of job hunters indicated that diversity was important to them when evaluating companies and job offers.

Then as today, we are in a competitive global job market, demonstrating that a business is invested in fostering a multicultural and inclusive environment can make one organization stand out to the right candidates.
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Mayte Mata Sivera PMO Leader | Speaker | Author Ut, United States
Sep 30, 2017 11:17 AM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Paul -

It also helps you attract the best talent.

Kiron
Great point! I was preparing my last presentation and I found that according to a Glassdoor survey, two-thirds of job hunters indicated that diversity was important to them when evaluating companies and job offers.

Then as today, we are in a competitive global job market, demonstrating that a business is invested in fostering a multicultural and inclusive environment can make one organization stand out to the right candidates.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
It is sad to read that diversity must thinking as a program to invest. If we support this type of thinking we are lost as society.
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Sergio -

That's a great point - we need to evolve to the point where this is "how" we do business naturally and not a "bolt on". Unfortunately, in many organizations, diversity is NOT baked into their DNA and so they need to invest in the resources required to ensure that their commitment to diversity is met.

Kiron
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1 reply by Sergio Luis Conte
Oct 02, 2017 2:43 PM
Sergio Luis Conte
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I know Kiron. In fact, I was in the middle of this type of process in the organization where I work today and I am proud to contribute to this change of mind in this organization. Today that is internalized. But I firmly believe that we need to stop thinking this as a program and as an investment. If not we are contributing to think about diversity in the incorrect way. That is my personal opinion and that is what I am practicing from years.
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Oct 02, 2017 2:36 PM
Replying to Kiron Bondale
...
Sergio -

That's a great point - we need to evolve to the point where this is "how" we do business naturally and not a "bolt on". Unfortunately, in many organizations, diversity is NOT baked into their DNA and so they need to invest in the resources required to ensure that their commitment to diversity is met.

Kiron
I know Kiron. In fact, I was in the middle of this type of process in the organization where I work today and I am proud to contribute to this change of mind in this organization. Today that is internalized. But I firmly believe that we need to stop thinking this as a program and as an investment. If not we are contributing to think about diversity in the incorrect way. That is my personal opinion and that is what I am practicing from years.
avatar
Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
If you need something more academic is simple to sell the idea. You have to understand how the world is what the world is today. Search for information from the time of glaciers when people from today Asia go to today America and about Pangea. What today we know like "net" (internet, information net, etc) has the origin in those times mainly about the benefits that this type of diversity exchange create the world as we know today.

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