What is Workforce Diversity?

How do you define workforce diversity?

The workforce diversity definition is an important concept that helps businesses appeal to a
wider variety of customers and workers. However, it can be very difficult to transition from
idea to practice. This concept is so important for businesses to understand. A diverse and
inclusive workplace is important in the workplace.
Diversity in the workplace means much more these days than in the past. Genders, religious
belief systems, race ethnicity, sexual orientations, degrees of ableness (physical abilities and
disabilities), and other categories are all currently recognized and must be accommodated.
What is the workforce diversity definition?
 A diverse workforce simply means a company has built a diversified workforce that
includes many different types of people. Diversity in the workplace can mean people of
different ethnicities, sexual orientations, socioeconomic statuses, ages, genders, religions
and other ways in which humans innately differ.
It can also simply mean people who have different personalities and will approach situations
differently. For example, include both introverts and extroverts. It is important for people to
understand the workforce diversity meaning so that, ideally, an organization will build a
workforce consisting of all of the above
*Possible Characteristics of Employees
 Gender
Gender is no longer a dichotomy. There are many genders. Some people identify as one
gender while expressing themselves as another. Gender is different than biological sex.
Some key terms to know are “assigned female at birth,” or AFAB, and “assigned male at
birth,” or AMAB. People can identify as any gender even if their gender differs from their
sex. This is also referred to as “who you are when you get into bed.”
 Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation involves the concept of “who it is with whom you would get into bed.”
Attraction comes in two flavours: sexual and romantic. It’s possible for someone to be
romantically attracted to one gender while being sexually attracted to a different gender.
Some people are even asexual, or ace. Pansexual people are attracted to all genders equally.
 Race
Race involves a couple different factors. One factor is melanin concentration in the skin.
Another factor is a country, or area within a country, from which a person hails. Like the
gender dichotomy, the concept of race is a social construct as human beings became tribal.
Each person identifies with and expresses race in a certain way.
 Ethnicity
Ethnicity involves the cultural aspects of people’s lives. More than just “where they’re
from,” it encompasses the traditions of people with similar backgrounds. Music, food,
dance, and “rules to live by” are all examples of the shared culture of people with similar
histories. Considering race ethnicity is just one part of workforce diversity
 Religion
People’s religion is their belief system, or lack of belief system, in a higher power of some
sort. There are many, many more religions in the world than simply the Abrahamic faiths.
Religion is also a subset of culture and ethnicity. There are many religions that have very few
followers. Still in the U.S., where religious freedom is a cornerstone of the founding of the
country, all people have the right to worship, or not worship, as they see fit.
 Age
Age is simply how old someone is.
 Physical Abilities/Disabilities
In the U.S., it is not legal to use a person’s physical ability, or lack thereof, or the person’s
disability, if any, as a qualification for employment. The exception to this rule is if the job
requires a specific set of skills and capabilities, physical or otherwise, and the person is not
capable of fulfilling the job’s requirements. An example would be, you couldn’t refuse to
hire someone with only one leg to work in an office job because of the missing leg, but you
could say, “No,” to the person for a job as a high steel beam worker.
 Life Experiences
Workforce diversity also means that many people will have had many different paths
through life. Some might have served in the Army. Some people might have had a dozen
jobs before. Some might have had only one job.
 Socioeconomic Background
This is merely how rich or poor you were in the past.
 Employee Engagement
Different people will apply themselves to differing degrees in the job. Because some of
these people might have various health or other issues that prevent them from applying
themselves equally, this should not be a concern.
 Political Beliefs
People’s political beliefs are irrelevant to how they perform assorted job functions. As long
as those beliefs don’t violate the rights of others, they also shouldn’t be relevant in hiring or
promoting someone.

1. DEFINE DOWNSIZING.
Downsizing is the process of terminating multiple employees at the same time. There
are three major reasons that organizations conduct downsizing: Cost reduction.
Adoption of new technologies that reduce the need for a large number of employee.

2. DEFINE EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT.

Employee empowerment refers to the authority and the freedom a company gives its
employees to make decisions and take the necessary steps to achieve goals. Allowing
employees to have more control over their work is the best way to optimise their
performance and benefit the organisation.