Diversity and sensitivity training
- On 4 September 2018
- Posted by Chantal Mariotti
Protect yourself against claims of hostile working environments, or harassment in the workplace! Create a friendly and welcoming work environment for all your staff. By appreciating the diversity in your workplace, your employees can feel accepted and comfortable in their surroundings. Make sure there are no discriminatory practices taking place at your workplace as your company could be charged with a litigated claim if discrimination occurs.
Culture and diversity bring so much wonderful things to a workplace; all companies should embrace cultural diversity in their workplace. With diversity come different ideas, experiences, and strengths. Therefore, it is important and certainly a best practice to acknowledge your diverse group of employees and capitalize on the strength of “differences”. Employees who feel respected and appreciated are more inclined to give their all to the success of your company.
Unfortunately, not all employees will want the diversity; and the ones who do want diversity, may not be fully aware of how to best communicate with different cultures. Not everyone in your workplace is going to be comfortable with different cultures or points of view. Therefore, it is a good idea to train all your employees on how to have a better understanding and sensitivity of different cultures as well as how to properly communicate with each other. Through diversity and sensitivity training, your employees will learn all the benefits of cultural diversity, as well as how to handle certain situations to better communicate with those individuals who have different beliefs and ideas.
What one person says may not be accepted by another, even if at face value it looks innocent; and there was no intention of hurting someone’s feelings. Certain statements that may seem harmless to some might offend others. Therefore, it is important to train your employees to be more sensitive as to what they might say to their fellow employees. Individuals have different experiences, cultural backgrounds and personalities; so, it is important to be sensitive and careful with comments that may come through as aggressive or offensive to some.
We can help by providing cultural diversity training to your staff. Inclusion is an important component of improving employee relations all while ensuring that your employees feel welcomed and safe in their workplace. Diversity training can help strengthen your workplace, create an environment of understanding and acceptance, all while decreasing employee turnover and ultimately improving employee loyalty which in turn can translate into exceptional customer service.