Managing diversity
Managing diversity and inclusion is a key part of good human resource management and the responsibility of every supervisor. Promoting diversity, equality, and equity should be reflected in the workplace's goals and strategy.
A supervisor plays a crucial role in creating a culture that respects the diversity of the work community. This role is most evident when recruiting new employees, as it provides an opportunity to select individuals who bring different perspectives to the team. Additionally, leaders have many other situations where they can consider diversity: in planning training, addressing diverse customer needs, ensuring workplace accessibility, leveraging employees' various strengths, preventing discrimination, and so on.
You can use the checklist of the Employment Security Center to manage diversity:
Use versatile recruitment channels, so you can reach a wide variety of groups of job seekers.
Include an easy-to-understand description of the job and its content in the job advertisement.
Make use of diversity clauses in job advertisements, for example encourage people of different ages, different genders and people belonging to linguistic, cultural or other minorities to apply for an open position. In a recruitment situation, evaluate the job seeker based on his skills. The competence requirements must be based on the requirements of the job. According to the Equality Act, the employer must always perform a merit comparison when the applicants are both men and women. The merit comparison takes into account the applicants' education, previous work experience and the applicant's characteristics, knowledge and skills that can be objectively assessed.
Treat job seekers and employees equally. Train the work community in advance to receive a new employee. Orientation is a two-way, interactive process.
Plan the work tasks and related arrangements according to the employee's competence, operational ability and working capacity together with him.
Look at the workplace from the point of view of accessibility and accessibility for employees and customers. Often, even small changes can achieve an accessible work environment and accessible services.
In the development discussion and other work-related meetings, bring up issues related to equality and equality in the work community, for example attitudes and experiences of discrimination. Possible participation in work development.
Identify employees' strengths and offer opportunities to utilize them at work.
Stop from time to time to recognize your own preconceptions and thinking biases. If necessary, get additional training in issues related to diversity.
Read more about diversity, equality and equality in the working community from the publication of the Employment Security Agency.