Diversity training is used by companies to teach employees how to work in a diverse workplace and avoid offense or harassment. It can benefit companies by promoting a welcoming work environment, enhancing team-building, and preventing discrimination lawsuits. The training can involve lectures, role plays, and interactive seminars. It can also be useful for employees preparing to complete business transactions in other countries.
Diversity training is an educational tool used by corporations and businesses to teach employees how to best be productive, innovative team members in a workplace that cuts across cultural, socioeconomic, and gender barriers. The main objective is usually to educate employees about different backgrounds, cultures, customs and points of view in order to avoid offense or harassment. When done correctly, it can help to avoid any form of antagonism, real or perceived, related to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender. Companies in all industries make use of this type of training, although the actual logistics can differ from place to place. Sometimes the exercises take the form of a lecture or a fact sheet, but they can also involve role plays, interactive seminars and video presentations. Many companies make this type of training mandatory, and it is usually required at regular intervals, such as once a year or once a quarter. In some cases, the phrase “diversity training” may also be used to describe the type of cultural training that employees receive prior to being posted overseas; in that sense, training is often geared towards learning about a specific culture and people, rather than teaching tolerance and acceptance more generally.
basic idea
Increasingly, in many places, the modern workforce and society at large are becoming increasingly diverse. Another way of saying this is that they are becoming less homogeneous, which basically means that employees and customers come from an ever-increasing variety of backgrounds. Sometimes the differences are essentially invisible, such as socioeconomic status, nationality or marital and family status, but other times they are immediately evident; gender, race, and even age are usually apparent almost immediately. As a consequence, workers are increasingly likely to work alongside, with, or for people who are markedly different from themselves. The main objective of diversity-oriented training is to help promote a happy and welcoming work environment where everyone feels comfortable.
In most cases, training seeks to emphasize the advantages of employing people with diverse backgrounds and talents in order to provide a well-rounded work environment. Companies can often benefit from embracing diversity and leveraging the skills that all different types of employees possess. This type of training can provide a natural team-building experience, increase the bond between coworkers, and remove unnecessary barriers.
Resources and Approaches
There are usually two different ways to approach actual training, and most companies opt for a combined approach. Methods can also change over time, depending on what works and what seems to be most effective for the people and groups in question. Most often, training involves a combination of video presentations, lectures and opportunities for interactive role-play and hands-on practice in dealing with and identifying potentially difficult situations. Employee participation is sometimes noted and graded by managers, and participants can also provide individualized feedback. More often, however, the training is more streamlined, primarily seeking to make people aware of situations that may require new or different approaches without requiring any direct participation.
Internal Benefits
One of the most important things this type of training is often designed for is to make all employees feel welcome, appreciated, and used for their talents. Not only does it educate, pointing out practices or phrases to avoid, but it also emphasizes the positive qualities that diversity brings to the workplace. Multiple perspectives, problem-solving ideas, and a variety of life experiences can enhance the efficiency and profitability of many different types of businesses.
Consumer-facing payments
There are often benefits when it comes to employee-customer interactions as well, particularly in service-oriented environments. Training receptionists, clerks and service agents to be sensitive and aware of the different backgrounds of their customers can prevent unintentional offense and make the buying and shopping experience more acceptable and, ideally, more profitable as a result.
It can also help save the company from discrimination lawsuits, which can sometimes arise if customers feel they’ve been treated differently because of something like race or gender. Training cannot necessarily prevent these types of claims, but helping employees be aware of trigger situations can make them less likely.
Teaching Mediation
Additionally, diversity training can provide a middle ground for mediation and teach people how to interact with different people. It can be challenging for a business to find a forum for communication and problem solving. This type of education can help the process and guide conflicting parties towards reaching a compromise or mutual understanding.
Special considerations for transnational corporations
Diversity training can also be a useful tool to educate employees who are preparing to complete business transactions in other countries. Cultural differences between people in different places can be great and can make communication extremely difficult, even if all parties speak a common language. Incorrect interpretation of customs and different social norms can create difficulties in business interactions and negotiations. In this sense, training is usually much more focused and channeled than in other situations where the aim is to teach tolerance and respect more generally.
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