In college, I have been exposed to so many different types of people. This has helped me realize the importance of having diversity in our communities. If we were all the same, the world would be a boring place. I think this is an important outlook to take into the work place.
The Multicultural Advantage website discusses how having a diverse workplace adds to the variety of points of view. The collaboration of differing viewpoints can expand your knowledge and foster your creativity. I have found this to be so true, especially when working in groups or as a team. Having everyone share their ideas helps build new ideas off of old ones.
Diversity goes beyond just sharing ideas. I found a neat story on Insperity, a business performance site, about one man's point of view:
"While Bruce Hurwitz was working at a Bronx nursing home, he participated in a diversity-sensitivity workshop. The facilitator called on participants to weigh in on the statement: 'Race matters in interpersonal relations.' Hurwitz alone said race mattered, and the other 24 participants were floored. One co-worker was indignant — her father was African-American and her mother was Hispanic.Hurwitz, today president and CEO of Hurwitz Strategic Staffing in New York, told his co-workers: 'If race doesn’t matter, then race means nothing; there is no Asian history, there is no Hispanic history, there is no African-American history, there is no Muslim history, and none of you has any special culture. If you were to say that about me, I’d be highly offended and consider you to be anti-Semitic.' Within minutes, everyone except for the one co-worker came to his way of thinking. Days later, the co-worker told Hurwitz she hoped that he didn’t think she was an anti-Semite.' I laughed and assured her that the thought had never entered my mind. I then guessed that the reason why she had taken her stand was that she had been brought up by her parents to believe that race does not matter because they had been the victims of racism and bigotry, because they had married outside of their respective races,' he says. 'She confirmed my guess. She then said she was never even able to discuss race because for her, the discussion itself reinforced racism and bigotry. It was a revealing example of how parents impact their children.'”
I think that giving recognition to diversity in the work place is a good way to help promote and expand diversity within other companies. There have been several PRSA chapters that have won awards for their efforts to incorporate diversity into their companies. It can be as simple as the Miami Chapter's wine tasting and professional development workshop. They recognized the need to incorporate the Hispanic community in the professional world of public relations and this event fostered this notion.
Kaiser Permanente has also been recognized on several occasions for their effort to create a diverse work place. Some of the places they were recognized by are DiversityInc., the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, Black Collegian magazine, Asian Enterprise magazine, Workforce Management magazine, Latina Style magazine and The California Diversity Council. Kaiser has 181,000 employes and 74% are female and 56% are people of color.
It is inspiring to see so many work places recognized for their efforts in creating diversity. I love hearing how people have over come negative attitudes toward diversity and grow from their experiences. It helps me strive to work at a place that has a diverse work force.
