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Module 2 Capstone Assignment

The Legal Environment and Diversity

The world is comprised of diverse cultures that have different perspectives regarding life such as workplace. Workplace diversity refers to employees who come from different religious believes, culture, gender and race. Diversity is an important aspect for both the workplace and the employees because they bring new perspectives and mutual respect for one another. Diversity is also important because it improves organization’s reputation (Brown, 2017). Besides, it avails new ways of thinking that enable the employees to new ways of doing things and thinking. Additionally, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was established to ensure there is no discrimination, promote diversity in organizations, and enhance inclusivity. EEOC goal is to ensure both the existing and incoming employees are protected from discrimination based on various factors such as religion, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientations, and disability. EEOC was an improvement to the provisions of the US Department of Labor, who main objective was to prevent issues related to safety in the workplace, fair pay, transparency, and discrimination issues among the employees or between employees and employers. The human resource department is also mandated with looking for updated policies and regulations impacting the workers. The paper evaluates employment regulations and policies impacting diversity in global organizations, examines tools to detect issues related to diversity, and inclusion in the workplace. Then a culture of inclusion is promoted and strategies suggested making it possible.

Global Employment Regulations and Policies

Government has created policies and regulations aimed at employer and employees in the workplace. Certain employment regulations were created to protect workers in the workplace and promote diversity. These regulations may increase depending on the growth stage of the company where it has decided to expand globally (Zajak, 2017). This requires considering employment regulations outside EEOC and other global labor laws by considering cultural diversity. Companies are faced with the problem of implementing diversity policy. Besides, different cultures have divergent stance on various topics, thus requires regulation and policies specific to a given location top avoid discrimination. People should never be discriminated based on gender, relationship status or disability. On the other hand, there are places where religion or sexual orientations are not protected. Though some policies are effective in one country, it does mean that they are effective in all countries (Zajak, 2017). Human resource department is taxed with the responsibility of ensuring there is cross-cultural training in order to implement regulations and policies that protect everyone and avoid discriminatory practices. Such training sessions allow the human resource personnel to have an understanding of different cultural values and learn how to accept them, and interact with local population in different environments. The human resources departments will have a better understanding of what is required in a given country and adhere to policies provided.

Diversity and Inclusion Tools in the Workplace

Promoting diversity is pivotal for the success of an organization because it promotes inclusivity of different skills, knowledge that leads to better ideas and creativity. Every employee is able to appreciate their new perspectives from their colleagues and work together as a team to achieve the goals of the organization. However, differences at the workplace can result in disagreements, harassment, and related issues, but HR should have tools at its disposal to identify a problem before it escalates (Blanck, Hyseni & Wise, 2020). The five tools are discussed below:

· Inclusion committee that is made up of notable leaders within the organization. The committee is responsible for setting goals regarding hiring practices based on diversity and employment retention. Any issue regarding employment need to be noted before it arises.

· Another important tool is self-assessment. Self-assessment helps in learning the employee and provides a wide bank of information about their aspirations, their reference in regard to management, and appreciation. It also opens an avenue to identify issues that might make an employee uncomfortable and promote overall harmony in an organization.

· Leadership development and training. Human resource personnel should promote inclusivity and diversity in the workplace. Leaders are responsible for overseeing projects and make it easy to identify an issue with employees before it gets out of hand. Leaders should be trained so that they are equipped with problem solving skills and learn how to respect diversity and inclusivity. They should also be trained on managing potential issues in their reports.

· Meeting with employees one-on-one. This makes it easy to know each employee better by focusing on their way of doing things. Performance goals should established and inquire from the employees about anything they would wish to be improved. This promotes personal connection, where employees understand each other, and helps the leaders identify issues with the help of their employees before they arise.

· Use of surveys. Employee at times may feel uneasy interacting with their seniors when they have issues on diversity and inclusion. a survey may be important because it makes it easy to identify an issue that employee may not directly inform the leadership.

Human Resources Strategies

Human resource departments should ensure that the organization is all inclusive and promotes diversity. The HR should be responsible for formulating strategies that promotes inclusivity and diversity culture within their organizations, and ensures that employees feel safe and respected. Some of the strategies are discussed below:

· Appreciate differences. Employees are diverse and at times it is hard to make sure each one of them feel welcome. Apart from showing regard to cultural differences, there is needed to show appreciation of the differences that exist among the employees so that they feel accepted (Cletus et al., 2018). This can be promoted by coming up with cultural days where people cook their favorite meal and share with the rest of the employees.

· Making diversity and inclusivity a culture of the organization. Diversity will always arise within the organization. Since leadership training is not enough to promote a culture of inclusivity, organizations should make diversity a constant within their organization. Besides, it should become a culture of the organization to encourage diversity and inclusivity through platforms such as education seminars, webinars, and committees that address related issues.

· It is important to eliminate fear within the workplace. New employees might feel fear, especially where they are in a totally different culture from theirs. Passing the interview might make the employees feel that they will not fit within the organization due to their cultural background. The human resource personnel should work with new recruits to ensure they feel comfortable and promote a culture that embraces diverse cultures. This can be promoted through mentoring programs.

· Promote a culture of safety for the employees. Organizations should come up with structures that accommodate people with disabilities such as lifts, and washrooms that accommodate people who are gender neutral to avoid stigmatizing them. Nursing mothers should also feel accommodated by having a place set aside for this purpose. Besides, groups that help employees connect with each other should be created.

· Leaders should always be an example tops their juniors. Leaders should be at the forefront in promoting diversity within the workplace. Leaders are looked up to by other staff working for the organization that tends to follow the example set by their seniors. When leaders an environment of inclusivity, they will respond by adopting similar behaviors, which promotes unity and embracing diversity within the organization (Cletus et al., 2018).

These strategies are very critical to any organization that seeks to promote diversity, and the HR team should adopt them to promote a culture of inclusivity within the organization.

Conclusion

Diversity brings different perspectives within the organization, which promotes generation of new ideas that would not have been possible. Unfortunately, diversity promotes different viewpoints that lead to disagreements and other issues. Human resource team should be aware of the process that needs to be taken to identify issues and respond to them adequately without harming the goals of the organization. HR should have a well-defined procedure for identifying issues, what should be done to avoid the issues related to diversity, and how to promote diversity and inclusivity within the workplace. The paper has identified employment regulations and policies impacting diversity in global organizations. Besides, tools that help in detecting issues related to diversity and global diversity in the workplace have been outlined. Strategies that can help global organizations HR teams to implement a culture of diversity and inclusivity have been discussed.

References

Blanck, P., Hyseni, F., & Wise, F. A. (2020). Diversity and inclusion in the American legal profession: workplace accommodations for lawyers with disabilities and lawyers who identify as LGBTQ+. Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, 30(4), 537-564.

Brown, J. (2017). Inclusion: Diversity, the New Workplace & the Will to Change by Jennifer Brown. Publish Your Purpose Press.

Cletus, H. E., Mahmood, N. A., Umar, A., & Ibrahim, A. D. (2018). Prospects and challenges of workplace diversity in modern day organizations: A critical review. HOLISTICA–Journal of Business and Public Administration, 9(2), 35-52.

Zajak, S. (2017). Transnational activism, global labor governance, and China. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.