Developing an Annual Plan to Celebrate Diversity in the Workplace

 

It is clear that the business environment globally is very competitive and companies have to be keen to deliver the best workplace culture that leads to inclusivity. Therefore, the recruitment process and stage should be considered by the human resource department should be careful on who is enrolled into the company (Sheppard, 2018). There should be a unified work environment based common purpose shared by the team to overcome any possible challenges likely to bring division among the employees. The HRM should be keen on cultural differences and different religious beliefs. These differences should be managed well to create a harmonious working environment.

Therefore, this study will be based on the views offered during an interview from three previous human resource personnel to give their insight on how to engage and celebrate diversity within the workplace regardless of the size of the companies (Park, 2020). The objective will be to determine the best approach to ensure diversity and inclusion of staff in various human resource departments. In addition, the interviewees will offer their insights on how an annual plan to celebrate diversity should be done. The information gathered during the interview will be boosted by an in-depth research from the available literature. The goal of this study will be to have an annual plan during Labour Day or a week before the date. The goal will be to equip the human resource department with the best managerial skills on how to recognize and celebrate different cultures, enabling employees to understand more about the backgrounds of their fellow co-workers.

As a result, the plan will include cultural experiences, festivities from various cultures, and modalities of celebration. Different activities will take different duration and timeframe to facilitate comfort during the main event intended to culminate a week of activities (Singh & Babbar, 2021). Therefore, there will be different events during the week to ensure all the employees are involved. There could be some plans to target various groups during the week but the weekend before Labour Day all the employees will be under the same hall participating in all-inclusive events and activities. Therefore, the following table depicts the annual plan to celebrate diversity in the workplace.

Objective	Goal	Timeline
To celebrate the Black Americans in the XYZ company	To host a cultural week before the Labour day to ensure interaction among the employees.	Labour day is on 1st May every year. The cultural week will be culminated on the last Saturday before Labour Day.

 

Interviews Results

Based on the interview, various insights were common among the participants.  First, the event should be well planned considering diversity in a merrymaking mix. The event should be appealing to all the employees and geared toward celebrating the common attributes that the employees offer to the company regardless of their race, religion, or political affiliation. There should be less concentration on the differences according to Sondra Thiederman, a consultant and author on diversity topics. According to her, planners should not concentrate much on the uncommon cultures and religions among the Black Americans because it may contribute to the failure of the event. There is no need to please certain groups while glorifying the other ones. Therefore, neutrality, not specificity should be the core focus during the event to make it easy for all the invited people to interact and participate in the events of the day.

According to the second interviewee, he offered various tips that could be crucial to the success of the event. The welcome statement matters a lot and the event organizers should be keen on recognizing the company's diversity through the opening statement. A good example is to encourage them by showing the value they all bring to the company and how their efforts have helped in the achievements being witnessed. In addition, the organizers should ensure the room hosting the participants do not portray decors depicting certain religion. For example, most Christians are affiliated with Santa, or Christmas trees, which may be irrelevant to Hindus and Muslims (Singh & Babbar, 2021). However, the use of neutral symbols that may include flowers and balloons would be encouraged. All religions and cultures use them in various events; hence highly encouraged.

On, On the other hand, the type of food and refreshments to be served during the party should accommodate the diversity. The choice should available for vegetarians and non-vegetarian to ensure inclusivity. It should apply to the music choice being played during the event. The entertainer should ensure there is good chemistry brought by the song choices. The appeal is to make the participants happy and in this case, historical music, and renowned band performances should be the way to go, whereas music related to certain cultures such as Rap, Hip-hop, or carols should not feature.

The last interviewee was keen on noting the essence of the party as a unifying factor instead of concentrating on the differences. It is an opportunity to meet and interact with your co-workers that you not have had a chance to share with before (Sheppard, 2018). At the end of the meeting, each participant should have made a new friend. Sometimes, employees fail to overcome cultural barriers and such parties should be a good opportunity to bridge the gap.

He further noted that the party should be business-based instead of trying to advocate for certain religious doctrines. Therefore, employers have to consider their utterances when interacting with employees to avoid insensitive sentiments on different religious beliefs. As a result, the celebrations will be successful and fulfilling for the participants once their cultural differences are respected and not highlighted as a challenge in the company.

In this regard, the rewarding or any gifts to be given during the party should not be anonymous to avoid any discomfort or disappointment when the recipient gets a gift contrary to their religion. In addition, the choice of Labour Day is highly recommended because it is a universal holiday as opposed to having an event around Diwali, Christmas, or Ramadan (Singh & Babbar, 2021). All employees should be represented in the planning process to ensure success and they should not be forced to attend if they are not okay.

Literature Review Findings

According to Gebert, Buengeler, And Heinitz (2017), training is a core aspect for any company seeking to fight discrimination among its employees. Therefore, there should be adequate resources in terms of money and time to promote sustainable integration that triggers diversity in the workforce. The training should be conducted openly and adequate finances allotted to strengthen the HRM to conduct effective corporate diversity training. The trainers should be close to the recruits to communicate and disseminate the required aspect of dealing with diversity. In this case, the authors acknowledge that efforts to overcome discrimination led by diversity in workplaces are not an easy task.

There are many barriers likely to contribute to failure to efforts being rallied toward training recruits on dealing with diversity and accommodating all colleagues despite their differences.  Therefore, the trainees should not shy away from speaking out their minds and contribute to various platforms during the training (Sheppard, 2018). The learning process should not be based on a certain dogmatic approach but instead, ensure a learning process based on tolerance for all stakeholders’ beliefs. Each of the involved parties has their beliefs and norms and the training should not be skewed.

Phillips, Deiches, Morrison, Chan, and Bezyak (2015), emphasize the need for proper implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act as the affected parties decry being short-changed despite the existence of the law.  People have been misinformed about disability whereas others have developed negative attitudes, which have attributed to lower employment rates. It is a sad state given that employers should not discriminate against them despite their diversity (Park, 2020). The trainers should consider the disabled and ensure diversity training intended to advocate for intergroup relations and reduce prejudice. The existence of the disabled in society is not a rare case. People have been discriminated against based on race, religion, and political affiliation. However, it is painful to deny disabled people a chance to work despite their professionalism and merits in the job available.

Conclusion

Based on the study, diversity in workplaces occurs due to various reasons such as race, religion, and disability level. Therefore, an annual event a week before Labour Day would be a good idea for the company to bring the employees to an event that will promote cultural diversity. However, the focus should be on the ethics and factors that bring together the employees as a team.  HRM should be given adequate resources to train employees on the need to accept diversity in workplaces. 

References

Gebert, D., Buengeler, C., & Heinitz, K., (2017). Tolerance: A Neglected Dimension in    Diversity Training? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 16 (3), 415–438. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2015.0252

Park, J. S. Y. (2020). Translating culture in the global workplace: Language, communication,      and diversity management. Applied Linguistics, 41(1), 109-128.

Phillips, B., Deiches, J., Morrison, B., Chan, F., & Bezyak, J., (2015). Disability Diversity           Training in the Workplace: Systematic Review and Future Directions, J Occup Rehabil           (2016) 26:264–275 DOI 10.1007/s10926-015-9612-3

Sheppard, D. L. (2018). The dividends of diversity: the win-win-win model is taking over            business and it necessitates diversity. Strategic HR Review.

Singh, R. K., & Babbar, M. (2021). Religious Diversity at Workplace: a Literature            Review. Humanistic Management Journal, 1-19.