Question

Diversity in Healthcare

Exercise 1:

You have been asked to join the hospital’s task force for developing a plan to increase the organization’s workforce diversity from its current 20 percent level to 40 percent over the next five years. How does your task force define diversity? What recommendations would make as a member of the task force?

Answer 1

Workforce diversity means similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation. No two humans are alike. People are different in not only gender, culture, race, social and psychological characteristics but also in their perspectives and prejudices. Society had discriminated on these aspects for centuries. Diversity makes the work force heterogeneous. In current scenario, employing diversified workforce is a necessity for every organization but to manage such diversified workforce is also a big challenge for management.

Recommendations as a member of work force:

Share meaningful messages that attract the talent you seek.

Acquiring the best talent is often a competitive process, therefore position your organization to tap into the underutilized diverse talent pool.

Be intentional in recruiting diverse talent.

Scout talent from diverse professional organizations, events and conferences. Prioritize building a diverse network so that you can have a broader pool of talent to share opportunities with.

Research best-in-class strategies.

What companies are successfully attracting and recruiting diverse talent? Compare your strategies for recruiting diverse talent to the practices of best-in-class organizations in your field.

Review your employee retention and advancement report card.

Do an honest assessment of where your organization currently stands on the employee retention and advancement scale. Determine the state of your organizational metrics based on various levels in organization, as it relates to race, gender, ability and any other diversity metrics that you can capture. Make sure that your retention and advancement strategy works for everyone.

Determine the root causes of your results.

Consider why some employees advance and remain at your organization while others leave? Once you determine the root causes, integrate this data into your training and development.

Develop targeted strategies.

Identify specific actions that the organization can take to improve the advancement of underrepresented groups in your organization such as women, underrepresented minorities, veterans. Get members of those underrepresented groups involved in the strategy.

Promote supportive relationships among staff

Mentoring benefits more than just the individuals directly involved— it also benefits the organization. When staff are engaged and feel valued, they are more likely to remain loyal, and devoted employees which is key to a company’s success.