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PAE
What is diversity in the workplace?
Diversity in the workplace occurs when a
business uses a wide range of employees
from different backgrounds to make up its
entire workforce. Whether a business has
a large or small number of employees,
the nature of the employees’ backgrounds
is a highly important consideration that
hiring parties make. Diversity can cover a
variety of factors, ranging from ethnicity to
socioeconomic background. While diversity
can take many forms, it’s not always easy
to identify either a diverse or undiversified
working environment, and this further adds
to the importance of monitoring diversity and
inclusion with data.
The primary aim of a diverse workforce is to
unify a range of people, each with different
ideas, experiences and opinions as a product
of their backgrounds, to produce the most
innovative working environment. This diverse
business then possesses the relevant tools
to elevate to new heights of growth, utilising a
collaborative effort from each unique worker.
The discussion of diversity in the workplace
has grown exponentially in recent years and
is now more prevalent than ever, because of
various organisations realising not only the
importance but the vast array of benefits that a
diverse workforce brings.
Forms of diversity in the workplace
With diversity being such a crucial element
within every business environment, it’s of
the utmost importance that you understand
the various forms that diversity can take. Not
every business is going to incorporate the
same model of diversity across each industry
or have the same percentage or portion of
people from certain diverse backgrounds.
September 2023
It’s vital that every business achieves a
sufficient level of diversity in as many forms
possible, for the more diverse a business is,
the wider the variety of benefits that you can
gain from it. Diversity may take the form of:
 Culture and ethnicity: this refers to the
different cultures that you might have in
a workplace, also heavily linked to the
different ethnic backgrounds which are likely
to shape these cultures.
 Race: this is where a business has a range
of people of different races (a grouping
founded on physical-biological traits such as
skin colour).
 Sex and gender: this is where the
workforce has people of different sexes
and genders. Sex, in the traditional sense,
is male or female, but with the concept of
‘gender’ being continuously redefined, it’s
increasingly important that transgender,
nonbinary and other genders receive
adequate representation.
 Religion: this is where a business is
conscious of hiring people who come from
or practise a range of different faiths, beliefs
and standings. Examples include Christians,
Muslims and Atheists.
 Age: this is a form of diversity that seeks
to recruit people who are of a wide range
of age groups, although there may be
limits due to the job. For example, a job
in a nightclub can have a minimum age
restriction of 21.
 Socioeconomic: this considers the
financial and class backgrounds of the
employees, ensuring there is a diverse
mixture of all types in the business.
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