Strategies for Diversity & Equal Opportunity
The client recognised the need for a much more diverse workforce and a race and gender mix which reflected the demographics and the available talent pool.
The solution
A series of parallel strategies were developed and were implemented concurrently. They included:
- Selection of high calibre individuals from the segments of the population who were under-represented in the organisation
- Organisational Development programmes to prepare the workplace and address any attitudinal or physical barriers which resulted in negative expectations and led to retention problems
- Bridging education, cultural adaptation and induction programmes so that individuals with minority status were not marginalised because of inappropriate behaviour
- Management and leadership training to sensitise supervisors to the need for managing career transitions more effectively
The result
The organisation achieve a number of firsts with respect to the advancement of staff who were under-represented in the workforce and the combination of four programmes working in parallel generated sustainable change in the organisation which continued to bear fruit for a number of years after the formal intervention was completed.