Discuss the benefits of having a diverse employee mix

Today everyone is jumping on the diversity bandwagon. Diversity is given as a rationale to defend or enforce certain employment philosophies and practices throughout the world of work, especially in the United States. Policy statements in both public and private institutions have recently been rewritten to add or to substitute the diversity criterion as a standard or measure of decision-making appropriateness. Diversity is a new fad and buzzword used by organizations to show that their mission and purpose statements are up-to-date and cutting edge.

Numerous tools and strategies are available to Federal agencies to build and maintain a diverse workforce. These are best managed in three stages:*

Positioning the agency *

Designing and implementing a diversity program *

Sustaining commitment

Positioning the Agency. After considering the frameworks described in the previous section, agencies will recognize that a diversity program will assist them in achieving their business and strategic goals. They may want to jump immediately into designing and implementing a series of new initiatives or a completely new diversity program. However, the key to successfully building a diverse, high-quality workforce for tomorrow begins with a strong leadership commitment and knowledge of where the agency is today. Moreover, experience has demonstrated that successful diversity initiatives depend on positioning the agency first.

With this commitment and information firmly in hand, the agency can be confident that it has positioned itself for success in designing and implementing an effective diversity program.

Commitment. Commitment is the foundation of a successful effort to build and maintain a diverse, high-quality workforce. This commitment should be clearly stated and communicated from the top leadership to employees at all levels. In addition, agencies need to take action to assure that resources and staff are available for each stage of the program.

Designing a diversity program. Based on the results of assessing the current situation and the environment and conducting workforce planning, an agency will have identified the type and number of positions to be filled as well as any targeted needs. The agency is then ready to design a strategy to find and hire the diverse, high-quality workforce to achieve the agency's mission. To build a diverse workforce, agencies should incorporate tailored approaches to recruit and hire these individuals into their overall strategies. The first step is to find the candidates. After finding high-quality candidates, the agency must now hire them. The agency's next objective is to ensure that their valuable employees stay with the agency. That goal is the focus of the second major set of elements to be included in the design and implementation of the agency's diversity program.

Part of the problem with diversity is that it has never been managerially or legally defined. Is it really diversity that we want within our organizations? The dictionary defines diversity as difference and unlikenes. But practically nobody can explain this notion properly.