Diversity's Relevance

One of my latest and probably more complex projects is to begin addressing “diversity” at my company. With a recently opened “diversity office” and ambitious plans to become a major global IT services provider, the matter of workplace diversity (or lack thereof) is an issue that must be addressed before any global dominance can be established.

So the first challenge is taking a workforce that is largely (almost oppressively) homogenous, and conveying the indisputable importance of cultivating superficial and deep diversity. Communicating the implications and long-term benefits of creating and maintaining a diversity strategy to the average employee will be difficult.

Most of my coworkers (with exceptions) are individuals who rarely associate with others outside their community – residents of the most privileged group of high-caste, wealthy middle class graduates of the country’s top educational institutions (IIT/IIM).

Then there’s the patriarchal, subtly sexist corporate culture to confront.

And also, integrating both concepts of national and international-related diversity into the framework.

A good starting place to bring all employees onto the same page, is to abstract “diversity” to its fundamental basis. But after hearing about this concept for years, at school, through the media, even in cinema, I’m almost too deeply entrenched to make an objective statement!