Diversity in the workplace matters. It’s important that companies both hire diverse employees and nurture a diverse company culture that supports those employees. “When companies recruit and retain a diverse pool of people, it brings about different benefits to the company as well as its employees,” according to 6Q.1 Benefits include increased productivity and creativity, better profits, higher levels of employee engagement, less turnover, greater cultural insights, improved company reputation, and more.
A diverse workforce and inclusive company culture benefits employees as much as it does organizations. For example, working in a diverse environment can make it easier for employees to become top performers. Undercover Recruiter explained, “Equality in the workplace is important for encouraging workers from all backgrounds to feel confident in their ability and achieve their best. The higher the team morale, the more productive employees are.”2 Companies can use eLearning to effectively promote inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
You may be surprised to find out that eLearning can foster organizational diversity. Here are a few specific ways it accomplishes this.
1. eLearning helps companies educate employees about diversity
For companies struggling to create a more inclusive culture, employee education is key. It’s not at all uncommon for employees to need diversity training. For example, most workers benefit from training that centers on issues such as addressing implicit bias, promoting gender equality, and optimizing diversity on teams. By using a learning management system, companies can create, deliver, track, and report on diversity and inclusion training courses such as these. This way, companies can teach employees to adopt inclusive behaviors, not just tell them to do so without giving them practical tools and knowledge for behavioral change.
Related Reading: 4 Easy Ways to Train a Diverse Workforce
2. eLearning enables accessible training
Diversity in the workplace goes beyond differences in gender and race. Diversity also encompasses differing levels of ability. According to NCSL, 20 percent of individuals having disabilities are participating in the workforce.3 This means a percentage of your employees have a disability or disabilities, whether visible or not. For example, some workers may be vision- or hearing-impaired or have dexterity limitations. eLearning fosters diversity and inclusion by allowing companies to create remote training that is accessible to all employees, including those with disabilities.
When creating online learning, “You can employ strategies such as closed captioning for the hearing impaired, audio descriptions of images for the visually impaired and incorporating assistive technologies for those with physical and dexterity limitations,” stated eLearningIndustry.com.4 Read more about how to create training for those with disabilities in 3 Ways to Make eLearning More Accessible for All Employees.
3. eLearning can help bring down language barriers in training
Language barriers in the workplace can divide employees, hinder teamwork, and prevent a diverse and inclusive company culture. What’s more, 90 percent of organizations deal with language barriers on a daily basis, and upper management is often unaware that these barriers exist, per Rosetta Stone and ATD.5 Companies can help to bring down language barriers with eLearning tools such as language customization, which many learning management system (LMS) providers offer as an add-on feature.
eLearning fosters inclusivity by giving employees access to the same training opportunities
Enabling companies to educate workers about diversity, create training that is accessible to employees with differing levels of ability, and bring down language barriers that exist within the realm of training are just a few ways online learning tools promote inclusion and diversity in the workplace.
If your company is ready to level the playing field and give every employee the chance to participate in the same online employee training opportunities, the TOPYX Quick Start Program can help you deploy a full learning management system for your organization in a matter of days.
Sources:
1. https://inside.6q.io/benefits-of-cultural-diversity-in-the-workplace/
2. https://theundercoverrecruiter.com/benefits-diversity-workplace/
3. https://www.ncsl.org/research/labor-and-employment/employing-people-with-disabilities.aspx
4. https://elearningindustry.com/elearning-to-support-a-work-environment-of-diversity-and-inclusion-3-ways
5. https://www.td.org/magazines/td-magazine/language-barriers-in-the-workplace