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    February 11, 2021

    Diversity: 4 Ways to Embrace One of Your Biggest Assets

    Your business has a diverse audience, so why shouldn’t your team of agents reflect this diversity?
    Call centers of the 21st century are as diverse as ever, which is why we at Call Criteria believe that teams that maximize the power of differing perspectives, opinions, and backgrounds will succeed in today’s super-competitive global marketplace.
    For this reason, we encourage managers to create and nurture an environment that respects and builds on the assets and talents of every agent, valuing their differences in terms of ethnicity, physical abilities, sexual orientation, and gender.
    Research shows that companies with diverse teams perform better than homogeneous teams in several ways:

    • Multi-culturally diverse networks promote creativity in the workplace.
    • Between 2008 and 2010, companies with more diverse teams were top financial performers compared to less diverse competitors.
    • Racially diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams by 35%
    • Teams where men and women are treated equally typically earn 41% more revenue
    • Diverse teams are more likely to improve an organization’s market share.
    • A diverse workforce has an improved retention rate of 19%

    With such data in mind, you would think that more managers would make more effort to create diverse workplaces.
    And yet, 41% of managers claim they’re ‘too busy’ to implement diversity initiatives.
    Although it may be true that managers often have much on their plates, such a finding only shows how small of a priority diversity is to most executives and managers.

    4 Ways to Embrace One of Your Biggest Assets

    However, after Google expanded its program with Code2040 early in 2016, a non-profit company that fosters diversity in Technology, more and more executives are coming to terms with the fact that diversity can, in fact, be an asset in the workplace.
    But how do you turn diversity into an asset for your contact center?

    1. Lead by example

    – As a call center manager, you can only advocate for diversification if you show your agents that you are fully committed to it. You can achieve this by showing respect for diversity issues and giving clear and positive responses to them.

    2. Involve every employee possible in formulating and executing diversity initiatives in your call center

    – By bringing together different backgrounds, skills, and experiences, you increase your chances of creating innovative solutions required to succeed in today’s competitive market.

    3. Encourage employees to express their ideas and opinions and reinforce that you respect and value a sense of equality for all

    – Promoting an attitude of transparency and openness in your organization will ultimately lead to increased productivity.

    4. Use diversity training as a tool to shape diversity policies in your organization

    – This will put you in a better position to take full advantage of varying experiences inherent in a diverse population.

    Conclusion

    Your call center’s long-term success equally relies on a diverse workforce that can bring in fresh ideas, views, and perspectives as it does on a corporate mindset that values those views.
    So how has embracing the diversity in your call center(s) benefited your organization?
    We’d love to hear about your success stories, so contact us today to share!
    Resources:

    hbr.org
    https://hbr.org/2013/12/how-diversity-can-drive-innovation
    www.mckinsey.com
    www.learnvest.com
    cdn.ey.com