Workforce Language Services

Some companies strive for a diverse workforce because they think it’s the right thing to do.  Other companies grudgingly do so because of Equal Employment Opprotunity mandates.  Still others find that having a diverse workforce all through the ranks is a smart business decision. 

A recent piece in Business Week makes the case for the third reason for crafting a diverse workforce.  Companies want to sell their products or services, right?  Authors G. Michael Maddock and Raphael Luis Viton urge companies to create a workforce that mirrors their target audience to sell more and continue to create innovative products and services.

They offer a three part argument for sustaining a competitive advantage:

1. Understanding. If your workforce mirrors the diverse demographics and cultural aspects of your customers, you are bound to have a better understanding of your audience. (Providing you encourage all those unique voices to contribute. If all you are doing is counting heads—”let’s see we employ 53% women, 11% blacks, 16% Hispanics…yep, we’re covered; now let’s have the same old people at the top make all the decisions as they always have in the same old ways”—you have not gained a thing.)

2. Credibility. If your workforce looks like the people you are trying to reach, you increase the odds of closing the sale. Let’s use a simple example to make the point. From whom would 22-year-old guys want to buy their $85 athletic shoes? A 63-year-old grandmother or a 22-year-old guy?

3. Connectedness. And if your workforce is the same as the people you are trying to reach, you are bound to be closer to them at all times, which give you a leg up on the competition.

Of course, simply mining diverse talent for ideas isn’t enough, and that’s where cultural competency training comes in.  A company won’t be able to sustain this competetive advantage if it doesn’t take into account the need to integrate diverse employees into the overall business structure.  A company won’t be successful if it doesn’t stress inclusiveness and understanding into its policies and management practices.

Cultural competency training will enable your business to not only sustain sales to diverse populations, but will also allow you to keep the employees you seek to include, thus bolstering sales and increasing employee buy-in.