Capitalising on diversity in the workplace

Diversity Management

The Danish Government’s initiative to recruit from abroad to fill vacancies in the Danish labour market first and foremost secures labour but, according to Assistant Professor Sine Nørholm Just, there are also several positive reasons for recruiting foreign labour.

-Of course you fill the vacancies immediately, but diversity among employees is also of value in itself and can increase creativity and innovation, says Sine Nørholm Just.

Sine Nørholm Just works in the field of Diversity Management that looks for ways to capitalise on the increased diversity between employees.

Dropping the requirement for a clean criminal record

When a company hires a new person, then obviously that person has to meet the qualification requirements of the company, but it is also important that the company considers the other skills that the employee can potentially offer.

According to Sine Nørholm Just, large companies in particular have active diversity policies. For instance, the Danish insurance company, Tryg, has experienced that hiring insurance consultants from other ethnic backgrounds than Danish often gives access to new markets.

In the same way, the Danish communications solutions provider, TDC, has experienced that it can get the mast operators that it needs if it relaxes its requirements for clean criminal records. This solves TDC’s problems with recruiting labour, but at the same time, it gives people with criminal records a chance to integrate into the labour market.

Socially responsible companies

Most companies still only work with diversity in terms of recruitment, but Sine Nørholm Just predicts that, in the future, more companies will involve diversity in their efforts to hold on to and develop employees, for instance in connection with mentor arrangements and networking.

According to Sine Nørholm Just, Diversity Management comprises several aspects.

- Diversity Management contains an element of social responsibility because, sometimes, it is necessary to launch special initiatives to bring people into the labour market. Diversity Management therefore meets the companies’ need for labour and also brings new skills to them, but at the same time, Diversity Management helps to integrate groups that otherwise would not access the labour market, Sine Nørholm Just says.

Read more about the conference here

How is Diversity Management carried out in practice?

On 13 November 2007, CBS and DEA (the business research academy of Denmark) will hold a conference in which some of the most experienced Danish researchers and practitioners within the field of Diversity Management will participate.