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Tag: Training

How AI can help promote diversity in the workplace

In today’s world, diversity and inclusion are crucial elements of any successful business. A diverse workforce brings different perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds, which can lead to increased creativity, innovation, and problem-solving abilities. However, achieving diversity and inclusion in the workplace is not always easy. That’s where artificial intelligence (AI) comes in.

AI can help organizations promote diversity in several ways. Here are some examples:

1. Removing Bias in Hiring

One of the biggest challenges when it comes to diversity in the workplace is bias in the hiring process. Many recruiters and hiring managers unknowingly harbor unconscious biases that can influence their decisions, leading to a lack of diversity in the workplace. AI can help remove this bias by providing a more objective evaluation of candidates. For example, AI can analyze resumes, cover letters, and other job application materials and identify candidates based solely on their skills, qualifications, and experience, rather than factors such as gender, ethnicity, or age.

2. Improving Employee Retention

Once a diverse workforce is established, it’s essential to keep it that way. However, studies have shown that many employees leave their jobs due to a lack of inclusion or feeling like they don’t belong. AI can help improve employee retention by monitoring employee engagement and identifying potential issues that need to be addressed. For example, AI can analyze employee surveys, social media posts, and other data to identify patterns and provide insights into how employees are feeling about their work environment.

3. Providing Personalized Training

Another way AI can help promote diversity in the workplace is by providing personalized training for employees. Everyone has different learning styles and preferences, and AI can help tailor training programs to meet the needs of each individual employee. This can help ensure that everyone receives the training they need to succeed and can help prevent employees from feeling excluded or left behind.

4. Encouraging Collaboration

Diversity can lead to increased creativity and innovation, but only if employees are willing to collaborate and share ideas. AI can help encourage collaboration by providing a platform for employees to share their ideas and opinions. For example, AI-powered collaboration tools can facilitate communication between employees and help break down barriers that may exist between different departments or teams.

5. Ensuring Fair Performance Evaluations

Performance evaluations can be a significant source of bias in the workplace, leading to unfair treatment of certain employees. AI can help ensure fair performance evaluations by analyzing data such as employee productivity, attendance, and project completion rates. This can provide a more objective evaluation of each employee’s performance and help eliminate bias.

6. Facilitating Diversity Training

Finally, AI can help facilitate diversity training in the workplace. Many organizations offer diversity training programs to help employees understand the importance of diversity and inclusion and provide tools for promoting a more diverse workplace. AI can help facilitate this training by providing personalized training programs, tracking employee progress, and providing feedback to employees and trainers.

In conclusion, promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace is essential for any organization that wants to succeed in today’s world. AI can play a significant role in achieving this goal by removing bias in hiring, improving employee retention, providing personalized training, encouraging collaboration, ensuring fair performance evaluations, and facilitating diversity training. By leveraging the power of AI, organizations can create a more diverse and inclusive workplace that benefits everyone involved.

This article was written by ChatGPT.

Cross cultural training and basics in the workplace

In today’s society, acts of racial injustice in businesses and mainstream media have been surfacing at uncharitable levels due to the accessibility offered by social media. I log onto my Instagram or Facebook page and instantly am dumbfounded by the long threads of racial injustice, systemic racism, police brutality, and white privilege. While historically, this subject matter is not all so new, we now have the platform and resources to examine systematic racism towards people of colour, and work towards debunking the myth that people of white descent are the frontrunners of society. As a result, racial diversity in the workplace is being widely addressed in the sense that some companies have responded with acts of solidarity and a “changed perspective”. Although more companies are taking action to make our workplaces more diverse and inclusive, let’s face it, there is much work to be done. In today’s post, I am talking about the powers of Cross Cultural Training in the workplace, and how to conquer common biases. After all, in Canada the labor force is nearly 100% dominated by immigrants, which make up 80% of our entire population growth (Government of Canada 1).

Cross cultural training (CCT) may be a phrase you have never heard of in your life so let me polish the pearl here. This type of training directs our employees to overcoming cultural challenges at work, or in life, when being in the midst of coworkers whose culture, values and beliefs differ widely. In essence, CCT allows employees to break down barriers.

Most of us follow paths led by certain morals, beliefs, or a religion, which, if followed blindly, can establish barriers fueled by stereotypes for those different from us. Contriving preconceptions about others ceases our ability to grow as people, and stunt our understanding and willingness to learn about others. Through this form of training, other cultures are placed under a spotlight where all employees have the chance to learn about these unique cultures, and recognize the differences between how they present themselves and their motivations, vs how you would.

Secondly, building trust and a moral connection with a coworker is extremely important. I mentioned in a previous post about mental health in the workplace that once you start to open up, and establish a common ground with your desk partner, you may be able to produce better work, learn to communicate more effectively and a wide variety of other things. CCT results in greater trust. If I am someone who has recently immigrated or just has different beliefs than a coworker, I would feel comfortable knowing that my cultural viewpoints are respected, and I would feel comfortable pursuing my beliefs in a work environment. Once trust is established, altruistic tendencies tend to morph into greater cooperation and a more productive workplace.

CCT teaches employees the importance of hierarchy perception. I like to think of this as a way to simplify information, and make decisions. Creativity, and approaching a situation from different perspectives is something that every workplace needs within their decision making process, but a hierarchical system does not have room for visionaries and opinions. Those in greater power are often perceived as less open and more controlling of an employee’s approach towards workplace orders. Often, those coming from different walks of life have different ways to approach situations as a result of their past experiences. It is through CCT, that we teach how cultures perceive hierarchies, and lines not to cross within management. Hierarchy perception determines if a person in power has the right to actually be in that role which helps to promote diversity and inclusion, so that these decisions aren’t dictated by biases that have nothing to do with work, but rather the person.

So, you now have some knowledge on why cross-cultural training is valuable and how it can enhance productivity in a workplace, but the bigger question is, how can this training be presented to employees? Well, effective presentation is the most important thing here. When preparing a cross-cultural training program, employers should heavily take into consideration who they are actually presenting too. A workplace/audience may have multiple employees that don’t understand English as well as others, so, it would be appropriate to deliver the program in the language that each employee understands (a translator may be necessary in this instance). Prepare handouts or a slideshow with information and knowledge about one’s culture.

The ability to learn different aspects of a new culture is not something one can learn quickly, but it is also important to keep in mind that the employee that has recently immigrated or has different beliefs than you is doing the same thing. Encourage your employees to ask questions (in a respective manner). CCT should be able to combine native culture with foreign culture and have them intertwine in a beautiful manner.

Sources

Immigration, R. and C. C. (2022, June 6). Infographic: Immigration and Canada’s economic recovery. Canada.ca. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/news/2022/02/infographic-immigration-and-canadas-economic-recovery.html

Palladino, P., Author Peter Palladino , (2021, March 3). How to create an effective cross-cultural training program. Sales & Marketing Management. Retrieved July 23, 2022, from https://salesandmarketing.com/how-create-effective-cross-cultural-training-program/

This article was written by summer student Bayden Summers and edited by summer student Ilesha Prabhudesai. This article was funded by the Government of Canada.