The diversity advantage

Abstract

There are many sound reasons for creating a more diverse employee profile. At a time when Western countries are short of qualified engineers it doesn't make sense to narrow the talent pool by discriminating on the basis of gender, colour or creed. Engineering and technology firms have traditionally had a poor reputation when it comes to diversity. For too long, the scientific and mathematical demands of the profession not to mention its image as one that is full of grubby, physical jobs meant that it was seen as man's work. Alongside this was, often, the habit shared by so many professions: hiring new recruits through a network of contacts and old boys' clubs. But in recent years it has become more and more obvious that this is not good enough. Some of this realisation has been driven by a sense of fairness or the need to comply with equal opportunities legislation, but by far the most powerful argument in favour of recruiting a diverse workforce in the UK is that skilled engineers are urgently required. This means using all the qualified people who exist in our own country regardless of race, sex or creed and creating a working environment that will attract engineers from overseas to work for our firms rather than those of our international competitors. The UK, like many other countries, is desperately short of engineers, so much so that the UK Border Agency has listed 27 engineering roles as national shortages, making it easier for companies to get visas for overseas candidates. Recent reports suggest that a shortage of qualified engineers is likely to threaten the UK's next generation of nuclear power plants; other major projects, such as Crossrail and the building of new green power stations are also under threat. Add to that the extra experts needed to help London to prepare for the 2012 Olympic Games, and it is easy to see just how hard business will have to work to get and keep good staff. Ruling out certain sections of the workforce simply because they are black, speak with an accent or use a wheelchair, for example, will make it even harder to find enough recruits to maintain or grow a business in the face of tough competition. Diversity has a second very important business benefit: innovation. New people with new perspectives bring the new ideas that can help companies to save money, win additional customers or exploit emerging technologies. Alongside this, people from different backgrounds can help businesses to gain access to new markets, whether that is by drawing attention to a particular client sector that is not being serviced by the current offering or facilitating global deals. A new client in, say, Singapore, might well be pleased to discover that one of your senior project leaders did his master's degree in Singapore and that another speaks fluent Malay as she grew up in Malaysia. On top of this are the benefits of broader cultural awareness among your workforce, which will become ever more important as globalisation grows.