Diversity Plan in Business

Diversity celebrates the nature of being varied and different. In an industrial and organization setting, diversity looks at the occurrence of employees that are from varied backgrounds with ethnic, cultural, gender, socio-economic and educational differences being the order of the day. It is generally believed that organizations rich in diversity would be able to adapt better as well as come up with enhanced solutions and services as compared to a less diverse group of people. There have been studies that prove that companies that draw from the innate strengths and skills of a diverse set of people show a more positive correlation with success in the market place as well as greater resilience to take on challenges that are part and parcel of any business situation.

Business Background:  The Bank is a nationalized bank with a large number of branches spread across the length and breadth of the country. It caters to millions of satisfied customers and presents a wide range of products and services to enhance the banking experience of its valued and esteemed customers. Starting from humble beginnings, the bank has indeed consolidated its position to make its presence felt across every nook of the nation and established itself as a leading banking institution.

Products and Services: The Bank prides itself in the wide host of financial products that it offers including deposits and advances and a host of other solutions including credit cards, TM facilities and online banking facilities to name just a few. Products and services are offered as per RBI and government guidelines and as per prevalent norms and regulations as specified from time to time.

Customers: The Bank values its customers and acknowledges superior customer experience and satisfaction as it reason for existence. It caters to a wide host of banking and financial needs of its respected customers. From a small farmer in the backwaters of Kerala to CEOs and CFOs of large corporations in Mumbai, the Bank straddles the whole spectrum of customers and diverse needs and requirements that it meets on a daily basis.

Banking in India: The Banking industry in India is fairly developed and quite competitive too. While the industry is dominated by Public Sector Banks led by the State Bank of India, there a wide host of other public sector as well as private sector banks (both Indian and MNC banks) jostling for a piece of the fairly large banking pie in India. These banks together boast of a huge network of over 53,000 branches and over 17,000 ATMs across the nation. Indian banking industry has made enormous strides in computerization of operations which has contributed to streamlining operations and enhanced the experience of customers.

Business Plans: The Bank plans to rapidly expand its reach to cover a larger footprint. Organic as well as inorganic growth has been adopted as the key mantra for the Bank as it seeks to carve a niche for itself in the Indian banking space on the basis of superior products and superlative service. New branch and ATM network expansion as well as modernization are the key strategies the bank wants to pursue diligently over the next half decade.

Marketing Plans: While the bank has traditionally been conservative in terms of marketing, it plans to launch a major brand revamping exercise across various media, including print, TV, online as well as outdoor channels to reinforce its brand values and augment its bold expansion plans.

At the Bank, diversity of workforce is a way of life. The bank draws upon the creativity and collective strength and skills of men and women hailing from various socio economic, cultural and educational backgrounds.

Objective: The basic objective of the diversity initiative at the bank are as follows;

-          Capitalizing on the unique skills and strengths of diverse workforce

-          Promoting a sense of respect, fairness and dignity among employees

-          Embodying a spirit of ‘unity in diversity’ as a tool for success

-          Encouraging a culture of celebration of diversity as an integral element if corporate identity.

-          Ensuring equal opportunity as an avowed goal and practically established ideal.

Diversity Awareness: The Banks has a well defined and actively promoted diversity awareness program. The HR function is the custodian of employee relations, culture and diversity in the bank and conducts regular programs, role plays, e-mail campaigns and the like to promote diversity and increase awareness of diversity. New employees and trainees are sensitized to issues dealing with diversity during induction programs.

Diversity Communication: The most important means of ingraining diversity is communication. The HR department runs various campaigns and bulletin board messages and teasers to promote a culture and spirit of diversity in all its multi-hued splendor. CEOs and functional heads are encouraged to discuss and speak on diversity issues in Open Houses and team meetings so as to communicate and articulate the bank’s core philosophy as well as commitment to diversity.

Diversity Training: At the Bank, diversity training is part and parcel of the annual training calendar. Training on cross cultural, gender and other diversity based issues are conducted both in classrooms as well as over the e-learning online platform. This is in addition to the module on diversity that every new employee and trainee has to undergo and sign off as to having undergone the training, which is made mandatory for all employees.

Celebrate Diversity: At the Bank, various cultural programs, fun and work initiatives as well as awards and recognition programs have been linked to the Bank’s diversity program. Steps are taken to encourage plays, dances, regional singing competitions, dress themes as well as slogan writing and online ad campaigns based on diversity issues and themes. All these activities and initiatives are geared towards ensuring that diversity is an integral and undeniable part of the DNA of the Bank’s culture.

Diversity Officer: The HR Head is the ex-officio Chief Diversity Officer of the bank. By virtue of the position and its close linkage to organizational culture, the HR Head is expected to spear head the bank’s diversity initiatives be it in employee selection and recruitment, training, fun at work or cultural initiatives. The Hr Head would also have to ensure that equity and fairness for all are ensured irrespective of caste, creed, color, language, gender, political or religious affiliation.

Staffing: With a view to promoting diversity, the staffing function is encouraged to promote diversity through ensuring better gender balance, recruitment of meritorious candidates from the weaker sections of society and promoting fairness and ethics in the workplace.

Budgets: The Bank would devote a pre-determined part of its annual budget to the promotion of diversity at the workplace. The CFO would collaborate with the HR Head to determine financial requirements towards diversity as part of the annual planning and budgeting exercise.

 Conclusion: Diversity brings so many advantages to any organization in terms of skills base as well as ability to adapt and deal with a host of situations. It indeed helps in infusing anmd injecting new ideas and perspectives to the organization leading to greater vitality and resilience. An active promotion and nurturing of diversity helps not only in meeting statutory requirements but also helps in achieving greater heights of excellence and glory through collective effort.