Equity and Diversity in the Workplace

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Organisations have policies and guidelines for legal and ethical obligations for staff, students and volunteers. According to World Health Organisation (WHO), 2016, equity is best defined as the absence of avoidable or remedial differences among people. Simply put, it aims to address equal opportunities. Whereas diversity includes issues related to ethnicity, age, religion, politics, gender, ability, sexual orientation and identity and geographic position (Guzy & Petrie, 2014, p. 78).

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Having a diverse workforce helps an organisation in being responsive to cultural needs through varied perspectives gained by multicultural competence staff. Workplaces that support and enlist significant cultural events for staff, clients and volunteers will help prevent cultural shock and promote workplace satisfaction which leads to better consumer outcomes (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009).

When cultural diversity and equity within a workplace are lacking, evidence suggests higher staff turnover and culture shock are contributing factors for poor attitudes and practices toward multicultural colleagues. Concordance can be a useful tool to implement within health workplaces according to Guzy& Petrie, (2014), to facilitate successful outcomes.

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In addition to resourceful tools such as LEADS (Australian Health Leadership Framework, 2013), which can be utilised within an inclusive workplace, contributing educational journal articles identify that supportive transition plans for foreign (nursing) staff can assist in addressing culture shock as health care disciplines are predominately dominated by immigrants.

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I have gained the understanding from readings and lectures that for effective cultural diverse workplaces to have harmonious existence, everyone must be accountable and take responsibility to prevent high staff turn over and poor retention of multicultural staffing. Regardless of faith, gender, ethnicity and sexualism, as best summarised by Heidke (2015), every individual has the right to feel valued and self worth. I believe this to be an important equality ethic within the workplace, especially as a student nurse entering a culturally diverse profession.

References

Guzys, D., & Petrie, E. (2013). An Introduction to Community and Primary Health Care in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Heike, P. (2015). NURS12002-Inclusive Practice: Study guide. Rockhampton, Qld: CQUniversity Australia

NSW Department Of Community Services, (2009). Working With Aboriginal People and Communities. Ashfield NSW 2131: Aboriginal Services Branch in consultation with the Aboriginal Reference Group, pp.36-38. Retrieved from http://www.carersaustralia.com.au/storage/2011Working%20with%20Aboriginal%20People%20and%20Communities.pdf

World Health Orgainisation [WHO], (2016). Health Systems. Equity. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/healthsystems/topics/equity/en/