Camping Trade World – Issue 05

BECOME A BETTER BUSINESS DIVERSITY
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
This sounds like a really simple
step, but by celebrating and
recognising all holidays from all
different cultures you will break
down plenty of barriers. Just
recognising Christmas, Easter
and Thanksgiving could have
serious implications on your
diversity. It’s not always possible
to let people have days off for
every single holiday, but you can
at least allow the holidays or
occasions to be marked by your
staff. This is also a great way
to encourage the minorities in
your workforce to come forward
with their own ideas and get
involved in group activities or the
organisation of things. Making
everyone feel welcome to make
their holiday, whether that’s Eid
Mubarak or Chinese New Year, is
a great step you can take towards
changing your culture.
TRAINING, BUT NOT AS
YOU KNOW IT
Of course, some kind of training
is going to be beneficial to
helping your staff understand
why diversity is important and
also how to improve it. But, as
previously mentioned, try not
to make this seem like a lecture.
A better way to do it is to use
other methods to get everyone
on board with understanding the
importance of diversity and then
make optional training available
for your managers. If they are
choosing to do the training
because they want to improve
themselves, then they are much
more likely to act on the learnings
from it. This can then eventually
evolve into employee-led task
forces that can help to further the
work of the training and educate
more members of your team.
FLEXIBILITY IS KEY
Being a flexible workplace is one
of the best ways you can lay the
groundwork to being an open and
inclusive company. If you have
good people, then let them work
from home if they need to, let
them not be afraid to take time
off for holidays you may not be
familiar with, allow them to bring
fresh ideas to the table about how
the company operates. By not
being dogmatic with your rules
and regulations, you will naturally
create an environment where
people from all walks of life will
feel more comfortable, rather
than one when particular social
norms or particular social groups
are the unwritten rules.
PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH
To really show that you think
diversity is important, you must
behave that way. Each individual
and the company as a whole
should want to do things to
improve the way it works within
your firm. Whether that is
something as simple as including
your pronouns in your email
signature or something more
largescale like making sure the
office or factory is wheelchair
friendly, small actions add up
and breed the right culture.
Use more inclusive language
in your internal and external
communications if you can, but
most of all, if you need help, then
look for it. There are plenty of
people out there who can advise
you on how best to go about this.
Most of all, you should want
to make these changes because
you care about diversity and
understand its importance. That is
the key with all of this.
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