Integrating a diversity and inclusion culture can be a watershed moment for local IT FIRMS

Since the epidemic, work-from-home culture has been the new normal for all of us, and it is in high demand. Employees choose just those companies that provide permanent work from home or work till the epidemic is gone. Before the pandemics, companies showed little interest in strengthening their IT infrastructure so that they could provide employees with the option of working from home, which is now a need for firms to practice to survive in this global catastrophe. Small IT enterprises had no choice but to move forward with available solutions to practices to survive during this crisis. As soon as the pandemic hit, I saw a radical transformation in the hiring process while employed for a small IT firm.

Mindset change in workforce design

Unlike other small IT organizations, we anticipated the need for a shift in employment strategy in the early stage. This proactive shift allowed us to map talent across the country and to set goals. Previously, acquiring talent from metro cities or remote locations, was a difficult task for us. Candidates from these areas will choose to work in a neighbouring location to avoid homesickness, and another fact is that candidates from top IT companies prefer to work with those organizations that are similar or better than the current organization they are going to join. From the first day, these candidates joined us, we decided to offer them permanent work from home opportunities. Recruiting candidates from remote locations also helped to reduce talent costs and improve our turnaround time to fill positions. To foster a wide range of employees culture, we developed and implemented employee belonging policies. We launched the program to recruit female IT professionals looking for either full-time or part-time roles after having taken a sabbatical for maternity leaves, from their home location. Undoubtedly, we could speed up the recruitment process through the integration of skilled people from different areas with the help of an efficient IT team. This vast range of employees has brought with it various experiences, talents, and insights, which verily helped the company to interact issues with a new viewpoint. By promoting diversity, a larger majority comprehend us as more recognizable, compassionate, and sapient. This augmented our company's brand reputation, encouraged potential clients, alliances, and the marketplace. We had a multigenerational team at work, which enabled us to combine previous knowledge with fresh innovation to increase productivity and established unbiased approach in hiring strategy. We supported the trend of reverse mentoring in the workplace, where millennials educate our more senior employees on how to use the most up-to-date technology and tools, resulting in greater equality in terms of technological know-how among employees. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) has improved our ability to reduce bias and add truthfulness to job-related decision-making. We were able to quantify fairness and examine the intersection of different people segments thanks to AI. Practising and implementing a diversity program in a small IT/ITes firm was a blessing in disguise that enabled us to cope with the pandemic. 

In closing, by implementing effective employee belonging policies and employing methodologies and technologies that reduce biases in hiring strategy, diversity management allows small businesses to incorporate new dimensions of success. Even if we have a good understanding of diversity management, we may run into difficulties implementing D&I across the organization. To address these obstacles, our leaders should be trained and educated on the benefits of diversity, practising more inclusive workplace policies, offering workplace flexibilities, establishing open forums to share views and ideas and recognizing the contribution of individuals are key areas to construct an amicable workplace. Above all, senior management commitment is required for successful D&I event implementation, especially in small businesses with a low-risk appetite. Those organizations that are implementing a diversity and inclusion program for the first time must ensure proper training of the team in charge and keep monitoring the process for actual goals by developing a culture that allows recruits to feel a sense of belonging in a new workplace.