The term “diversity” is thrown around quite often these days, especially when it comes to the workplace. But what does it really mean for a company to have diversity, and more importantly, why does it matter for an organization and its customers? In light of our recent Comparably Award, “Best CEOs for Diversity”, we wanted to share some insights about the topic and why it means much more than just a word.
Diversity in the workplace is vital for employees because it manifests itself in building a great reputation for the company, leading to increased opportunities for workers. Many CEOs talk about the importance of having diverse teams at all levels of the company – from the front lines to middle management to senior leadership. Shafat Qazi, BQE CEO and Founder, is one of those CEOs leading the charge of how much diversity means by securing a culture that exemplifies that internally.
It’s Better for Innovation (Which Means It’s Better for Customers)
The reason our Best CEO for diversity matters to our customers is because it allows us to be more innovative and create better solutions to their problems with a diversified team.
According to the Harvard Business Review, "nonhomogeneous teams are simply smarter. Working with people who are different from you may challenge your brain to overcome its stale ways of thinking and sharpen its performance...In a nutshell, enriching your employee pool with representatives of different genders, races, and nationalities is key for boosting your company’s joint intellectual potential.”
By building diverse, smart, and innovative teams at BQE, we’re able to build smart and innovative products for our customer base, which itself is extremely diverse across cultures, genders, and industries.
BQE Strives for Diversity
The team at BQE Software is always honored and grateful whenever we win an award recognizing our efforts to create a diverse and inclusive workplace. Our recruiting and HR team works hard to ensure we enjoy cultural and gender diversity within our company. Every month, we enjoy an after-work happy hour that features a particular cultural theme each time so we can learn more about a different culture (usually to which one or more of our team members belongs), and this enriches not just our experience at BQE but our lives in general.
So far this year we have shared food and cultural insights from countries such as Greece, India, and Japan. In addition to the culturally themed Happy Hours, we are encouraged to share our stories, and get to know our team members through acts of kindness program. This program assigns one employee to another and as you discover more about who they are, where they came from and what they enjoy you provide them with an act of kindness that aligns with what they enjoy.
We’d like to hear from our customers or others. What are the ways in which your company recognizes diversity?
