When globalization grows, immigration also increases, which generates a flow of talent between the countries of origin and the destination of the population.
According to UN data, it was estimated that in 2020 there would be 281 million people living in a nation other than their native country. This figure is 128 million higher than the number in 1990 and more than triples that of 1970.
Many of these people manage to integrate efficiently into society and organizations, thus generating the valuable multiculturalism that so many companies pursue.
Multicultural companies are called those work teams with a group of people of different ethnic origins, of different beliefs, values, knowledge, and opinions, among others, and who work together in favor of the fulfillment of the objectives.
A central premise must be met for multiculturalism to become a differentiating factor: the company must be inclusive, favoring a welcoming environment and directing processes, objectives, values , and vision in the same direction.
Integrating means dedicating a part of the employees' work time to favoufavorowship, knowledge and the exchange of opinions and knowledge. Some companies propose games to manage multiculturalism, such as trivial questions from the different countries of origin of the employees or contests to integrate all the colleagues.
Innovation has brought new challenges as the world of technology advances. Local talent is no longer enough; companies need to take advantage of the opportunity and the challenge of learning from the earth: seeking new perspectives, new technologies, new contributions, new talents, and new customer requirements.
When competing in international markets, companies must remain at the forefront and choose to form diverse work teams that add value to creative and innovation processes.
In the study, The Mix That Matters: Innovation Through Diversity, by the Boston Consulting Group, multicultural companies achieve 19% more revenue than others; by having offices in various strategic locations, they can form research groups and better manage their projects.
Working in a multicultural company brings with it different advantages:
Enhance creativity; the variety of points of view and ideas has to do, many times, with the journey and learning of the employees. Depending on the culture, the experiences can be very different. The result will be rich and diverse brainstorming and various problem-solving perspectives.
Improve productivity; diversity of thought will create innovative and groundbreaking ideas to boost the company, improving its results. These companies manage to develop several projects in different regions of the planet, sourcing local talent and achieving improvements in their products and services, creating better-designed products and services for the final users.
They make better use of resources since by knowing their market and territory better, they know where to buy raw materials, how to attract the best human resources, and even better, how to retain them.
Improve reputation; if the results improve, the importance improves, not only for achieving objectives. Also, as an example, having policies against discrimination and racism and reception plans will give the company a plus over its competitors.
Conflicts decrease; inclusion programs will favor a camaraderie work environment, improve empathy and make employees show satisfaction.
More inclusion and better coexistence by involving each of their collaborators, they develop a greater sense of belonging, managing to reduce turnover and job abandonment. It is essential to maintain open communication, where employees can express what they would like to be doing, what drives them to give their best, and what keeps them motivated within the work environment. This practice effectively discovers reasons for frustration in the work situation; for example, working with difficult colleagues or having few challenges in daily activities, boredom.
Obtaining this type of accurate information and dialogue allows for addressing the needs and desires of employees to remove those obstacles and later help them develop and carry out their career plans and responsibilities to provide them with growth opportunities.
Taking all team members into account will allow the company's objectives to be met. The entire work team to have the same development opportunities, in addition to creating a positive impact on productivity and generating economic returns for the company since it is the chance to do business on a global scale, building a good reputation for the company in the market environment.
Companies will have to learn new skills to compete in global innovation. It is also clear that not working to meet this challenge is not an option if they want to remain competitive. For a company to be multicultural, it must be open, flexible, and willing to change.
Don't wait any longer, and prepare to integrate multicultural teams into your company. For more information, contact our team and take the first step.