Author: Anubhav Saxena
With today’s world being increasingly more globalised and interconnected, it makes sense for workplaces to take advantage of the diverse range of skills individuals from different backgrounds and languages can bring.
Diverse teams are more likely to constantly analyse facts and remain objective. They also encourage greater scrutiny of each team member’s actions, keeping joint cognitive resources sharp and vigilant. When homogeneity is split up in the workplace, team members also become more aware of potential biases. This helps to reduce errors in decision-making processes.
At CGI, all our members value and celebrate the differences people bring to work. Everyone is encouraged to voice their ideas and solutions to enhance quality standards and organisational effectiveness, which helps contribute to the company’s success.
It starts with respect
One of our core values at CGI is respect. Everyone recognises the richness that different cultures bring to the company. CGI encourages all members to respect each other, and to honour and welcome diversity while embracing the corporate culture.
Whether we are meeting clients or having internal meetings, we are mindful to value the differences people bring and effectively integrate those differences into our work life. We also ensure that everyone gets treated with fairness and courtesy. We are sensitive to differences and avoid discriminatory comments or verbal excesses.
How we embrace diversity and inclusion at CGI
From day one at CGI, I’ve felt like a part of the team. The work environment is very accepting and everyone is made to feel included. We have a multicultural day once a year, and every month our team hosts a catered lunch where someone will select their favourite cuisine for us to enjoy together. This gives us a chance to step into other team members’ shoes and appreciate different cultures. And being vegetarian, I know special attention is always given to make sure my catering needs are met.
Recently while managing a program, I was fortunate enough to work with my co-peers from different backgrounds, and we did a few brainstorming sessions on how to create a useful and fruitful workshop for our client. Having different views and cultural backgrounds helped us come up with great ideas for our parking lot sheet. We took the top five ideas and transformed them into a stencil for conducting the workshop. Due to the amazing pre-work we did together, the workshop was received really well by the client and led to a better deliverable at the end.
It’s experiences like this that make me feel proud to work in such a diverse and welcoming environment.
CGI has been endorsed by Work180 as an employer who supports diversity, inclusion and equality. Visit the CGI Employer Page to find out more about how our policies, benefits and D&I initiatives support our employees.
