Diversity Recruiting in teams

I have worked for more than one year in Facebook now and I find new types of people everywhere around, not just one nationality/age-group/gender/race/religion/region. I used to initially think if it were my company, I would only hire those who clear the interviews which is a bar that I set for incoming candidates irrespective of where they belong. I used to find it “new” that there are different types of people, and there are different stories all around. It’s a particularly fun place to work and I used to believe probably employee happiness is one reason purposeful intermixing is done. But then I missed the point!

I realized that the best benefit of diversity lies in the value it adds when a group has to do collectively achieve something. For examples: understanding regional nuances while developing products or preparing go-to-market strategies, all of these simple-looking tasks are positively reinforced by having diverse individual contributors. I see that the ICs are more open, less cocky and offensive, and more welcoming in a way that increases the acceptability of new thoughts.

Diversity also helps bring in ideas and opportunities that could be missed altogether. Most companies do all-hands or global events where employees from various regions are brought together and they naturally discuss ideas that they have discovered in their independent context. Often I observe that new projects are being discussed in global meetups - which was something counter-intuitive for me. I used to think global events are useful only for come-meet-and-greet-people, sing songs, watch presentations, team charters and visions. But things are much deeper than that.