Canadians are not socialized adequately to live and work in multicultural settings. Where there is employee diversity, diversity-related problems are either waiting to happen or they exist under the surface. The increased numbers of harassment and discrimination multimillion dollar lawsuits settlements attest to this. Many managers are not prepared to deal with the reality of workplace diversity. They do not act on employee diversity-related complaints because they are ill-prepared.

What is diversity training?

Diversity training is not a new idea. Diversity trainers use their expertise in:

• conflict resolution,
• preparing organizations for increases in racial, ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity,
• preparing employees for international work,
• safeguarding against harassment and unfair employment lawsuits,
• taking advantage of employee diversity to increase productivity,
• conducting cultural audits,
• managing sexual attraction in the workplace,