The practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds

when I moved to Finland, I could feel the ingroup and outgroup concept, Feeling belong or not feeling belong was very bold in the first days! Our class had 60 students with a mixture of Finns and foreigners, the foreigners were more diverse as each of us were from a corner of the world! Personal identity of each of us was rooting to our previous groups that we used to be a part of. The previous groups were also quite diverse which was based on our nationalities, religion, languages and etc.! Hence, the class had difficult times to merge and making friends was very hard for the half of the class with foreign background! As the result, Finnish classmates who came from the same culture, shared the same language and they already had the same values could easily make friends among their circle and that was when the class was divided into two part of Finns and the internationals!

I was among few people who wanted to cross from the international circle to the Finnis circle as I had motives to learn the culture and language, but it was mission impossible as my “I” could never change to their “we” because I was not ethnically a Finn! I lacked the social imagination as I was not raised in Finland and I did not share the same beiefs, and obviously we couldn’t share the common interest! 

The whole situation was getting worse as I was trying harder! It affected my behavior as it resulted in a serious depression, because I left one circle to enter another circle of the class, and the other circle was not very much welcoming as I had the “foreigner” tag, and my pushing for entering brought the labels of “weird”, “vulnurable” and etc. which made the situation even worse! Speaking of worse, it affected my self esteem and self confidence and I had started to feel self doubts! I could not feel belonging anymore in both groups, my lack of language knowledge made me a useless member of the group when hanging out with Finns, which made me doubt my choice of entering the Finnish circle of the class!

Not being involved in either of the circles was a blessing if we look at it from a different angle! I could learn the culture and a little bit of the language, and as I was not very much welcomed in both circles, I only had the option to focus on my studies and internship that was going on back then! The concenteration on studies and internship led me to be in the path of professional career of mine which resulted in getting in ELY-Keskus as project planner in Employment unit as a person who moved to Finland only for 14 months, being an influencer in Linkedin as the voice of international talents and being noticed for my abilities! The cultural observations and language basic skills helped me to stand out among internationals of my group in the context of getting the desired job, and not belonging to either of the circles, made me feel belong to both circles; because at this point, I have good relationship with both sides of the class! I am still not part of any of the groups in our class, but not being a part in the class group of friends, made me fit in outside of the class groups, in the professional world! And my circle of friends is not only defined from the class, but a mixture of from work, school (different majors) and etc.

we can’t say which one is better, spoon or fork? Both are necessary to be on the table at the time of eating and the human beings are the same! We all are connected to the societies that we live in! and being a part of a group is very important, as it affects our motivation, opinions, actions, and self-esteem! If it were not for the urge to be a part of the Finnish circle, I would not have the motives to study Finnish at all! We are all living in one environment and being divided to two or more different circles will not help the region to grow! I am not denying the differences in terms of interest, culture, values, and other factors! I am speaking of a unity by embracing the differences and do not let the social differences affects on the employment of individuals!

according to How Does Workplace Diversity Affect a Business? (purdueglobal.edu) :

Diversity Improves Company Performance

Companies with diverse workforces often outperform companies that do not. 

• A Gartner study predicts that through 2022, 75% of companies with diverse and inclusive decision-making teams will exceed their financial targets. The study found that gender-diverse and inclusive teams outperformed their less inclusive counterparts by 50%.
• Weber Shandwick, in partnership with United Minds and KRC Research, released a 2019 study in which 66% of executives at companies that aligned their business goals with diversity and inclusion goals agree that diversity is an important driver of company financial performance.
• Companies with more diverse leadership teams report higher innovation revenue—45% of total revenue versus just 26%, according to a 2018 BCG report.

Diversity Improves Employee Retention and Engagement

Research has found that morale, culture, and employee engagement all thrive in diverse and inclusive workplaces:

• In a Deloitte survey, 83% of millennials reported higher levels of engagement when they believed their company fosters an inclusive culture.
• 70% of respondents in a 2019 Yello survey said they would consider looking for a new job if their employer didn’t demonstrate a commitment to diversity.
• A 2017 report from The Kapor Center and Harris Poll found that workplace culture drives turnover, significantly affecting the retention of underrepresented groups, and costing the tech industry more than $16 billion each year.

Let’s walk together to a Diverse North Savo!