Does Workforce Diversity Influence Employee Performance? An Empirical Analysis of Nepali Civil Service

In the last few years, workforce diversity and employee performance have gained intensive attention among policymakers, scholars and management expert all over the world including Nepal. Nepali civil service has become socially and demographically diverse than ever before after the introduction of inclusion policy in 2007 through the second amendment of the Civil Service Act, 1993. In this regard, this study examined the influences of workforce diversity on employee performance. In total 120 civil service employees were interviewed through structured self-administrative questionnaire and data were analyzed by applying descriptive and inferential statistics. Finding showed that civil service employees were more positively perceived in the organizational practices of respecting gender and caste/ethnicity diversity than age diversity. Civil service employee perceived themselves as a performer. However, the level of perceived diversity and performance is varied by their personal/demographic attributes. This study also showed that perceived diversity and performance is significantly positively associated. It is remarkable to note that respecting gender and caste/ethnicity diversity have more influence on performance. Civil service employees who positively perceived organizational practices of respecting diversity are more likely to be a performer than who did not. Hence, this study concludes that workforce diversity has a positive influence on employee performance.