3 ms·
I work as a consultant and am at a different company more or less every week, as a result i've made a couple of observations. As a temp/contractor, its hard to
by diversewhat 12y ago
I work as a consultant and am at a different company more or less every week, as a result i've made a couple of observations.
As a temp/contractor, its hard to get to know people in an organisation when they know you'll only be there for a week, you might have lunch with the team one or two days, but for the most part, you'll spend a lot of your time on your own.
In larger companies (I primarily work in IT environments) that are more diverse (in Australia anyway), ethnic groups stick together and speak in their native tongues. I've sat and watched a group of Indian guys/girls chat in hindi in a circle over lunch, a bunch of Chinese guys sit and chat in Mandarin while a table full of Japanese people do the same a few meters away and the two white guys (who I don't know/haven't been introduced to) sit and don't talk. What's more, no-one interacted with anyone else at all outside of their little groups.
I personally find that really bizarre and I wish i could change it somehow but as i'm not even involved with the organisation other than as a contractor, its quite removed from my role.
- humannature 12y agoWhy are you trying to change human nature? It's in our DNA. What you observed doesn't happen just in Australia, it happens the world over. Just look at your friends, aren't most of your friends the same race as you? why? because you guys have the same language and same culture, you feel more comfortable in that group, you naturally get along better w/ that group. Humans tend to associate w/ others that look like them. No different than the animal kingdom, do you see zebras hanging out w/ horses? Or Giraffe running together w/ Elk? No. Horses gallop along w/ horses, zebras run around w/ other zebras. Humans are the same.
- seanmcdirmid 12y agoStrange: when I visited our office in Bangalore, I saw most people talking in English at lunch since India has so many languages and you aren't likely interacting with someone from your part of India (most Indians don't speak Hindi).
- diversewhat 12y agoMight just be a cultural thing in Australia. Really not sure. That being said, in smaller office environments, the opposite is true i've found, everyone is very accepting and quite diverse both in gender and race without any cliques forming.