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Diversity Is Good Business

08/20/08


A diverse workplace can help you insulate your company against legal liability arising from discrimination lawsuits. But a diverse workplace environment can also help your business reach new markets, improve customer service in existing markets, and improve your company’s bottom line.

Consider the following:

  • Minorities are now the majority in six of the largest eight metropolitan centers in America.1
  • African-Americans control more spendable assets than any other single ethnic group.2
  • Bachelors’ degree awards to African-Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians exploded by more than 50 percent in just five years between 1990 and 1995, indicating a rapidly expanding black, Latino, and Native American middle class.3
  • Gays and lesbians spend over $450 billion per year, and are now actively courted by more than 100 of the Fortune 500 companies.2
    • Do you and your employees know how to tap these loyal and lucrative markets?

    Personal contacts are key

    You don’t need to develop an expensive promotion to reach a variety of markets and increase your profitability. A diverse work force can make it possible. "The key is finding local resources that are familiar with your target market and which can put you in touch with them," advises Scott Hall, a consultant with the AMICUS Group, a business consulting and research firm in Germantown, Tennessee. "Often, those local resources are your own employees."

    Make it happen

    It pays, then, to have a diversity initiative in place at your company. Here are the fundamentals of success:
  • Leadership. Successful diversity initiatives are led from the top. The CEO, president, or business owner needs to be the number one advocate, countering employee cynicism and resistance, and selling the idea to his or her own work force.
  • Outreach. Place help wanted ads in media that serve diverse markets. Often you must look beyond the daily paper.
  • Objective. Consider your objectives at each phase. For example, depending on your work force, you may wish to start with a program to train employees on awareness and value of diversity, using tools such as G.Neil’s exclusive It Takes All Kinds... Video. Then follow it up with training on diversity skills. You want to foster an environment in which differences are celebrated, not one where prejudices are prevalent and can possibly lead to lawsuits.
  • Multiple avenues. Employ an array of measures, such as cultural sensitivity training, management seminars, mentorship programs, and internship programs.


    • It Takes All Kinds... Video

    1Source: Society for Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org)
    2Source: “Affinity-Driven Marketing: Tapping Established Loyalties.” AMICUS Group, 2004 (data from 2002).
    3Source: “Making the Case for Affirmative Action in Higher Education,” American Council on Education, 2005.

    April, 2005