Best Practices: Six Ways Diversity
Benefits Employers

By Jessica Calleja

America's shifting demographics has required companies to rethink the way they hire, promote, train and retain employees. Diversity is as much a bottom line issue as it is a matter of fostering different perspectives.

To succeed in an increasingly competitive market companies must proactively recruit for diversity. Jobpostings.net, America's monthly student job magazine, runs down six of the top ways diversity benefits employers.

Diversity creates a larger talent pool for employers to choose from
As the country's population becomes increasingly diverse so does its talent pool of available workers. Demographics are changing and today's labor force has evolved from that of the past. No longer dominated by a narrow homogenous group, talent is available in a limitless array of individuals from all cultures and life experiences. Companies who strive to remain competitive realize that expanding their hiring pool to include all of these individuals will increase the level of talent they can recruit from.

Diversity allows companies to speak to broader markets
Buying power in today's global economy is represented by people from all walks of life. To ensure products are designed to appeal to a diverse customer base, companies who want to stay a step ahead of the game are hiring employees who represent these different voices. This is often the most effective way to gain specialized information and insight into particular target markets. It is also especially important for organizations interacting daily with customers, like retail chains or financial institutions, to maintain a workforce that can directly connect with customers and translate their specific needs.

Diversity improves communications
When communicating externally with vendors, partners and customers companies only see themselves at a disadvantage if they are not representative of the industry norm. In addition to job specific skills, candidates from diverse backgrounds bring unique abilities and perspectives that can translate into huge benefits when handling specific situations. The more diverse a workforce is the more effectively companies can adjust to unpredicted circumstances, solve unforeseen problems, identify new prospects and capitalize on them.

Diversity creates a more positive working environment

When employees feel valued and respected they tend to be more productive, more motivated and are more likely to remain loyal to a particular employer. Not only does a diverse workforce help individuals to better understand each other, is also personalizes differences that would otherwise be viewed in a general context. Employees who are more understanding of these differences tend to have improved team dynamics and a more productive end result. Exposure to people of different backgrounds, whether it is ethnicity, physical ability, religious belief, etc. helps all individuals to be more sensitive to each other, which not only benefits companies but society as a whole.

Diversity helps replenish an aging workforce

As the oldest baby boomers retire over the next several years the implications for the workforce could be enormous. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the percentage of workers aged 45 and older will increase to 40 percent by 2008 with even the youngest of baby boomers reaching retirement age by 2018. The pool of workers immediately following the baby boomers is much smaller and will result in a labor shortage. Ensuring a more diverse talent pool creates a larger, more skilled resource for companies to recruit from.

Diversity creates an ongoing evolution

As early as 30 years ago, diversity primarily applied to the inclusion of women and African Americans in the workforce. Today diversity has grown to represent a limitless gamut of individuals including women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians and deals with such varied issues as sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, religion and language. As the future of our country evolves so will diversity practices to reflect our changing society and the innovative ideas and talent that are generated as a result.

Reprinted with permission of jobpostings.net Magazine - America's monthly student job magazine.

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More on Diversity

This section of our website looks at some specific recruitment segments and how to reach minority candidates, older workers, the disabled, and the military.

A detailed list of minority markets, newspapers and magazines, colleges and professional associations, is provided. The rankings of the top 25 African-, Hispanic-, and Asian/Pacific Islander-American markets are based on the "2005 Survey of Buying Power," published by Sales & Marketing Management magazine. Information on the major markets for Native Americans is from the Population Division of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Information on minority newspapers was gathered from the current online edition of the Minorities Advertising Directory, published by the Market Place Media Company, and the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media online. Information on national minority magazines was gathered from the most recent Standard Rate & Data Service at presstime. Note that circulation figures are based on audit statements or publisher quotes.

Our listing of colleges and universities granting the most baccalaureate degrees to minority students, was compiled from Peterson's 2006 Guide to Four-Year Colleges and annual rankings released by Black Issues in Higher Education.