Workplace Diversity: A decade of growth...

The past decade has seen explosive growth in workplace diversity.  Today, businesses of all sizes and industries are striving to harness the power of individual differences, looking for ways to solidify such a unique and vast pool of talent.  Diversity Training programs are instrumental in creating cohesion; however, an examination of diversity trends is equally necessary in order to achieve success.  Analysis of the gender, age, and racial makeup of American employees between 2001 and present day will help to identify areas where training is necessary, as well as provide insight as to which elements of diversity are likely to impact the businesses of tomorrow.

 

Growing Workplace Diversity: Gender, Age, and Race

Gender

Gender has seen a substantial realignment since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s.  The landscape has slowly shown a more equitable distribution as Federal equal opportunity legislation has increased workplace accessibility for females.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of employed females in the United States has grown by 3.3% between the years of 2001 and 2010.  Contrast this with the overall increase of employed males for the same decade, which amounts to only 0.33%.  This trend is constant across racial lines, with Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian women all exhibiting higher employment rates than respective males.
Despite increased employment rates, a great divide still persists between male and female employees.  Female employees, for example, make an average of 70 cents per dollar compared to equally qualified male employees, illustrating that some degree of gender discrimination still exists.

Age

Today’s workplace now exhibits a degree of age diversity never before seen in American culture.  Historians point to at least two causes of this new quality:  Aging Baby Boomers and a tumultuous economy.  The Baby Boomer generation has increased the number of individuals nearing retirement, creating a top-heavy distribution of working Americans.  However, this cohort is working well past age 65, perhaps because of the second cause for increased diversity in worker age:  The economy.
The United States has ridden the burden of a chaotic economy since the dot-com bubble burst of the late 1990s.  Moving into 2001 and beyond, the American public was further rocked by the unconscionable acts of Enron, Bernie Madoff, the sub-prime mortgage crisis, and the collapse of seemingly too big to fail investment brokerages.  Now, 2011 is characterized by a large portion of aging Americans who continue to work for stability, extra income, and peace of mind.
On the opposite side of the age distribution, rapidly proliferating technology is pulling young adults into the upper echelons of Corporate America at a faster rate than ever before.  As a result, four generations of Americans are now working side-by-side in the workplace (iii).  Today, there is a growing need for diversity training that helps these four very different cohorts identify, communicate, and transfer skills among one another.

Race

Racial representation has grown significantly since 2001, as greater proportions of African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans have entered the workforce.  Employment has fallen among Caucasians since 2001, dropping from 113.88 million to a present day level of 112.75 million.  African, Asian, and Hispanic Americans have seen only increased workplace representation, however, amounting to 0.03, 8.5, and 22.9 percent, respectively.  American business culture is undoubtedly growing more diverse, and organizations are smart to anticipate this distribution to become more even over time.

Training for Diversity

Diversity training programs must be built to specifically address the rapidly evolving gender, age, and racial employment trends in the United States.  Successful programs must be built to leverage national, industry-specific, and interoffice trends.  It is no longer adequate to spread general awareness and appreciation for differences among individuals.  Rather, successful diversity training requires thoughtful consideration of influential diversity trends on both a macro and micro level, as well as developing a strategy to leverage those trends to combat stereotypes, spur inclusion, and fuel innovation.

(i) White, African American, and Asian Employment Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab2.htm
(ii) Hispanic Employment Statistics:  http://www.bls.gov/webapps/legacy/cpsatab3.htm
(iii) http://www.diversityjournal.com/corporate/generations/i-gen/