Scone: Lack of diversity feeding workplace discrimination

Here´s something to chew on with your morning coffee:Interesting that, in a year where an African American and a woman both had a legitimate shot at becoming president, the upper echelons of corporate America still are dominated by white men. And that recent research shows that although most workers and executives believe that diversity improves companies, there is little being done to actually make the workplace more diverse and nearly half of workers say they´ve been discriminated against at work.

According to staffing company Adecco USA, 60% of workers say a diverse workplace is a top priority for their employer. Seventy-eight percent of respondents in a separate survey by Epsen Fuller/IMD agree diversity is an important strategy. (Read the Sept. 15 EBN for expanded coverage on the Epsen Fuller/IMD survey.)

However, Epsen Fuller/IMD also finds that nearly half of respondents reported no women were among executive management at their company, that the number of ethnic minorities has increased just 9.8% in the last three years and that most don´t expect those numbers to change at all over the next three years. Further, the majority of HR execs polled say they have no plans in place to increase C-suite diversity within their companies.

Such apathy indicates that the C-suite is all talk and no action when it comes to pursuing a diverse workforce. And their indifference may be coming back to bite them, as Adecco reports that 47% of employees say they´ve experienced discrimination at work (discrimination based on: age, 52%; gender, 43%; race, 32%; religion, 9%; and disability, 7%).

It´s sad and just unacceptable that such low diversity and high discrimination numbers persist in our workplaces and culture at large. I challenge benefit managers to truly walk the talk on diversity - not just policies on paper, but true and tangible action. It´s one area where you cannot hide the lack of results.