Diversity:

Is Your Company Ready for the Future

Is there really a business case for diversity or is it just a feel good initiative to trick companies into doing the “right thing”?

Diversity is talked about, the word is carelessly thrown around the workplace and community but do diversity initiatives, diversity directors and minority supplier programs actually create a feeling of inclusion within the business realm? And more importantly, does it increase the bottom line and increase employee morale.

You have to determine exactly what you would like to see happen through creating a culture of inclusion. Reasons often include creating a wider and deeper pool of talent from which to draw employees; fostering a supplier base that will bring better value, stronger community ties and more options to the company; and identifying and communicating to new market sectors to create a broader customer base.

Diversity Return on Investment (DROI) has been proven to increase most companies’ bottom line once diversity initiatives are actually implemented with reasonable objectives and goals.

According Diversity Inc. founder, Luke Visconti, speaking on behalf of his company’s Annual Top 50 Diversity Companies in making a business case for diversity; they drive home the bottom-line connection, (for businesses) by converting their Top 50 list into a stock index. Their Top 50 index outperforms the Nasdaq, S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average on a 10-, five- and one-year basis, documenting the connection between superior diversity management and superior corporate governance, which returns on equity for investors.”

In further building the case for diversity, our country is changing dramatically: By roughly 2040, white people will be the minority in our country. As a frame of reference, the ratio of white people to people of color in 1950 was 9 to 1. Today for Americans under 40, the ratio is less than 1.5 to 1 and for children under ten, it’s close to 1 to 1. Households of color have been increasing their household income at more than double the rate of white households since 1990. (www.diversityinc.com)

A plan for diversity is a plan for current and future success of your business. Please enjoy part one of our Tulsa companies who embrace diversity as a business model for success.

Please feel free to email us at editorial@xposurebusiness.com for any comments or thoughts you may have about diversity.