Diversity (business)

Diversity, in a business context, is hiring and promoting employees from a variety of different backgrounds and identities. Those characteristics may include various legally protected groups, such as people of different religions or races, or backgrounds that are not legally protected, such as people from different social classes or educational levels. A business or group with people from a variety of backgrounds is called diverse; a business or group with people who are very similar to each other is not diverse.

Proponents of diversity argue that businesses benefit by having diversity in the work force. The business case for diversity stems from the progression of the models of diversity within the workplace since the 1960s. In the United States, the original model for diversity was situated around affirmative action drawing from equal employment opportunity initiatives implemented in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Equal employment opportunity was centered around the idea that any individual academically and physically qualified for a specific job could strive for (and possibly succeed) at obtaining that job without being discriminated against based on identity. These initiatives were met with accusations that tokenism, above other factors, was the reason that individuals from minority groups were being hired. Dissatisfaction from minority groups led to later diversity efforts across the workforce.

The social justice model evolved next, providing the idea that minority workers should be given disproportionately more opportunities within the workplace, a moral imperative which extends beyond the idea of equal opportunities.

The deficit model proposes that organizations which do not have an inclusive culture will invite lower productivity, higher absenteeism, and higher turnover, which will result in higher costs to the company. Establishments with more diversity are less likely to have successful unionization attempts.