Diversity Initiatives Help Keep A Competitive Edge.

Top companies say diversity initiatives have a direct impact on the bottom line, according to a new survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Fortune magazine (Custom Products). The SHRM(R)/FORTUNE Impact of Diversity Initiatives on Bottom Line survey gauged the extent of corporate diversity initiatives. It included the responses of 121 HR professionals from FORTUNE 1000 companies and companies on Fortune magazine’s list of the 100 Top Companies To Work For.

The majority of respondents said diversity initiatives have impacted the company’s bottom line in several positive ways. For example, 79 percent said it improves corporate culture, 77 percent said it improves recruitment of new employees and 52 percent cite improved client relations. The majority of HR professionals (91 percent) also said their diversity initiative helps their organization keep a competitive advantage. More than three-fourths said such initiatives do this by both improving corporate culture (83 percent) and improving employee morale (79 percent). More than half said it decreases interpersonal conflict among employees (58 percent), increases creativity (59 percent), and increases productivity (52 percent).

“Many HR professionals at top U.S. companies say the number of African American, Hispanic, female and older employees in their workforce have increased over the past five years,” said SHRM Director of Research, Debra Cohen, PhD and SPHR. “These top companies are taking advantage of the clear benefits of diversity programs and a diverse workforce as a competitive edge. Most diversity programs started in the early 1990’s, but are growing rapidly.”

Among the diversity practices of these top companies, the most common initiatives were recruiting efforts designed to help increase diversity within the organization (75 percent), diversity training initiatives, education, and/or awareness efforts (66 percent), and community outreach related to diversity (61 percent). Least cited practices were diversity-related conflict resolution (16 percent) and company-paid literacy training (11 percent).

For more information at http://www.shrm.org