Minority Impacts On The Workplace.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hispanics are the largest minority group in the country, a trend that is having a great impact on American workplaces and the ways companies manage their workforces.

“A diverse workplace helps companies reach new markets and better understand existing markets,” said Ashley Kaplan, head of the G.Neil labor law team. “On the other hand, keeping up with a diversifying workforce, and the laws that come with it, can be challenging for many employers.”

Immigration to the U.S. is also expected to increase over the coming decades, bringing more employees for which English is their second language,according to 2004 research by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

“Two big areas of concern for employers are employee communications and preventing workplace discrimination,” Kaplan said.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate against individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability. Federal law also says that if a “significant portion” of workers in an organization are not literate in English, then a certain portion of the federal labor law postings in that workplace must be written in a language these employees understand.

What Businesses Are Doing Now

As part of their research, SHRM analyzed what actions U.S. companies are currently taking in response to demographic trends. They found:

– 36% are conducting studies to determine projected demographic makeup of their organization’s workforce
– 28% are offering language courses for their employees and 24% offer courses for managers
– 27% are changing health and safety policies to reflect changing language needs of the workforce
– 27% are changing employment practices to address the issue of discrimination based on ethnicity

“It is important that everyone in a company knows what workplace discrimination is, not just those who are doing the hiring and firing,” Kaplan said. “Educating employees about diversity can prevent costly lawsuits and improve employee morale.”