Diversity drives ‘put off minority recruits’
COMPANY diversity drives may do ‘more harm than good’ – as they alienate under-represented groups who feel they are hired because of their sexual orientation or skin colour, a study says.
Researchers found that LGBTQ workers, black students and women searching for jobs in science, technology and engineering were put off by firms championing workforce diversity.
The study by Yale University and London Business School found these groups felt their work would always be judged through the lens of their identity.
About four in five Fortune 500 companies made a business case for workforce diversity, claiming that hiring workers from marginalised groups would increase profits and better serve customers, the study found.
At the same time the research, published by the American Psychological Association, found diversity schemes may alienate over-represented groups such as white workers.
Lead author Professor Oriane Georgeac said: ‘On the surface, this rhetoric may sound positive. These business-case justifications are extremely popular. But our findings suggest that they do more harm than good.
‘In other words, business-case justifications confirm to women and underrepresented group members that they must worry about their social identities being a lens through which their contributions will be judged. And this is threatening to these groups.’
Companies that made a ‘fairness case’ for diversity – saying such policies were morally right rather than being implemented simply to boost profits – still repelled minority groups, but only around half as much as ‘business-case’ justifications did.
Marginalised groups taking part in the study were asked to read diversity statements from fictional businesses and answer questions about how much they would like to work there and how much they thought they would belong at the companies. Under-represented job seekers preferred firms that quietly committed to diversity without explanation or justification.
It comes after research found the British public hugely overestimates the size of minorities in UK society.
When 1,800 people were asked by YouGov what proportion of adults in the UK is white, for example, the average of the answers given was 65 per cent – yet the true figure is 87 per cent.