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Outlook: Diverse = Desirable
Diversity employers know "you need to mirror the people you're selling to..."
The war over talent today is becoming more fierce than
ever. In order to compete, employers need to create an environment in which
young professionals can grow, feel secure, and where they are satisfied by
the size of their pay check. The coming generations value a place where all
walks of life are properly represented, whether it is their ethnicity,
academic background, sexual orientation, or religion.
“People want to be with people who look like them,” says Claudia Tattanelli, CEO of Universum. “If it isn’t a diverse work environment, it may not be as
challenging a place for them.”
The Universum Diversity Survey 2007 reveals that companies with
minority group members at or near the top of the organization prove to be especially
attractive, as well as those that are in industries that have historically been open to
diversity. Consumer packaged goods and the entertainment media are high on the list.
However, diversity has come more slowly to financial services industry, management
consulting, and investment banking.
Increasingly though, corporations are discovering that it’s simply good
business to have their employee ranks reflect the many faces of American society.
“Companies
don’t do it to be nice – it reflects on the bottom line,” says Tattanelli. “I can’t imagine
a company that is only trying to sell to Caucasians —you need to mirror the people you’re
selling to. It’s not so much your color or your accent that matters. It’s the invisible
traits. Your personality, your culture, your approach.”
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