A majority of Americans think companies should encourage diversity in the workplace — but they’re much more skeptical about the methods businesses could use to ensure they’re hiring a diverse group of employees.
Americans want diversity in the workplace — but are skeptical about how to get it
Most Americans value workplace diversity but don’t want race or ethnicity considered during the promotion and hiring process.
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The Pew Research Center, in a survey released about diversity in America, found 75 percent of Americans said it was important for companies to promote racial and ethnic diversity in the workplace.
Yet only 24 percent said race and ethnicity should be taken into consideration in decisions about hiring and promotion. In contrast, 74 percent said only qualifications should be taken into account — even if it resulted in less diversity.
Pew Research Center
Taken together, the two answers suggest that while Americans like the idea of racial diversity in theory, they seem to want it to happen on its own. But experts say creating a diverse workforce isn’t something that can be done passively: Companies need to actively cultivate a diverse group of candidates and think strategically about how to create a welcoming environment.
White people were the most opposed to considering race and ethnicity in hiring and promotion: 78 percent said only qualifications should be considered. But a majority of black respondents (54 percent) and Hispanic respondents (69 percent) also said race and ethnicity shouldn’t be considered.
The survey revealed a major partisan gap on whether diversity is important at all. Only 29 percent of Republicans thought it was very important for companies to promote diversity, compared to 64 percent of Democrats.
Pew Research Center
And 90 percent Republicans said companies should only consider qualifications in promotions and hirings, even if it meant less diversity, compared to 62 percent of Democrats.
Americans’ overall favorability toward diversity was also reflected beyond the workplace. Sixty-four percent of Americans said that racial and ethnic diversity has had a positive impact on the country’s culture. Hispanics were more likely to say so, at 70 percent, while white and black responders agreed at 64 percent and 58 percent, respectively. The partisan gap was replicated here too: Only 50 percent of Republicans thought that diversity had a positive impact on culture, compared to 77 percent of Democrats.
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