Definition

The diverse workforce profile perspective reflects a statistical summary of the organization's personnel makeup sorted by key demographic groups. This perspective often includes an analysis of personnel by race, gender, ethnicity, length of service, voluntary/involuntary turnover, organizational level, and sometimes by age and physical ability. This information is typically tracked to determine if the organization's employee population mirrors the demographic dimensions of its community and/or customer base.

Why would an organization concern itself with the level of diversity mix in its workforce and building skills for effective management of its diverse workforce? In the past, many organizations answered this question out of a sense of the right thing to do or because they were seeing more and more people who did not look like them in the workforce, or merely because they felt they had to meet the organization's requirement for working with diverse groups simply for Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and Affirmative Action (AA) reasons; however, today's organizations know that without a diverse workforce and an effective diversity management capability, organizational effectiveness is in jeopardy. Being effective at recruiting, retaining, managing, and leveraging a diverse workforce helps lift morale, improves business processes, brings access to new segments of the marketplace, and enhances organizational productivity. In essence, it is good for business (Hubbard, 2003).

Several studies have followed the changing mosaic of America. One of the most widely publicized studies was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor and conducted by the Hudson Institute. They have completed two studies: