The Effect of Ethnic Cultures On Corporate Culture

The workplace of the future is going to be colorful. Here’s why: record levels of births among minorities in the past ten years are moving the USA a step closer to a milestone in which NO ethnic background commands a majority.

According to USA Today:

• minorities accounted for almost 49% of U.S. births in the year ending July 1, 2009, a record high
• 48.3% of kids under age 5 are minorities today
• only 19.9% of people 65 and older today are a minority

That means that in 15 to 20 years from now, those kids under 5 today will be entering the workforce. Almost half of the workforce will be minorities – meaning there will be no real majority. There will be a lot of diversity in the workplace.

Senior managers, your workplace of the future had better have a culture of “culture inclusion” if you want to be able to attract the best and brightest.

We all come from somewhere. We all have our backgrounds and diversities. Expecting your people to not celebrate where they came from is not good business.

You can’t hire a high-performer and expect him or her to perform to a high level by stripping away everything that made them who they are. They are not workers – they are people who come to work. Don’t forget the people part if you want to build a strong corporate culture.