A tough economy can affect diversity in the workplace

Even though there currently is an African American running for president, an Indian American serving as governor of Louisiana, an African American woman as Secretary of State, and several other minorities serving in high positions in both business and government, workplace diversity still has a long way to go. As the economy balances itself on the proverbial eggshells, workplace diversity will likely be affected, and evidence suggests that it can be affected negatively by a tough economy.

The combination of our current economic climate, coupled with a tumultuous racial history that has seen strong resistance to such programs as affirmative action, makes for an unfortunate recipe for bias and discrimination to brew and resurface in the workplace. A tough economy tends to put a great deal of stress on employees, particularly those who have been affected by the mortgage crisis, the credit crunch, and other market woes. That stress can strengthen existing but dormant biases and discriminatory attitudes in some employees.

While the general trend has been that American companies as a whole are faring much better when it comes to workplace diversity and inclusion, that doesn’t necessarily trickle down to the individual level. In many cases, personal attitudes, beliefs and biases are not being expressed in the workplace simply because individuals are aware of the penalties for doing so. But just because biases and attitudes may not be expressed overtly does not mean these harmful attitudes are not being expressed at all.

As a matter of fact, many biases are expressed very subtly in the workplace. Employers who may otherwise display no overt signs of discrimination may be biased against promoting older or overweight employees, for instance. Subtle biases may also be revealed in water cooler conversations where off color jokes about an employee’s age, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability might be told.

The longer the economy stands on shaky ground, the more individuals will experience stress in one form or another, strengthening negative perceptions and workplace bias. According to diversity expert Steve L. Robbins, author of What If? Short Stories to Spark Diversity Dialogue, stressful situations cause people to resort to things they know, and they begin to exclude people they see as strangers. He says that in tough times, many companies will resort to doing business only with certain suppliers rather than opening up to doing business with diverse groups, despite the evidence that excluding diverse suppliers and customers makes it harder for a company to compete in the long term.

A tough economy can also have a chilling effect on workplace diversity and inclusion workshops, as diversity training can be overwhelmed by the burden of stress and soon forgotten when an employee returns to the reality of everyday work life. Individuals need to make a personal commitment to put diversity training into practice, which can be much more of a feat for them when burdened by the stress of a tough economy.

Sooner or later, the US economy will return to secure footing—hopefully before too much damage is done to workplace diversity.