According to a recent study conducted by Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, businesses experience greater success if they have a welcoming and diverse working environment. As cited by Lynette Chappell-Williams, associate vice president of workforce diversity and inclusion at Cornell, such a workplace has proven to show significant financial rewards.
“When you have an environment that is truly inclusive, individuals feel comfortable being themselves,” Chappell-Williams said. “They feel more comfortable sharing ideas, and it’s through all these different perspectives that you come up with innovation.”
This doesn’t exactly surprise me – a multiplicity of ideas and perspectives is the most conducive to weeding out bad ideas and pushing good ones forward. Cornell is apparently on the cutting edge of ‘diversity initiatives’ in the workplace (no surprise there, either), and is hosting workshops for companies at the ILR School. However, if this study is in fact accurate, then affirmative action – as defined now – in the workplace should eventually disappear. Companies will no longer need to hire based on a moral obligation, but rather for their own good. We’ll see.
