Evolving diversity trends of 2008
Social Networks54 percent of Gen Nexters use social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. The core demographic of social networking sites are 16-34 year olds, and they are not just gossiping. There are business groups, industry groups, professional groups and interest-based groups getting 90+ million viewers every month. 5 percent of employees have a personal blog, which could be as high as 10 million workers, but only 15 percent of companies have policies that address blogging. Examples of how this impacts the workplace:
Corporate responsibility/sustainability"For the developed world, there is a choice to be made: promote economic policies that despoil indigenous lands, or support cultures and the remaining biological sanctuaries. Native people do not have the luxury of such choices, because their survival is at stake." Paul Hawken, author, Blessed Unrest 64 percent of people would be willing to pay a higher price - a premium of 11 percent, on average - for products and services that produce lower greenhouse gas emissions. "Increased federal, state and local environmental regulation is a trend that shows no sign of abating. Federal regulation alone has grown from 500 pages in 1965 to over 60,000 pages today. Additionally, initiatives like Greenguard Institute's product certification and the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program, to name two, have established environmental standards and reflect the growing power of the consumer to affect change. These developments have made sustainability a 'cost of entry' for business -- pushing industry to accelerate and exceed compliance." David Rinard, Director of Environmental Performance, Steelcase Inc.
Technology93 percent of businesses in America today use the Internet for customer communication. 71 percent of businesses in the United States use e-mail as a form of advertising or marketing. The average manager spends 2.5 hours a day involved in e-mail correspondence.
Future workforceHispanics now make up about 13 percent of the U.S. labor force and are the second largest ethnic group in the labor force behind whites. Hispanics are expected to account for roughly half of the growth in the labor force between now and the year 2020. In a census study of Fortune 500 companies conducted by Catalyst, researchers found that U.S. companies have made scant progress in advancing women (and especially women of color) to leadership and top-paying positions over the past decade. If this trend continues, it could take 40-47 years for women to achieve parity with men in corporate officer positions. Increase of Asian Americans in the labor force between 1994 and 2014: 51.8 percent. Increase of African Americans in the labor force between 1994 and 2014: 34.0 percent.
Work/life integrationApproximately 15 percent of today's corporate officers in Fortune 500 companies are women. Poor workforce integration is the leading cause of all merger and acquisition failures. With over 52 million working parents in the United States, parental concern about their kids' after school time contributes to worker stress that costs businesses between $50 billion and $300 billion annually in lost job productivity.
Socio-economicThe median income for white families in the United States is $56,700, compared to $35,328 for African Americans, $65,326 for Asian Americans and $35,401 for Hispanic Americans. The middle-income bracket has shrunk over the last seven years, and now makes up 45 percent of all households (a drop of 1.7 percent from 2000). The national high school drop-out rate in 2004-2005 was 4.7 percent Among the four largest racial/ethnic groups, Hispanic students were the most likely to drop out in 2004 (8.9 percent), followed by Black students (5.7 percent), White students (3.7 percent), and Asian/Pacific Islander students (1.2 percent). The rate for students who indicated more than one race (4.9 percent) was not measurably different from the rates for the other racial/ethnic groups.
Workforce hostilityAccording to an ABC poll, 46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam. 26 percent of employed adults say they have experienced sexual harassment at work (17 percent of men, 35 percent of women). 45 percent of American workers feel they have been the target of abuse. At least 3.3 million white-collar jobs and $136 billion in wages will shift from the United States to low-cost countries by 2015.
Diverse Markets & CustomersYounger generation consumers do not think it's a crime to share music files without paying for them. Hispanics are the fastest growing group in terms of buying power. Hispanics have surpassed other minority groups and are expected to account for 9.5 percent of buying power in the U.S. in 2010. Both Asian American and African American buying power is increasing significantly more than white buying power, Asian buying power being second to only Hispanics. One in four gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adults over this past year switched to companies that support the GLBT community. In January of 2007, Pizza Patron announced it would accept payment in Mexican pesos, in addition to dollars, (Pesos for Pizza program) in 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California; the company received over 1000 hate mail letters and even death threats. American women spend more than the entire population of Japan. Read more:
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