Diversity: once required, it's now an advantage - By JAY BRYAN, The Montreal Gazette, Canada
"Employment diversity" used to mean that corporate managers felt obligated to keep government regulators happy by boosting the number of their workers from traditionally underrepresented groups like visible minorities, women, aboriginals and people with disabilities.
In recent years, there's been a big change in this attitude. As companies made progress in hiring from such groups, many discovered that diversity is actually a key competitive advantage.
Today, the push for employment diversity is mostly driven by corporate managers who know that in an era of skills shortages, fishing in a bigger pond can help them attract a much better workforce.
Here's the next job: they must learn how to do this.
A new survey by the Conference Board of Canada suggests that while companies seem more motivated to open up, a dismaying number don't get how to do so effectively.