Specific Diversity Priorities Change
ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite economic uncertainty,
organizations continue to place significant importance on diversity. However,
priorities toward specific diversity initiatives have shifted in response to
the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and FORTUNE Custom
Projects conducted a longitudinal survey (the first in January 2002 and a
repeated follow-up in April 2002) to determine whether organizations had
changed focus toward diversity since September 11, 2001. There were 361
respondents to the January survey, and of those respondents, 202 again
responded in April. The Changing Face of Diversity Survey measured
attitudinal changes toward eight diversity initiatives: age, gender, race,
disability, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity and language skills.
In the four months following the attacks, organizations placed the highest
training priority on ethnicity, followed by disability, race, age, religion,
gender, sexual orientation and language skills. By April, race ranked as the
highest followed by gender, ethnicity, disability, age, language skills,
religion and sexual orientation.
Overall, the results indicate that organizations continue to place
significant focus on diversity and little change had occurred in the tolerance
employees display toward colleagues. While respondents said there was little
change in tolerance, a pattern showed that 21 percent of employees were much
less or a little less tolerant of ethnicity, while another 21 percent
indicated much more or a little more tolerance of ethnicity. Results were
similar for religion and religion.
"The terrorist attacks did cause organizations to shift priorities, at
least temporarily, regarding specific diversity initiatives," said SHRM
Director of Research Debra Cohen, PhD, SPHR. "However, there remains strong
support for diversity initiatives overall, despite economic uncertainty.
These results would indicate that employers are placing more value on
diversity in the workplace."
Diane Gingold, author of the FORTUNE Custom Projects Section on Diversity,
said that the experts interviewed for the section, individuals who represent
different aspects of diversity, had affirmed that diversity remains a high
priority for many of America's leading corporations.
The Changing Face of Diversity survey is available at
http://www.shrm.org/surveys.
SHRM
The Society for Human Resource Management is the leading voice of the
human resource profession with more than 170,000 professional and student
members throughout the world.
SOURCE Society for Human Resource Management
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Related links:
http://www.shrm.org
CONTACT:
Kristin Bowl, +1-703-535-6047 or
kbowl@shrm.org, or Frank Scanlan, +1-703-535-6043 or
fscanlan@shrm.org, both of SHRM; or SHRM Press Page,
http://www.shrm.org/press
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