The recent Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action in higher education may ripple into the business world. Big-name corporations fear a dent in workplace diversity. Discover what this means for hiring, and how businesses can adapt to foster inclusion and find talent beyond traditional confines.
The Supreme Court recently ruled that educational institutions can’t use affirmative action to favor one race over another. Federal law has prohibited that in hiring for a very long time, and yet there is an extensive discussion about how this ruling – technically unrelated to hiring – will affect business.
Some big businesses – including American Airlines, Apple, Bayer, Ikea, Paramount, Starbucks, and Hershey – submitted an Amicus Curiae brief to the court saying that prohibiting universities from running their affirmative action programs would negatively affect businesses. These businesses (called Amici in legal terminology) state:
“An essential part of the diversity Amici seeks is racial and ethnic diversity. Given these priorities, Amici have a significant interest in how universities consider and admit applicants: they rely on the nation’s schools to educate and train their future workers.”
Because the court rule against the universities (specifically Harvard and University of North Carolina, but applicable to all universities that accept federal funding), are these businesses correct that this will have a negative impact on their companies? If we assume that the Amici are correct, here’s what businesses must do to overcome this problem and keep increasing their diversity.
To keep reading, click here: Affirmative action in hiring: challenges and solutions
The Supreme Court decision does not change the fact that federal contractors must obey a myriad of laws and regulations about their own affirmative action programs. Any solutions are things we already should be doing.
A better question we should be asking ourselves is not how do we become more diverse but how do we become more inclusive. That is the crux of the affirmative action question; we can bring in a diverse workforce but can we make them feel that they are part of the culture?
Someone told me one time that diversity is being asked to attend the dance, but inclusion is being asked to actually dance.