Advocates of diversity in the workplace typically offer a number of reasons why diversity is a good thing.  Let us look at the most important of these.

First, they say that diversity in the workplace allows for greater creativity and innovation.  The idea here is that people from diverse backgrounds will have different ideas and insights.  This will allow them to come up with a broader range of creative innovations.  Of course, the mere fact that people come from different races or sexes does not necessarily mean that they will think differently.  Firms must be sure that they have true diversity of thought, not just of demographics.

Second, it is said that diversity allows individual firms to get more market share.  As our country becomes more diverse, firms that do not have diverse workforces might lose market share because customers will not see people “like them” and will feel that the firm is not inclusive.

Finally, diversity can allow firms to get the best possible workforce.  In our diverse country, a firm will have a hard time finding the best possible employees if it only wants to hire people from one race or one sex.  In order to get the best people from the pool of available workers, the firm will have to hire from a diversity of backgrounds.

In these ways, it can be said that diversity in the workplace is good for businesses.