Nearly four out of 10 U.S workers believe a diverse workforce is "very important", yet most still work for white, male managers and around a fifth claim to know someone who has been denied a job, pay raise because or promotion because of their race or gender.
A survey by recruitment company Hudson Highland has found a clear gap between employers' words and actions when it comes to diversity.
A total of 19 per cent of the 4,825 workers polled said they knew someone who believed they had been discriminated against because of their race, rising to 22 per cent for gender.
The gap between rhetoric and reality was even more pronounced for African-American workers, with nearly half (46 per cent) agreeing with the same statement.
Just as worryingly, more than three-quarters of the workers polled said they reported to a Caucasian boss, with just a third saying their boss was a woman, indicating that the top echelons of corporate American are still very much male and white.
Most employees agreed that having a diverse workforce was either "very important" (39 per cent) or "somewhat important" (31 per cent).
Among African-American employees "very important" rose to nearly two thirds and more than half for Hispanics.
Yet, at the same time, fewer than half of employees felt there was racial, ethnic and gender diversity on their company's own executive team. Under half were employed by an organisation with a formal diversity initiative, leaving 53 per cent without one or unsure if their employer had one.
Even where diversity programmes were in place, workers were unsure how much of an impact they had, with those believing they helped the advancement of women and ethnic minorities, those that disagreed and those unsure split equally into thirds.
"Despite the clear need for more diversity in the workplace, particularly in supervisory and leadership roles, some employers continue to struggle with implementing diversity programs and creating an inclusive environment that embraces all workers regardless of race, gender, age, sexual preference or ethnicity," said Jessica Priego Lopez, director, diversity & inclusion practice at Hudson North America.
"The global forces affecting businesses make diversity of talent and diversity of thought an absolute necessity and, very soon, companies will have a hard time remaining competitive if they do not succeed in recruiting, retaining and developing workers from diverse backgrounds," she added.
The survey also found that government employees were among the most likely to have a female boss and employees of larger companies (with more than 500 employees) were more likely to report that their organisation had a formal diversity initiative and diverse executive team.
I was a victim of racial injustices. I had people promoted with much less knowledge in my field. but because of the collar of my skin I was denied a better life for my family and me. I worked for a Big Corporation. I thought hard work and dedication meant something...Ii WAS WRONG THE US GOVERMENT had a major effect on me ( even though I payed my taxes and expected my fair share of representation for that) I was denied advancement because I was white and the government wanted BLACKES TO DO MY JOB EVEN IF THEY WERENT QUALIFIED.
White male managers are the rule rather than exception even in the country's most diverse cities and neighborhoods. Yet, certain other white males have began yapping about white 'oppression' and reverse 'racism'. It's all wack. White supremacists advocate merit based hiring and school admissions while indirectly bashing minorities via loud complaints of affirmative action, yet it's members of their own race who fail to frigging honor it. Then the more radical ones cry 'oppression', which is absurd. Makes it easier to grasp the infantile, silly things they did in the past, such as installing two sinks at public restrooms designated for 'whites' and 'colored' respectively. A-holes. They pull the race card more than anyone, while chiding minorities for doing it after actual race discrimination such as different treatment by law enforcement. College Republicans cannot raise any other issue than complains about a minority, but no race-card complaints from their rightwing ilk ever in those cases. They even created a scene, literally, at Berkeley over Affirmative Action over race, as if they were victims of South African apartheid (whom you bet many of them silently supported). They wouldn't have lifted a finger, at best, at the pro-white male bias that tarnished college admission before affirmative action. Seems some only have space in their brains for so much at a time.
White male managers are the rule rather than exception even in the country's most diverse cities and neighborhoods. Yet, certain other white males have began yapping about white 'oppression' and reverse 'racism'. It's all wack. White supremacists advocate merit based hiring and school admissions while indirectly bashing minorities via loud complaints of affirmative action, yet it's members of their own race who fail to frigging honor it. Then the more radical ones cry 'oppression', which is absurd. Makes it easier to grasp the infantile, silly things they did in the past, such as installing two sinks at public restrooms designated for 'whites' and 'colored' respectively. A-holes. They pull the race card more than anyone, while chiding minorities for doing it after actual race discrimination such as different treatment by law enforcement. College Republicans cannot raise any other issue than complains about a minority, but no race-card complaints from their rightwing ilk ever in those cases. They even created a scene, literally, at Berkeley over Affirmative Action about race, as if they were victims of South African apartheid (which many of them probably supported). They wouldn't have lifted a finger, at best, at the pro-white male bias that tarnished college admissions fairness before affirmative action. Seems some only have space for so much in their brains at a time. Pull the race card, or, accuse others of pulling it, or...