A Curious “Diversity” Study

Two researchers at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, Jonathan Leonard and David Levine, studied the effect of “diversity” on turnover among workers in business, and, at least as reported in this article, they and most of those who have commented on their findings are struggling to put a happy face of their findings.

First, here are the findings as reported in the article:

Women appear to dislike gender diversity, the study found. Women were slightly more likely to quit when the gender breakdown was about 50 percent male and 50 percent female. They were less likely to quit if the workplace was composed primarily of males or primarily of females

The university study, conducted over a period of years in all 50 states at 800 retail sites, uncovered some trends that the researchers described as “discouraging.” Among the disquieting findings:

• All minority groups were more likely to quit a workplace in which a greater proportion of employees were white. That suggested that diversity is difficult to maintain, the Haas researchers said.

• White employees left when there were fewer whites.

• African Americans tended to depart a company very quickly when more of their co-workers were white or Asian.

• Latinos tended to leave stores more rapidly when the retail outlets had many whites or Asians.

“Most people don’t like being in a numerical minority,” Leonard said. “If you are in a numerical minority you are slightly more likely to quit. That trend does not seem to have much to do with the composition of the majority.”

To borrow a term beloved by our old friend, George Lakoff (see here, here, and here), it is amusing to see the attempt to “frame” these findings in the most positive way possible.

First, the lede of the article:

Corporate America’s efforts to promote ethnic and gender diversity on the job have not triggered an overall rise in turnover, though some people who feel greatly outnumbered by other ethnic groups are more likely to quit.

And then the two authors of the study, who seem to think that no real news is good news:

The research by Jonathan Leonard and David Levine, two professors at the Haas School of Business, suggests that workers have become more tolerant of diversity and affirmative-action programs.

“We interpret the fact that diversity does not make much of a difference as good news,” said Leonard, chairman of the Haas Economic Analysis and Policy Group. “People really don’t care that much about the race or sex of their co-workers.”

….

Despite the somewhat higher propensity for workers to leave if they are in the minority, the researchers insisted the total results showed that turnover did not increase generally in diverse workplaces.

“It is impossible for everybody to be in the majority,” Leonard said. “Somebody is going to come up with the short stick.”

The most brazen attempt to wring good news out of these findings came from a representative of organized labor:

“If anything, this confirms that diversity works,” said Chris Lee, a spokesman for the Oakland-based California Labor Federation. “We believe that diversity in the workplace is essential. A diverse work force means a stronger work force.”

Well of course they do, but there is nothing in this report of the study’s findings to support Lee’s “diversity works!” faith.

The most interesting thing here to me is the authors’ conclusions that “diversity does not make much of a difference” and that “[p]eople really don’t care that much about the race or sex of their co-workers.” Perhaps academics care so much that they are surprised when other people don’t.

Also, there is no evidence in this report that the authors investigated whether or not most workers support or object to racial preferences in hiring as a method of producing workplace “diversity.” I’m not surprised that most people don’t care about the race of their co-workers, but I would be very surprised indeed if they didn’t care whether their co-workers were hired because of their race or, especially, if they themselves were not.

Say What?