Buffalo Niagara is getting more diverse. Here’s what that means for the workplace.:
https://www.bizjournals.com/buffalo/...diversity.html
From the article: "Nearly one of every four people in the Buffalo area is a racial minority.
Dial back to just the City of Buffalo and that number increases to more than half of the population.
That’s according to U.S. Census Bureau one-year 2021 American Community Survey data for Buffalo and for Erie and Niagara counties. Racial minority groups include Black or African American alone, American Indian and Alaska Native alone, Asian alone, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander alone, some other race alone and two or more races.
That diversity has been growing over the last decade, among both the customers that businesses serve and the workers that they're trying to attract and retain.
In 2011, the city’s racial minority residents made up 49.7% of the population, a little less than half. As of 2021, that percentage had risen to 54.3%.
The region, including Erie and Niagara counties, is not yet a racial minority-majority area, but minorities make up about 23.8% of the population. In 2011, that percentage was 18.6%.
It's a reality that employers should be paying attention to and talking about.
“There’s a lot of different ways to look at it and taking a step back to look inward,” said Ekua Mends-Aidoo, chief equity and inclusion officer at Evergreen Health. “These conversations aren’t going anywhere.”
To reach customers, businesses need to think strategically and inclusively, from marketing materials to supports like bilingual workers like client support teams, she added.
That equitable mindset isn’t limited to just racial demographics. There are other lenses to keep in mind, like age and gender.
When it comes to workers, policies and programs should be inclusive to workers of different racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.
“That breeds a good business climate, and that’s important,” said Robert Adelman, department chair of the University at Buffalo’s sociology department.
Leadership should then mirror the diversity of that employee and community population, said Mends-Aidoo. Evergreen Health has dashboards that break down demographics for Buffalo and then Chautauqua, Erie and Niagara counties specifically to compare the company’s overall diversity to its employees and patients to make sure it’s reflective.
And diversity, equity and inclusion efforts positively affect not only racial minority workers and clients, but also all other groups as well, she added. Many from younger generations are asking about their employers’ plans to create an inclusive workplace and the specific action steps they plan take to get there.
“Some of the best organizations hit this head on and don’t shy away from the conversations,” Mends-Aidoo said."
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