After more than two decades, the impact of affirmative action and equal employment opportunity programs on the nation's work force is undeniable.

Today, men, women and families from Southeast Asia, Latin American and the Caribbean leave economic and political turmoil behind in hopes that America will provide a more secure future.  And these immigrants face many of the same obstacles as their predecessors once they arrive.   

Despite the nation's increasing heterogeneity, diversity is encountering varying degrees of resistance among different sectors of U.S. industry. But like it or not, diversity is not going to disappear.  And as always, the workplace is the primary arena for social change.

Minorities, immigrants and women already make up more than 50 percent of today's work force.

In real life, we all tend to hire people much like ourselves.  They speak like us, walk like us, dress like us and have similar cultural references.  These people are part of our world.  We 'know'  them.  And we automatically know how to evaluate them.  It's often a stretch to see the qualifications of people who are different from us, or understand their point of reference.  From African American youth wearing baggy pants, to Middle Easterners wearing different clothes and things on their heads; Unfamiliarity all too often means discomfort, mis-understanding and even mistrust.

Battling to maintain profit margins and, in some cases, to just survive,many small firms have dismissed diversity as a challenge more relevant to large corporations.  However, even if you live or do business in a relatively homogeneous community, you can be sure not everyone is alike.  Small businesses, like any others, have to look at diversity from profit margin perspective as well as a political necessity.

Baynes Consulting Group can help any size business become more comfortable with the diversity within that business and outside of the business through interactions with the surronding community.