New Jersey is known as a diverse state, but how diverse is the experience of the average New Jersey working adult, at work and at home? How much do employers value diversity? And with heated college campus debates on race relations, and a Presidential campaign replete with provocative rhetoric about immigrants and Muslims, how respectful are language environments at the workplace?
New Jersey-based strategic communications firm Taft and Partners works with companies, nonprofits, universities and foundations on a range of organizational communications issues, including diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility and compliance and ethics. And they recently conducted their first New Jersey State of Diversity Survey aimed at gaining insights into these questions. (The survey is based on a Jan 4-10 poll of 571 working adults in New Jersey, designed with and conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s (FDU) PublicMind.)
Lots of interactions, limited training in the workplace
The good news: 90 percent of workers think their employers value diversity and encourage a respectful workplace. The figure is high for public agencies, nonprofits and for-profits alike.
However, 47 percent have never had any form of training that focuses on the value of diversity and cultural awareness. A surprising 57 percent of for-profit employees have never had such training with a much smaller 30 percent of public agency and 32 percent of nonprofit employees reporting that they never have.
“It is encouraging to learn that such a high percentage of NJ workers see their employers as valuing diversity and respect,” said Ted Deutsch, president of Taft. “Yet there is a large gap between the employers who have that perception and those who make these sensitive topics a training priority. Training alone is not the answer—recruitment, communications, mentoring, and everyday equal treatment are critical—but it is still surprising that more employees haven’t experienced formal cultural awareness training.”
The survey also looked at how often employed residents encounter diversity in their daily lives. A full 83 percent of respondents report that they interact daily with someone of a different race in their workplace—rising to 94 percent who say they do so at least once per week. The daily figure is highest for public employees (91 percent).
Less diversity outside the workplace; differences by political affiliation
The figure drops off significantly outside the workplace, with only 59 percent of all respondents interacting daily with someone of a different race “outside of their workplace.” The respondent’s race plays a big part in those numbers, with only 50 percent of whites saying they interact daily outside their workplace with someone of a different race, while the number jumps to 73 percent for non-whites.
The survey shows the number of employed Republicans who interact with someone of a different race outside their workplace at least once every few days is lower (68 percent) than both employed Democrats (81 percent) and employed independents (78 percent).
Party differences appear again when respondents were asked whether interactions with people of diverse backgrounds “is important to me.”
| “At my workplace” | |
| Democrats |
86 percent strongly agree |
| Independents |
74 percent strongly agree |
| Republicans |
63 percent strongly agree |
| “Away from work in my social interactions” | |
| Democrats |
79 percent strongly agree |
| Independents |
76 percent strongly agree |
| Republicans |
61 percent strongly agree |
“Overall, the survey results show that New Jersey working adults encounter diversity quite regularly, though their employers have not universally embraced training and there may still be insensitive conversations happening in the workplace,” said Dr. Krista Jenkins, director of PublicMind and professor of political science. “Moreover, the gap revealed in how Democrats and Republicans experience and value diversity provides some insights into the challenges that the Republican Party has seen in gaining traction with minority groups.”
Insensitive language in the workplace
The survey also explored whether respondents have heard things at work that might be considered offensive to certain groups. Racial/ethnic minorities and Muslims were the two groups where such remarks were observed “very often” or “occasionally” by nearly one in every five workers:
| Racial and ethnic minorities: |
19 percent |
| Muslims: |
19 percent |
| Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT): |
16 percent |
| Women: |
13 percent |
| Other religious groups: |
10 percent |
| Jews: |
9 percent |
| People with disabilities: |
9 percent |
| Hindus: |
7 percent |
“We suspect that these numbers related to Muslims and racial/ethnic minorities may have increased in light of the highly charged national debate around terrorism and immigration,” added Deutsch. “It will be interesting to see how those figures move in the years ahead when those issues are not as much in the headlines.”
Of particular note:
Twice as many respondents from public agencies reported hearing offensive comments to racial and ethnic minorities (eight percent) compared to for-profits and nonprofits (both four percent)
There were virtually no differences of reporting such incidents by party or ideological affiliation.
A large majority (78 percent) of employers do impose consequences when they learn of offensive comments. Nine percent of all workers saying they had no knowledge of whether or not there would be consequences for offensive speech at their job.
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