On August 28th, 2008, 44 years after Dr.

Managing workplace diversity can be very challenging.  And as religion in the workplace continues to become much more diverse, accommodating all employee’s beliefs and rights not to believe has become more difficult for employers.  

Last night I watched a very talented African American orator accept his party’s nomination for the presidency of the United States, as did millions of Americans of every race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, etc.  I enjoyed his message, and since Barack Obama had effectively secured his nomination a few months back and Hillary Clinton had released her delegates, I was not at all surprised.  Until this morning.

Despite the progress that has been made in most areas of workforce diversity throughout the US, discrimination, in all of its ugly forms, unfortunately persists. And as the population of older workers who choose to remain in the workforce beyond the traditional age of retirement increases over the coming years, age discrimination in the workplace will likely increase as well.

New data released by the US Census Bureau indicates that the US workforce will become increasingly more diverse over the next thirty years. This continuous increase in workplace diversity will come primarily as a result of the large number of retiring baby boomers (eventually they will all retire) and the growing population of minorities.

Most organizations are well aware of the simple truths about workplace diversity. But when it comes to creating a diverse, inclusive and fair workforce, most companies are challenged to the point that their good intentions are all they can offer their current and prospective diversity employees.

Eighteen years ago, President George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was designed to help prevent job discrimination against qualified disabled individuals. Yet almost two decades later, more than 60 percent of the nation’s working-age disabled individuals are unemployed.

Though many companies have been progressively refining and improving their diversity recruiting efforts, employers are still challenged by the process of retaining and nurturing workplace diversity, according to Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of New Demographic, a firm that specializes in workplace diversity.

In response to critics complaints that a new ad campaign promoting basketball shoes was insensitive to gay men and African Americans, sporting goods behemoth Nike, Inc. pulled the ads, which were displayed primarily outdoors in New York, Atlanta and Philadelphia.