Why is Diversity in the Workplace Important?

The importance of a diverse workforce used to be quite controversial. Many employers either refused to hire women, racial minorities, military veterans, disabled, and other so-called diverse candidates or advocated for a system under which such candidates were given no special treatment. Affirmative action laws forced many employers to diversify their workforces and today most employers have embraced diversity. Yet some employers remain reluctant to do so for a variety of reasons, one of which is their claim that they prefer to hire the candidates who are best qualified to do the job regardless of whether those candidates are diverse.

To help explore these issues, College Recruiter is hosting a College Recruiting Bootcamp on LGBT and other diversity hiring issues on Tuesday, September 29th at the Twilio headquarters in San Francisco. Join us.

Prior to that event, we’ll publish the opinions from a number of talent acquisition and recruiting leaders about why and how employers should diversify their workforces. In today’s article, Mary Beth McGrath discusses why Level 3 Communications believes that it is important for it to have a diverse workforce.

Mary Beth McGrath, Vice President of Global Talent for Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications is a global company so diversity is a natural and crucial part of our fabric. We have more than 13,000 employees spread all over the world, with customers in more than 60 countries across six continents. The very nature of our business – connecting and protecting the networked world – is inherently global, facilitating the exchange of ideas from every corner of the world.

Diversity in our workforce is an essential strategic enabler. We know that diversity fosters innovation and creativity which, in our rapidly changing world, are critical for success. Everything we are and do is the result of the different cultures, beliefs and backgrounds of our employees, customers, suppliers and competitors. We have several programs in place to attract diverse candidates to the organization and also to support them as they continue to develop their careers.

Mary Beth McGrath is vice president of global talent management for Level 3 Communications. In this role, Ms. McGrath is responsible for the development and implementation of global talent strategies and programs, including corporate social responsibility, designed to attract talent and increase leadership and organizational capability. She and her team of talent management professionals enable the business to achieve its strategic objectives and deliver against the goal to be an employer of choice.