Ethnic diversity at work: an overview of theories and research

Ethnic diversity in the workforce is a subject of growing interest for western organizations. In EU countries, continuous immigration flows of post-war guest workers and their family members, ex-colonial immigrants, political refugees, and highly educated workers have led to an increase of people with a foreign nationality (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2003). However, foreign population percentages vary significantly between EU countries. For instance, Luxemburg (39.9%), Austria (10.3%), Germany (9.5%), and Belgium (9.1%) have relatively high rates, whereas the lowest rates, of about 2%, are found in Greece, Finland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Other EU countries fall somewhere in between these two extremes, such as the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, the UK, and France, with percentages ranging from 4.3 to 6% (OECD, 2003). In the future, ethnic diversity in many EU countries is likely to increase even further as demographic figures indicate that net-migration flows (immigration minus emigration) are larger than the natural growth of national populations (Ekamper and Wetters, 2005; OECD, 2003).