Dive Brief:

• At a time when Hispanics are projected to represent 74% of labor force growth by 2020 according to Selig Center for Economic Growth, a new study by Center for Hispanic Leadership (CHL) Academy reveals some potentially devastating news for the future of U.S. business and the American economy, according to a Forbes article.
• According to the five-year study targeting U.S. Hispanics, the country’s fastest growing workforce and consumer group, Hispanic professionals in the first 10 years of their careers are only performing at 40% of their full potential in the workplace.
• Writing at Forbes, Glenn Llopis, a human capital and business strategy consultant, says the reasons have to do with the realities Hispanics face each day when they enter the workplace, fueled by 75% of non-Hispanic supervisors who are unaware that Hispanic cultural values and upbringing influence the natural ways Latinos think, act and perform.

Dive Insight:

Llopis writes that "corporations must learn to solve for the low levels of workplace productivity and engagement that they unknowingly perpetuate when, as 81% of Hispanics believe, their unique perspectives are not valued enough."

He writes that it’s time to empower Hispanics through the lens of their cultural values in order to discover their full potential. This will require a shift in thinking from the organization as provider to that of the organization as enabler.

It’s time to think of the workplace as less of a melting pot and more of a mosaic, Llopis writes. It will also require non-Hispanic supervisors and executives to better understand cultural nuances and the role that heritage plays in shaping the most natural ways that Hispanics are motivated to perform. Until they do, there will continue to be critical workforce development opportunity gaps amongst not only Hispanics, but other minority groups, he says.