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Workplace Implications
Overall, these demographic shifts in society are reflected in the workforce where

close to 75% of those now entering employment are racial/ethnic minorities
and women (Sue & Sue, 2008). There are major economic implications of these
changes. First, the majority of those that will be contributing to social security
and pension plans will be women and employees of color. As the baby boomers
retire (primarily White retirees), they will increasingly depend on their cow-
orkers of color and women for economic stability in the retirement years. Yet if
women and people of color continue to encounter the glass ceiling, be underpaid,
underemployed, and unemployed, it bodes poorly for their future security.
Business and industry, educational institutions, and municipalities now
recognize that their workforces must be drawn increasingly from a diverse
labor pool and that sole dependence on White male workers is no longer a
reality (Sue, 1991, 1994). The economic viability of businesses will depend on
their ability to manage a diverse workforce effectively, allow for equal access
and opportunity, and make appropriate multicultural organizational change
(Stevens, Plaut, & Sanchez - Burks, 2008). In recognition of the changing com-
position of the nation, there has been a movement by business and industry
toward diversity training, the infusion of multicultural concepts into school

curriculum, and many attempts to fight bigotry, bias, and discrimination in
our social, economic, and political systems (Sue, Parham, et al., 1998).
Yet, marginalized groups continue to describe their work climates as
hostile, invalidating, and insulting because of the many microaggressions that
assail their race, gender, or sexual - orientation identities, deplete their psy-
chic energies, restrict their work options, lower their work productivity,
generate suppressed rage and anger, stereotype them as less worthy workers,
and detrimentally impact their recruitment/hiring, retention, and promotion
in organizations (Blank & Slipp, 1994; Deitch et al., 2003; Dovidio, Gaertner,
Kawakami, & Hodson, 2002; Gore, 2000; Hinton, 2004; Purdie - Vaughns, Davis,
Steele, & Ditlmann, 2008; Rowe, 1990; Sue, Lin, & Rivera, 2009).
Racial, gender, and sexual microaggressions are especially problematic
because of their invisibility, difficulty in being proven (Deitch et al., 2003;

Rowe, 1990), and because they are often minimized as trivial and innocuous
(Sue, Capodilupo, et al., 2007). Discussions of racism and sexism in the work-
place generally involve acts of discrimination that are considered unlawful or
analyzed from a legal perspective (Coleman, 2004). Many places of employment
that have instituted diversity training and/or passed policies that condemn

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