Quotas in Businesses

Rico answers a question he asks, Should Businesses Have Quotas Based on Race and Gender?

My short answer to the question - no!

Rico justifies the need for such quotas.

This is where a need for a race-based quota exists. A company that relies on constant and effective marketing must hire people that are representative of the areas where the business wants to set up shop. In other words, hire enough Indians to craft an effective marketing campaign for Indians, and hire enough Filipinos to provide more effective market research in their own community.

And further says:

To be clear, setting up a varied workforce shouldn’t be for the sake of finding the weak spots of each demographic. Ensuring that enough people of a certain race and gender are in your company should be oriented towards creating more understanding for customers.

I can not disagree more with this approach. Making it a law to say a particular percentage of a particular race or gender must be hired in a business is against the freedom of choice the people who run the business.

It is one thing to make similar laws to ensure that there is no discrimination. But justifying such laws by saying that 'it is good for the business' leaves the person or the organization running the business without a choice.

I agree to the fact that there must be varied views for a healthy business, but it should not be forced on to people. If the business chooses to take views of only a specific race or gender into consideration for running its business, then it may fail and die. But that is its choice. It cannot discriminate someone on basis of gender or race - it must treat everyone with equal opportunity. But to force an organization to have a particular percentage of a particular race or gender in its workforce is to deny an equal opportunity of the idea behind the business.

Do not get gender and races (or castes or any other taxonomic term) quotas into business and poison the business. The business will thrive or die based solely on the idea behind it. It should be motivated to have different ideas and not forced into it. Forcing it only gives avenues for corrupt induviduals (you know who I am talking about) to leverage and make a buck out of it. It makes it only better for these people - not the businesses nor the people of a particular gender or race.