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What does the noun phrase "diverse employees" mean?

English Language Learners Asked by user48754 on February 1, 2021

According to dictionaries, "diverse" means including people from various backgrounds. So, a "diverse workforce" makes perfect sense to me because the adjective here describes a noun that represents the whole of a group (workforce).

But in the case of "diverse employees," the adjective modifies individual constituents (employees), which is a bit weird, isn’t it? Is this usage widely accepted?

In my observation, American people apparently apply this usage, to practically mean everybody but heterosexual white men–women in general, ethnic minorities, LGBT people, etc.–in a politically correct way.

Do people from Britain and other English-speaking countries use "diverse" in this particular sense?


I am only interested in the usage of the adjective "diverse," not in politically, morally, ethically correct ideals, which are, of course an important thing, though.

To make the usage of "diverse" in question clear, I would like to introduce as an example the following sentence, which is in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Diverse employees encounter health and safety concerns, increased household responsibilities, loneliness, and stifled career progression
more often than nondiverse employees.

One Answer

If you said "John and Bill are the employees, and Mary, Tolulope, Kumar, Zlem, Gay Pete, and that disabled guy are the diverse ones", that would be amazingly clumsy, non-inclusive, and prejudiced. As you say, 'weird'. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but it is wrong. The word 'diverse' has multiple meanings, including 'different' or 'various'. I have diverse items of clothing in my wardrobe, we have discovered diverse facts during our investigation, diverse employees have completed our questionnaire.

Answered by Michael Harvey on February 1, 2021

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