According to U.S census data, between 2000 and 2050, new immigrants and their children will make up 83% of the growth in the working-age population. 

Similarly, Statistics Canada estimates that by 2017, the number of visible minorities in Canada is expected to double and account for around 20% of the country’s population.

North American labour forces aren’t just becoming more racially diverse, they’re also becoming more gender inclusive. By 2020, the percentage of women in the American workplace is expected to be greater than that of men.

By having a more diverse workforce in the age of technology, where business is becoming increasingly globalized, there is more pressure than ever for companies to hire a team to reflect the diversity of the world around them.

Check out what some of the biggest names are doing to advance workplace diversity:

Nike

Earlier this year, the sportswear giant chose to use transparent reporting to encourage diversity  and published their employee diversity numbers online. While going public is just an initial step in building a more inclusive and innovative company, Nike’s public announcement was commendable. The numbers indicated that the majority of Nike’s U.S. workforce is made up of racial and ethnic minorities.

Salesforce

While women tend to be highly underrepresented and even discriminated against in the tech sphere, CEO Marc Benioff recently revealed that the company spent more than 3 million in 2015 to make compensation across the company more gender equal.

It’s estimated that over 1,000 Salesforce employees required a salary adjustment.

In addition to their salary adjustments, Salesforce created a “High-Potential Leadership Program” a company wide initiative with the aim of “providing leadership skills to advance women in the workplace”. The program has led to a 33% increase in the number of women who have been promoted.

Apple

As the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 500 company, CEO Tim Cook has not shied away from supporting LGBT employees and projecting Apple’s anti-discrimination stance. On the apple website, Cook is quoted s saying that “Apple is open to everyone regardless of where they come from, what they look like, how they worship or who they love”.

Apple has partnered with groups like the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the biggest LGBT civil rights organization in the U.S. and has earned a perfect score on their Corporate Equality Index since it started in 2002.

Last June, Cook and over 8,000 Apple employees participated in San Francisco’s 43rd annual pride parade. The company gifted attendees with special rainbow-coloured bands for their Apple watches, and Cook announced that Apple’s ResearchKit will power the world’s largest medical research project into the health needs of the LGBT population.

Etsy

In recent months, the online marketplace announced that women now account for 54% of its workforce. Remarkably, even half of leadership and management positions belong to women.

Also in line with the company’s pledge to disregard conventions, Etsy refuses to refer to gender in a binary way. In a recent report from the company, the company classifies employees who “identify as women”, “identify as men” and identify as “other awesome gender identities”, giving employees the chance to self-report their gender from among more than 60 options.

Are you looking to diversify your company’s team with new hires? Make sure that all your bases are covered and download our Employee Agreement Checklist below!