What percent of your workforce is "diverse"? - To follow up one of Ben's recent posts, the NYTimes blurbs a new book surveying the prevalence of "being out" at the office. A USC dean followed 300 of the school's gay alumni to come up with a report entitled The Lavender Road to Success: The Career Guide for the Gay Community. While the findings reaffirm that there's a lot of discomfort about sexual orientation in the workplace, one of the more surprising results was that "those who were open about their sexual orientation had more authority and earned 50 percent higher wages, on average, than those who were not."

Apparently, the closet takes its toll by preventing employees from focusing on their careers. I do believe in being open with your co-workers over the long haul, but it's best to tread cautiously on the way into a job, as the book advises. Then again, straight applicants really shouldn't mouth off about their wives and kids in their job interviews either, and it is definitely unwise to ask about such things if you are the one posing the questions. That's just an excellent way to set yourself up for a discrimination lawsuit.

Coincidentally, the HRC's annual survey of gay-friendly corporations is also out this week. In a real shocker, Replacements Ltd. and Mitchell Gold once again scored a perfect 100. Heh.