The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that in 1996, 71% of the workforce was employed in the service industry and that by 2006 that was expected to rise to 74%.  The interpersonal nature of service transactions makes similarities between employee and customer more important.  As the population in general becomes more diverse, employees who can communicate most efficiently with those clients become a business advantage.

Globalization has increased the contact with clients and co-workers from other countries.  An understanding of cultural differences can not only facilitate communication, but can also avoid potentially embarrassing or even insulting situations.

To deal with the changing labor market, employers are developing new recruiting strategies to target older employers, minorities, and immigrants.  They are developing more flexible benefits packages (more flexible hours, working from home, leaves of absence) to accommodate the new diversity they must manage.

When we think of cultural differences, we dont often think of the differences in corporate cultures, too.  As large companies buy out smaller companies, employees with potentially very different expectations (and sometimes from competing companies) are thrown together in the expectation of working together happily and productively.