Previously I thought hiring diversity for diversity's sake didn't make sense, and hiring should be based solely on "merit". After all, as a company, you want to hire the best people.

However, since then, I have found there is research that indicates diverse groups can be more advantageous than homogenous groups of highly talented people [1], [2]. So from this perspective, striving for diversity makes economic sense.

[1] http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full

[2] http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-make...