OUT: DIVERSITY, GOOD FOR EVERYONE! IN: DIVERSITY ENRICHES THE BOSSES AT THE EXPENSE OF THE WORKERS! Boston Globe: Gender diversity increases productivity, decreases happiness.

Employees who work with a mix of male and female coworkers tend to be more productive but less happy than those who work in more homogenous environments, according to a recently published study coauthored by an MIT economist.

The findings contradict previous research showing that happier employees are more efficient.

Having a broad range of viewpoints and experience provides more tools to complete a task, leading to a healthier bottom line, noted coauthor Sara Ellison, a senior economics lecturer at MIT, and this diversity trumps happiness when it comes to heightened performance. Interestingly, employees who thought that their firm cared about gender diversity were more satisfied than employees who were actually in an office with a mix of men and women.

“They liked the idea of diversity more than they liked actual diversity,” Ellison said. “We all think that we want to be in this pluralistic society in a diverse setting. But when push comes to shove, when our coworkers don’t think like we do, that can cause some friction.”

Divide and rule.