The Level Playing Field Institute, a San Fransisco-based think-tank, estimated $64 billion as the “hidden cost” of work discrimination in a new research study. The company notes that even though the costs of and reasons for leaving a job are subjective, the figure was calculated by “multiplying the average annual compensation of a US manager by the number of ‘corporate leavers’.”

Non-white people were three times as likely to report leaving their work due to unfair workplace treatment than heterosexual white men. As David Blood, a former Goldman Sachs executive, puts it:

“If companies have high turn-over or are unable to attract top talent, they will not perform in the long run . . . Not dealing with these issues is flawed finance and flawed business strategy.”

Commentary: As the article states, this trend isolates competent workers that could otherwise help a US company against ‘low-cost’ rivals in other parts of the world. The discrimination doesn’t just affect the individual worker, but the entire company as well.