Adding the Beef for Diversity Initiatives
Robert Cenek
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Derek Avery, a Rutgers University professor who specializes in workforce diversity and equal employment opportunity, and Patrick McCoy of the University of Wisconsin recently co-authored a splendid article entitled Warning! Diversity Recruitment Could Backfire.
Both authors urge companies to look past numerical recruiting targets (the exclusive focus of many diversity efforts) and to place greater emphasis on building supportive work climates that foster the retention of minorities.
According to the authors:
“Many companies have adopted diversity recruitment initiatives to garner the interest of minority job applicants. The implicit message in these initiatives is that firms maintain supportive diversity climates. Minority job applicants that are subsequently hired may believe that the recruitment tactics used to entice them were misleading if actual workplace diversity climates are unfavorable.”
They suggest that the failure to have a supportive work environment in place is the primary reason why minority turnover is 40% to 50% higher than white turnover (Shurn-Hannah, 2000).
Clearly, many organizations need to approach their diversity initiatives more systematically and systemically, and include more than training, executive exhortations via policy statements, community outreach programs, window dressings, and hyper-dissemination of Plexiglas trinkets that are subtlety intended to convince others that the program is fait accompli.
Diversity initiatives have a better chance of going the distance to the extent that they are:
1. Linked to an organizationally healthy work culture that’s empowering and creates the conditions for engagement for ALL employees;
2. Based on a very broad definition of diversity that accents inclusiveness – e.g., values, background, types of experience in addition to the various protected class categories (i.e., race, sex, national origin, age);and
3. Coupled with a sophisticated talent management process that expands minority representation in management and executive-level positions in a significant (and not token way). The fundamental power base within an organization must be diverse in order for the organization to embrace inclusiveness and tolerance of all perspectives.
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Enlightened Leader: Making Diversity Work
Amy J. George, VP of Global Diversity, PepsiCo, Inc.:
"It is easier to recruit diverse talent than to create a culture where people want to stay. The key is to create an environment where everyone feels valued and engaged. To do so, you must first identify and communicate inclusive behaviors. From there, managers must take accountability for modeling these behaviors and rewarding the people on their teams who demonstrate them. Without top-to-bottom support, there is a limit to the level of success and organization can achieve through diversity initiatives."
*Source: Diversity magazine, March 2006