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What's New in Corporate Diversity--by Maureen Minehan from Employment Trends

July 15, 2002 - It seems like a long time ago since corporate diversity programs were front and center in the news. As most large companies adopted diversity initiatives and implemented diversity training, media attention waned as the initiatives literally became "old news."

This doesn't mean the initiatives themselves have become old news, however. HRWire talked to a number of diversity experts who say diversity initiatives are alive and well, although they are evolving as they age.

Lower Media Profiles, Not Corporate Profiles
Roger Watkins, CEO of Workplace Diversity LLC, a web-based resource for diversity talent, agrees that corporate diversity initiatives have lower profiles today. "There was a lot of coverage several years ago as companies introduced programs as a result of some very large, visible settlement agreements involving discrimination," he tells HRWire. "Now that these programs are established, they've fallen off the media radar screen."

They have not fallen off the corporate radar screen, however. Fewer than one-fifth of respondents to a diversity-related survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in 2001 said they have either very informal or no diversity programs.

Mark Farrington, HR director for diversity at PwC Consulting, explains that, "diversity programs have not fallen out of favor or out of vogue. But, they are undergoing an evolutionary process."

Moving Toward Integration
Part of the evolutionary process, Farrington says, is the movement away from stand-alone diversity initiatives toward "weaving diversity into the fabric of the business." When this is done, each function within the company takes responsibility for acting in ways that promote and enhance diversity. For example, the communications department would automatically portray diversity in its materials or the accounting function would reach out to a diverse group of vendors when seeking to outsource. "It's becoming part and parcel of how business gets done," he explains.

Farrington predicts that this evolution will make diversity professionals obsolete within five-ten years. "We won't need to diversity professionals due to the way we do business and the demographics."

Jennifer Carpenter, director of workplace programs/operation for the Anti-Defamation League, says that integration is becoming easier as "corporations increasingly create senior level positions that generally report directly to the COO, CEO or another senior leadership team member.

The result is that "diversity goals to examine what actions are necessary to create an equitable and inclusive workplace that meets organizational requirements are fully integrated into mainstream activities that were traditionally managed by Human Resources such as recruitment, coaching, mentoring, 360 feedback, and so on," she tells HRWire.

Surviving the Budget Axe
Many diversity professionals have been worried that recent economic challenges would lead companies to drastically reduce or eliminate funding for their diversity programs. Since diversity budgets often weren't very large to begin with, any cuts could make a dramatic difference in the ability to meet objectives, Watkins says.

A study by J. Howard & Associates, a multicultural consulting unit of Provant, Inc., shows that most corporate diversity programs, while not left untouched, were less affected than other HR-related areas. "Diversity spending dropped by about 15 percent in 2001 compared to more than 30 percent for training overall," company President and CEO Mike Hyter says.

Hyter attributes the difference, in part, to fallout from September 11. "With higher potential for employee tension in times like these, having a diverse workforce that can work together and with customers is indispensable."

Carpenter echoes Hyter's beliefs. "It is important to note that following September 11 and the subsequent rise in EEOC complaints concerning bias against Arab Americans, Muslim Americans, Sikh Americans, South-Asian Americans, and others perceived to be members of these groups, corporations have proactively use their diversity initiatives, strategies and policies to reinforce the value of equity and inclusiveness in their respective workplaces."

Training Takes A Hit
Diversity programs have not been completely unscathed by the recession. Less obvious effects of the slowdown include some changes to diversity training, Hyter says, including:

• Companies seeking to reduce outside training costs by compressing two-day diversity programs into a single day, or by integrating an outside program into their own training.
• Greater emphasis on locally-based diversity trainers and web-based programs, due to a reluctance to travel.
• Greater demand for relationship-building training for employees.

Still, Carpenter says, "diversity training opportunities continue to be an important component of a larger organizational process through which employees are provided with cross-cultural education, skills and competencies, particularly at the leadership level." To improve it, "online and other technology-driven resources that engage participants both cognitively and emotionally are being developed as an effective learning methodology to augment training or the "classroom" experience," she notes.

Employee Attitudes
In the past, one of the biggest challenges to workplace diversity programs was resistance from employees. While employees generally are supportive of diversity efforts, issues still remain.

A second survey by J. Howard & Associates revealed that many employees think corporate diversity programs benefit only blacks. Of 1,134 employees participating in the survey, 47 percent of whites, 50 percent of Asians and Native Americans, and 53 percent of Hispanics said they think "only some groups" have gained from a focus on diversity.

"What we hear consistently in focus groups is that by 'only some groups' most employees mean African-Americans, and it's widely perceived that diversity efforts help just them. In focus groups as well as formal surveys not only whites but members of other minority groups say they're not benefiting from inclusion efforts, and that only blacks are," Hyter says.

Ironically, at the same time, blacks also can also be critical of corporate diversity efforts. "Blacks are much less likely than whites (37 percent to 62 percent) to believe their executive management's goals or actions reflect a real commitment to diversity. And blacks are more likely than whites (57 percent to 40 percent) to think their company's major interest in diversity is to comply with legal requirements and to avoid problems," Hyter explains.

Even some blacks (36 percent) think "only some groups" benefit from a focus on diversity, Hyter says. "But blacks usually mean it's been women who've gotten the most from past inclusion efforts."

Hyter interprets this as a message to corporate America to improve their communication around diversity. "It's disappointing for us to find this resentment toward diversity programs, especially among the very groups they're intended to benefit," Hyter says. "But management should take this as feedback from employees that they need to do a better job communicating what diversity is all about. The objective of inclusion efforts isn't really to single out particular groups, but to leverage all the talent and potential within today's organization."

Not for Export
Finally, while many companies talk about diversity on a global basis, Helen Bloom, a Brussels-based diversity consultant, says many U.S-based companies are running into problems when they try to apply their diversity programs outside U.S. borders. Writing in a recent issue of Across the Board, Bloom says the difficulties arise because "inadvertently, U.S. managers insist that policies designed for their culture be applied to Europeans who have complex cultures and social systems of their own." The result is "frustration on both sides of the Atlantic, and resentment on the part of the Europeans, who see the diversity agendas promulgated by their U.S.-based corporations as yet another instance of blatant, blind American imperialism."

Intellectually, U.S. managers know that European countries are separate entities with distinct cultures, Bloom says, "but they do not show it. U.S. managers should realize that while their companies can have general global and regional frameworks for diversity, in Europe they must design specific policies on a country-by-country basis."

Conclusion
While the attention swirling around corporate diversity programs has died down, they still are achieving success within their organizations. Challenges over the next several years include integrating the concepts of diversity into the "DNA' of companies, improving employee perceptions and applying the diversity framework outside of the United States.