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Opinion: Client Support is Crucial to the Success of any Diversity Program
For the past two decades, efforts to increase minority recruits and multi-cultural awareness at the workplace seems to be gaining traction. At a top Fortune 1000 company, where regulatory commissioners in charge of monitoring minority hires had already delivered five warnings, the newly installed diversity officer took great pride in her ability to show serious improvements by directly involving the firm’s 700+ workforce. Recently placed among the list of top business women to watch for, she runs her one-person operation with the tenacity of a large department. To her credit she has single-handedly founded various career growth-oriented events for young minority prospects.
One of these events, the company’s Annual International Fair, caught my attention. At this event all company employees were invited to share their personal heritage with their colleagues. According to her, the response was overwhelming. Not only were the Hispanic, African American and Asian cultures present, but other cultures as well such as the Irish, Slavic and British. To her surprise, many employees had lost touch with their heritage and were intrigued to learn of each other’s backgrounds. As though on cue, they gravitated with genuine interest to their next of kin. The event was so successful that this year’s Annual International Fair will require more space and the help of interns.
Despite the extraordinary success of this one Fortune 1000 company, some questions remain unanswered. Such as, “Just how much of a competitive advantage can a ‘change in attitude’ towards heritage commonality offer a corporation?” Or, “Why was the diversity department of this Fortune 1000 company run by only one individual?” “If management sees value from having a diverse workforce, why then are they so reluctant to make a serious financial commitment; for example, a full-fledged Diversity department with supporting staff members and a meaningful budget.
Perhaps, an explanation can be found outside the workplace. In the case of this Fortune 1000 company, some of their minority staff members admitted that despite their efforts to contribute their diverse talents, the ultimate mandate came from their corporate clients. Many of their corporate clients lacked multi-cultural appreciation and would unwittingly set unrealistic expectations for projects involving minority-based markets. They were unaware that today, these complex and diverse markets require more patience and larger budgets than may be deemed acceptable.
Without their corporate client’s direct support any company’s efforts to invest in diversity-awareness initiatives will always remain compromised. On occasion a company might hire a superstar employee who may make a few inroads, but as long as their corporate client’s refuse to financially recognize diversity solutions, the true value of having diversity in the workplace will never reach its full potential. To connect the wires, management must seek ways to enlighten and educate their corporate clients as well as their vendors of the potential value of fostering diverse talent in the workplace.
Tom Kadala is the president of ResearchPAYS, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm dedicated to the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets.
Email: tom@researchpays.net
Company Profile: ResearchPays Inc
Blog: Tom Kadala on the Hispanic Consumer
Company URL:
http://www.researchpays.net
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