It’s not an easy question, as the third year of our intense Global Diversity Research reveals. We surveyed more than 200 corporate officers in 46 countries in eight regions. We found wide discrepancies in attitudes toward inclusion of women; ethnic, racial and religious minorities; people with disabilities; and people from lower-income or -class groups. The greatest differences are in inclusion of LGBT people, which varies from U.S. and European corporate cultures where LGBT resource groups are increasingly common to Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries where being out means being ostracized, imprisoned or even killed.

Our in-depth interviews with more than 20 corporations on their best practices revealed that a few multinationals, all of which have led the way in diversity and inclusion in the United States, have jumped out front in their efforts to create inclusive cultures. IBM is at the forefront of working to change attitudes and laws in countries that discriminate against LGBT people. Other companies, such as Ernst & Young, Sodexo and Deloitte, are determined to create safe spaces within their corporate walls in all locations.

The universal denominator in assessing global-diversity efforts is obviously gender, and the inclusionary efforts are as disparate as the forms of government in each country. We found that in many European countries and in Australia, the issues surround the proverbial “glass ceiling” and efforts to train women (and men) in culturally competent leadership styles. In Asian countries, the biggest concern is in helping women and their families balance traditional domestic responsibilities with the need to work and succeed outside of the home.

Our research increasingly shows that certain D&I initiatives—global and local diversity councils, resource groups, flexible workplaces and talent-development plans aimed at women and underrepresented groups—are having a demonstrable impact on the percentages of women in the workforce, management and senior management. This occurs in every region and in almost every country we studied.

We’re about to embark on our next round of global research in which we’ll expand the database and go even deeper to learn what’s having an impact and what next steps are needed. And our consultants are working with corporations to successfully implement their global-diversity initiatives. For more information, go to “Global Diversity Research Executive Summary: 203 Data Submissions in 46 Countries.”

Engaging workers globally is a distinct challenge, with issues that have similarities to the U.S. but also vary widely on a local basis. What’s universal is that solid best practices yield inclusive cultures—and more involved and effective employees.

–Barbara Frankel, Executive Editor and Senior Vice President, DiversityInc

The post What Does Engagement Mean Globally? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Disparities in Income

I think the trend of competitive people clustering will accelerate as global economics continue to evolve. Despite more than one-third of the world living on less than $2 a day, the average wage for every earner on the planet, according to the BBC article “Where are you on the global pay scale?,” is $18,000 per year in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars, which expresses what it would cost in the U.S. to get equivalent goods and services in your own country. The growth of the global middle class is accelerating for the same reason that the sorting inside our country is accelerating: technological advances in communication and transfer of money.

What’s the problem? The average wage in the United States is $42,980 (compared to $18,000 for the global average, which includes the United States). As economies grow, more people will be able to find work globally and there will be wealth generated, but not enough in the United States to keep up with the global growth rate. That means our average wage will likely continue to shrink as the developing world rises.

Why Top Performers Seek Diverse & Inclusive Workplaces

This tells me that the sorting trend is going to accelerate. The most talented people from around the world will sort themselves out. Many will come to the United States (if our government can get out of their way), since our economy is the largest on the planet. And the folks already here, your potential human capital, will aggressively sort themselves out, with the best and brightest proactively seeking “positive ecologies.”

Which folks are going to be attracted to YOUR company? Which business partners?

If you are a diversity practitioner and are concerned about “diversity fatigue,” here’s what I suggest you do: Connect the dots between reputation and talent development, philanthropy and supplier diversity. Reach out to your government-relations and marketing people, so they have a coherent understanding of your diversity reputation and how it applies to their roles. I still see many corporate diversity efforts (most not-for-profit and ALL federal-sector efforts) relegated to window dressing. Seen your budget shrink? That’s evidence of a sorting process, and you need to focus on getting that reversed. It starts with connecting the dots between your efforts and strategic trends.

Luke Visconti’s Ask the White Guy column is a top draw on DiversityInc.com. Visconti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, is a nationally recognized leader in diversity management. In his popular column, readers who ask Visconti tough questions about race/culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age can expect smart, direct and disarmingly frank answers.

The post Ask the White Guy: Why Do People Get Tired of Diversity? appeared first on DiversityInc.

To evaluate the impact of global diversity efforts, we have investigated best practices that correlate to results, measured in increased human-capital diversity and business opportunity. Through 203 data submissions and extensive interviews with 25 companies, we have learned that diversity-and-inclusion initiatives have been mostly focused around gender, while efforts to include ethnic and religious minorities, people with disabilities and LGBT people are just beginning to surface.

We studied all global regions and found the most successful diversity-and-inclusion efforts in Europe, Asia and Central/South America. Virtually all start with initiatives aimed at women that emphasize local cultural values. We found direct correlations between companies that have initiatives for recruitment and talent-development programs for women and increased representation of women in the workplace, management and the senior-executive ranks. We also note correlations between D&I initiatives such as resource groups and mentoring, and increased female representation in management ranks.

Support from corporate and local leadership is especially critical when addressing other dimensions of diversity. Companies in every region with global diversity councils have made far more significant inroads in LGBT inclusion. And companies with regional diversity councils led by local business leaders are far more likely to implement supplier-diversity initiatives.

In this report, we will document which best practices are working through analytical data and case studies demonstrating results. All of the companies we have analyzed tell us these efforts are just beginning and they expect to see rapid advancement in their global diversity efforts and enhanced competition for talent.

I. Methodology: DiversityInc’s Global Diversity Research

This report relies on two years’ worth of data submissions, totaling 203 entries from 46 countries. The submissions represent nine industries—professional services, technology, consumer-packaged goods, pharmaceutical, chemical, manufacturing, auto, hospitality and medical devices. The questionnaire was designed to be culturally competent, capturing and codifying demographics (gender, age and locally underrepresented groups where reportable) as well as best practices (talent and leadership development, resource groups, diversity councils, supplier diversity).

Our thirteen 2012 sponsors helped us determine what best practices to examine locally and globally to implement initiatives with sustainable results. Our interviews, with an emphasis on talent development, leadership pipeline and resource groups for underrepresented groups, gave us perspective on what has worked for different companies in different countries/regions, and how they overcame challenges. The sponsors are: Accenture, BASF, Cigna, Dell, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Ernst & Young, General Motors, Merck & Co., Medtronic, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sodexo and Wells Fargo.

Companies filled out the survey for each country they chose; most also provided information for headquarters. The survey continues to stay open. We add companies, countries and regions to our database with each new submission. The survey has approximately 100 questions and is divided into the following seven sections:

• General Information: Ascertains how long the diversity-and-inclusion initiative has existed, and how it is organized and staffed (full-time, part-time and volunteer).
• Headquarters: Assesses global diversity councils and global support and control of local diversity-and-inclusion initiatives.
  
• Leadership and Values: Examines what diversity and/or inclusion means locally, what the three biggest challenges/barriers facing successful D&I efforts in each country are, what type of internal diversity council has been established, the support of local business leaders, how D&I is integrated into the local business goals, what metrics are used to assess D&I success locally (i.e., what is the business case?), and how employee engagement is measured.
  
• Human Capital: Measures workforce, management and senior-management representation by gender, looks at the age of the workforce in each country, and probes whether the local organization has specific recruitment and leadership-development efforts for women and other underrepresented groups.
  
• Best Practices for Global Diversity: Looks at local efforts to implement global diversity strategies and initiatives that include resource groups, mentoring, training, outreach to LGBT people (where legally permissible), outreach to people with disabilities, work/life benefits (especially flexible workplaces), and website communications about D&I.
  
• Supplier Diversity: Studies whether local supplier diversity exists and, if so, what groups are targeted and what best practices are in place to support growth and impact.

 II.  Major Global Diversity Findings 

Our findings show significant correlations between established best practices and human-capital results, primarily measured in recruitment and promotions of women. The data and interviews support specific and proven approaches to recruitment, leadership development, flexible workplaces, formal mentoring, resource groups, generational issues and global executive diversity councils. Full findings are available to global sponsors and global consulting clients. (See more information on DiversityInc Global Consulting.)

Examples:

• Companies with formal recruitment policies aimed at women reported dramatic increases in female representation in the workforce. For example, in India, companies with formal recruitment policies had one-third more women in the workforce.

• We note a significant increase in management opportunities and promotions for women in companies that have locally based leadership-development programs aimed specifically at women. In contrast, leadership programs targeted at underrepresented groups are scarce globally. For example, in Brazil, companies with leadership programs for women had almost four times as many women in management as companies without these programs; in Japan, the difference was sixfold.

• Almost all companies surveyed felt that flexibility in terms of hours and location is key to increasing retention, engagement and promotions of women and younger people in general. The degree of flexibility often depends on the local cultural role of women and how strong their home/family duties are. For example, in France, companies with flexible workplaces have almost double the percentage of women senior executives and a third more women in management. They also have double the amount of women in the workforce.

• While formal mentoring and sponsorship programs are just beginning to catch on in most of the world, their impact in areas where they have been in place is dramatic. For example, companies in Australia with formal mentoring had one-third more women executives than companies without.

• Global resource groups traditionally are aimed at women and focus almost exclusively on talent development, but we are beginning to see groups based on age, sexual orientation and, in a few cases, race/ethnicity. There are definite correlations between having groups and increased diversity in the workplace. For example, in the United Kingdom, companies with resource groups had 10 percent more women in management.

• Our research shows a vast difference in the age of workers in various countries, with many Asian countries having very young workforces and some European countries having older workforces. The issues facing them are very different and, therefore, require a variety of solutions. For example, more than half of the workforce of the countries in Asia are younger than 34.

• Global executive diversity councils are increasingly used to set D&I strategies for the organization, which then are filtered to local diversity councils for implementation. They show organizational consistency in values and subsequent messaging, which produces results in the global workplace. For example, in Europe, companies with global executive diversity councils are twice as likely to offer domestic-partner benefits in countries where they are legal and three times more likely to include sexual orientation in training. And companies with global executive diversity councils are also three times more likely to have regional councils to implement strategies. Supplier diversity is a good example of that: Companies with regional councils in Europe are twice as likely to have formal supplier-diversity outreach. (There is virtually no supplier diversity in Asia yet.)

Case Studies:

Global Diversity Best Practice: Developing Female Talent in Australia: Can flexible workplace models and leadership programs provide measurable improvements in gender diversity? Read these case studies from Deloitte and Ernst & Young.

Global Diversity Best Practice: Flexible Workplaces in India: Global companies must combat a “leaky pipeline” of women talent, but these best practices from Sodexo, Merck, Dell and Deloitte can improve retention.

2 European Case Studies: People With Disabilities & Ethnic Minorities: How are Sodexo and Merck recruiting people from underrepresented groups in Europe?

Best Practice: IBM’s Global LGBT Support: How is IBM’s global commitment to the LGBT market reshaping its business advantage? It builds credibility and trust with clients—and increases revenue prospects.

III. Conclusions About Global Diversity

The direct link between diversity-management best practices and sustainable human-capital results is clear from this research as well as from the interviews with executives around the globe.

To highlight the key correlations:

• Companies with recruitment programs for women recruited 20 percent more women in Europe and Central/South America.
• Companies with leadership programs for women had 44 percent more women executives in Asia.
• Companies with flexible work arrangements had 34 percent more women executives in all areas studied.
• Companies with formal mentoring programs had 12 percent more women in Central/South America.
• Companies with global diversity councils were twice as likely to have global LGBT efforts in all regions.
• Companies with regional diversity councils led by local country executives were four times more likely to have supplier-diversity programs in Europe and Asia.

The best practices the companies have detailed for us, and which still are evolving, increase representation, engagement, productivity and marketplace connections. However, the research shows they work most effectively when specifically tailored to local cultural norms and when there is support from both global headquarters and local leadership.

There are demographic differences between regions, which we note in this research, such as the much younger workforce in Asia and older workforce in Europe. There are also varying standards on women’s roles in and out of the home, inclusion of LGBT people, the need for proactive efforts to include people with disabilities, and the importance of supplier diversity.

Global diversity is evolving at different paces in various regions and countries, but all participating companies agree to its increasing importance in having an engaged workforce that relates to the local population.

WHAT’S NEXT? 

Our consulting practice can help build your global diversity initiative and successfully implement it on a local level. This service includes: Making the business case to local leadership; in-depth assessment of organization/current initiatives; roadmaps and specific plans of action; situational analysis; written and verbal debriefs.

Our next round of global research will start in the spring of 2013, and will focus on increasing our knowledge database, especially in emerging-market countries where there is significant business-growth potential. Sponsors will be able to shape the best practices we study and will receive data analysis of their submissions compared to the competitive set.

For more information on consulting and research sponsorship, visit DiversityInc Global Consulting or contact consulting@diversityinc.com.

The post Global Diversity Research Executive Summary: 203 Data Submissions in 46 Countries appeared first on DiversityInc.

We honoring companies in six areas we have noted in the past three years—Community Development, Talent Pipeline, Working Families, Global Cultural Competence, Resource Groups and Diversity-Management Progress—plus one new area: Supplier Diversity. View previous DiversityInc Special Award winners.

These companies demonstrate through their data and their documented achievements measurable results that positively impact both their business goals and their employee/community populations.

Additionally, Dr. Cornel West spoke at the Special Awards dinner. Dr. West is the author of Race Matters and Democracy Matters and is a professor of Philosophy and Christian Practice at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Global Cultural Competence

Ernst & Young
No. 6 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepting Award: Steve Howe Jr., Area Managing Partner – Americas

As a truly global company, Ernst & Young understands how crucial the understanding and respect of local cultures is, while staying true to the values of inclusion so core to this company. Cultural-competence and harassment/discrimination training are emphasized throughout the organization, as is talent identification and development for underrepresented groups, particularly women globally.

James Turley, chairman and CEO, told DiversityInc last year that it’s best to tailor a company’s initiatives by geography so diversity strategies remain central to local customs and beliefs. Once established, diversity leaders can then look to incrementally push the boundaries.

Ernst & Young has global resource groups for professional women, LGBT employees and Black professionals in several countries. The groups have executive sponsors and meet during the workday.

Ernst & Young is a founding member of WEConnect International, a corporate-led nonprofit that helps to empower women business owners to succeed in global markets. The firm is working with WEConnect on development of a national certification process for women-owned businesses in India, while its employees in Canada and the United Kingdom are actively involved with WEConnect.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Community Development

Wells Fargo
No. 33 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list 
Accepted Award: Michelle Lee, Executive Vice President, Northeast Regional President

“Wells Fargo is only as strong as the communities we serve,” the financial-services company states. The company’s commitment to the Black, Latino, Asian, American Indian and LGBT communities is remarkable for the depth of its efforts to reach suppliers, youth and low-income people. Sixty-five percent of the executives in the top two levels of the company sit on the board of a multicultural nonprofit. Some examples of its philanthropy:

• In 2008, Wells Fargo achieved its goal to lend $1 billion to Black-owned small businesses and extended the goal to $2 billion by 2018.
• In 2010, Wells Fargo provided $61.1 million in grants to nonprofits focused on community development in distressed communities, including affordable housing, homeownership counseling, financial education, workforce development and job creation.
• The company has an online financial-literacy program in English and Spanish and teams with local Latino organizations to host free, bilingual programs on money management.
• Wells Fargo is a founding sponsor of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund. Since 2004, the bank has given $500,000 for scholarships for college-bound students from underrepresented Asian and Pacific Islander communities interested in pursuing careers in banking and financial services.
• In 2010, Wells Fargo invested $219 million in 19,000 nonprofits nationwide.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Working Families

Eli Lilly and Company
No. 29 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: John Lechleiter, Chairman, President & CEO

This company has become a model of workplace flexibility for its employees. As Lechleiter stated: “Lilly recognizes the critical importance of work-life integration tools to address the diverse needs, expectations, lifestyles and work styles of employees allowing them to be the most effective.” Globally, Lilly offers a number of programs, varying by location, to assist employees in maintaining work/life flexibility. These include flexible work arrangements, personal leaves, onsite health services/fitness centers, onsite childcare, campus credit unions and dry cleaners, and family-support programs.

Flexibility is a productivity tool that allows for adaptation of how, when and where work is completed. Supervisors discuss with their employees the needs of the individual and the work group, as well as the types of flexible work arrangements that are appropriate for a particular position. For employees, flexible work schedules are about lower stress levels, better health, a stronger focus on work while working and greater trust—all leading to loyalty, inspiration and innovation. For Lilly, flexibility is about being able to recruit and retain the best talent in a competitive marketplace, preparing for the changing environment and reducing the cost structure related to absenteeism, and healthcare—all leading to improved levels of engagement, which drives productivity.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Diversity-Management Progress

Kellogg Company
No. 49 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: John Bryant, President & CEO

Kellogg’s progress in all four areas we measure in diversity management has been considerable in the past year and shows every indication of sustainable forward motion. This progress put Kellogg on the DiversityInc Top 50 list this year, in the highly competitive consumer-packaged-goods industry.

The effort starts at the top. President and CEO John Bryant chairs the Executive Diversity & Inclusion Council and has instituted the first linking of diversity-management goals, both quantitative and qualitative, to executive compensation. The council reviews on a quarterly basis the company’s hiring, promotion and turnover activity reports and addresses trends with recommendations and actions.

Bryant and four of his direct reports serve as the executive sponsors of Kellogg’s six resource groups. The company’s resource groups are available to all U.S. employees and are utilized for recruitment, mentoring, talent development, retention, diversity training, marketing and community outreach.

The company’s supplier-diversity program, in existence for more than two decades, has experienced an almost six-fold increase in spending in the last 10 years and now supports more than 200 vendors owned by Blacks, Latinos, Asians, American Indians, women and veterans with disabilities. The company recently added businesses owned by LGBT people to its supplier database and will begin tracking them this year.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Talent Pipeline

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation
No. 13 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Andre Wyss, President 

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation understands the need for a diverse workforce and pipeline to senior management, both for cultural competency in its product development and marketing and for the most innovative workplace solutions. The company has been actively donating and volunteering to help youth from underrepresented groups reach their full potential, including direct involvement from its most senior leaders. A few examples:

• Each fall, areas of the business and members of the Diversity & Inclusion Councils and resource groups participate in its Disability Mentoring Day. In 2011, more than 100 employees volunteered to participate in the event focused on disability awareness and career opportunities for more than 50 high-school students and 10 college students/veterans who attended. The keynote address was by Rohan Murphy, a double amputee who became a Division 1 wrestler at Penn State University.
• In April 2011, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation brought nearly 150 students from 32 junior and senior New Jersey high schools to its East Hanover campus for its Annual Multicultural Teen Corporate Mentoring Program. Structured activities included a welcome from André Wyss; panel discussions with eight senior leaders; and a mock product-marketing challenge.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Supplier Diversity

Marriott International
No. 21 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Arne Sorenson, President & CEO

Marriott has a long and rich history of creating community wealth by using local minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MBEs and WBEs) to build and service its hotels, especially in urban areas.

Marriott’s Tier I (direct contractor) third-party certified spend is 7.8 percent with MBEs and 9.5 percent with WBEs, more than 25 percent higher than the DiversityInc Top 50 average for MBEs and more than double the DiversityInc Top 50 average for WBEs. Marriott also spends 1 percent of its Tier I procurement with vendors owned by LGBT people, one of the highest percentages we’ve seen.

Supplier diversity is included in RFPs (requests for proposals), procurement-management compensation is tied to supplier-diversity results, and Marriott provides mentoring, financial education and financial assistance in the form of more favorable payment terms to its suppliers from underrepresented groups.

As an example, Marriott partnered with a U.S.-based woman-owned business to help grow her capacity and distribution channels to provide the design, production and fulfillment of training materials for its managed hotels around the world. Marriott also helped her share her expertise with other women-owned businesses.

Marriott has been honored by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, the Women Presidents Educational Organization and the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for its supplier-diversity efforts.

2012 DiversityInc Top Company for Resource Groups

Dell
No. 26 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list
Accepted Award: Steven Price, Senior Vice President, Human Resources

In the past two years, Dell has placed a major emphasis on increasing employee participation in its resource groups, creating and expanding global groups, and using these groups to further its business.

Dell has seven global resource groups. Three have chapters outside of the United States: WISE (Women in Search of Excellence) in the Asian Pacific Japan region and Europe, the Middle East and Africa; PRIDE (for the LGBT population) in Brazil, and True Ability (Employees or Family Members of Employees with Special Needs/Disabilities) in Brazil.

The groups are available to all U.S. employees. Each group provides a charter of its strategy and mission annually, with a strong value proposition for its members, communities and Dell’s business goals. Programs include a Cross ERG Leadership Series and brown-bag sessions to help members learn software and social-media applications.

Business-relevant uses include:

• GenNext generational group providing feedback into product development and packaging. GenNext offered expertise on the launch of internal social-media vehicles.
• Adelante Latino group developed a process in which Spanish-speaking individuals deliver product briefings to prospective Latin American customers.
• The Asians in Motion group translated materials into languages for customers across Asia.
• The True Ability ERG has been engaged in product development for customers with disabilities.

Top Company for Executive Development
Kraft Foods
No. 7 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50
Accepted Award: Mark Clouse, President of the U.S. Snacks Business Unit

Talent development and the use of diversity training, resource groups and mentoring to maximize potential have been priorities for Kraft Foods in recent years—and the results are impressive.

Kraft’s Vice President of Diversity Jim Norman and retired executive Wayne Canty presented the company’s JumpStart program at our winter Innovation Fest! The initiative helps new managers, especially those from underrepresented groups, understand the corporate culture and the subtle signals of bias that can derail a career. For the video and presentation of this innovation, go to www.DiversityInc.com/innovationfest.

As the company undergoes a split this year into two separate entities, the resource groups and talent-development initiatives will be even more critical to its ability to connect with its increasingly multicultural consumer base.

Essential to that connection are its 10 resource groups, which are available to all U.S. employees, including hourly workers. The groups are used for recruitment, engagement, talent development, leadership training, marketplace research/connections, and diversity training. Resource-group members serve as facilitators for Kraft’s “The Power of Differences” internal training.

The groups’ success is measured through increased referral/rate of hires of people from traditionally underrepresented groups, retention of talent from those demographics, and increased promotion rates.

Almost three-quarters of its managers are involved in its formal mentoring program, which includes group mentoring, mentoring for new hires and traditional one-on-one mentoring. Seventy percent of the mentoring pairs are cross-cultural.

–Barbara Frankel

The post Diversity Management: 2012 DiversityInc Special Awards appeared first on DiversityInc.

Egea explained during a DiversityInc event how Prudential’s 2011 acquisitions of AIG Star and AIG Edison insurance companies forced Prudential to adopt a global-diversity mindset as “more than 50 percent of employees now speak Japanese.”

He credited the company’s emphasis on cultural competence with its success in forming common goals/connections with its new Japanese businesses and developing internal messaging that stays true to the core corporate culture and company values on an international scale. (Prudential Financial is No. 9 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.)

The audience of corporate diversity leaders and executives was able to ask Egea questions on global diversity, contribute their best practices for cultural competence and diversity-awareness training and share their real-life success stories.

Executives from Deloitte, Monsanto, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, WellPoint and Kaiser Permanente discussed how a culturally competent workplace can help talent development—and productivity—flourish.

Global Diversity: Best Practices for Cultural Competence

• Build understanding and respect for cultural competence
• Ensure senior leaders are culturally competent
• Leverage resource groups to on-board international hires
• Have a consistent way to assess talent development
• Identify implicit biases, both internally and externally
• Use training and education to increase diversity awareness/sensitivity

Click to read the full Are You Culturally Savvy Enough to Profit in a Global Market? article, available to subscribers at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

Not a subscriber? Request subscriber information and pricing for DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

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Chief Diversity Officer Rohini Anand of Sodexo (No. 2 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50) led the discussion at a recent DiversityInc event and explored the challenges companies face in improving female representation at the executive levels. The audience of corporate and diversity leaders was able to ask questions, contribute their best practices for talent development and share firsthand their real-life success stories.

Companies participating included: PricewaterhouseCoopers (No. 1), Procter & Gamble (No. 5), American Express (No. 14), The Coca-Cola Company (No. 46), and BASF and Wyndham Worldwide (both are on DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies list). 

In What’s the Biggest Global Diversity Challenge? Female Talent Development, we share their best talent-development strategies and case-study examples that can help improve your pipeline of female talent globally. 

Talent-Development Best Practices for Women:

1. Provide a peer support system for women to help keep your top performers in the workforce
2. Promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace with respect for local laws
3. Gain cultural competence and understanding for local barriers to gender equality
4. Provide opportunities for global assignments to challenge and engage employees
5. Understand special issues facing women with strong family demands and devise culturally competent solutions
6. Adopt flexible workplace practices and educate managers about the value of flexibility
7. Use alumni/networking connections to encourage loyalty from female talent
8. Get senior-level managers on board with gender-intelligence training
9. Assign diversity champions in select countries to promote diversity-and-inclusion initiatives and help reduce gender bias

Read What’s the Biggest Global Diversity Challenge? Female Talent Development on DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

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Synopsis:

At our spring event, DiversityInc convened a panel of executives from global companies who grapple with these issues and have devised successful business solutions for global talent development.

Participants:

Nancy Calderon, Americas Region Chief Administrative Officer and U.S. National Partner in Charge of Operations, KPMG, No. 22 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity

Linda Clement-Holmes, Chief Diversity Officer and Senior Vice President of Global Business Services, Procter & Gamble, No. 5 in the DiversityInc Top 50

Pat Rossman, Chief Diversity Officer, BASF, one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies

Sarah King, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Wyndham Vacation Ownership (Wyndham Worldwide is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies)

Here are their best practices for global talent development:

1. Align global talent development with corporate business goals: Senior management should regularly review top talent globally as well as the diversity of slates for openings.
2. Stay true to global values, especially on human rights, while respecting local cultures: Offering a wide range of diversity-training programs that address global cultural competence at a local level is important, especially regarding LGBT and women’s issues.
3. Convince talented managers about the benefits of global assignments: Companies need to identify employees during the “sweet spot” of their career: early enough that life circumstances (i.e., family, homeownership, etc.) more easily allow for travel, yet late enough that the role is meaningful. 

Other best practices revealed in this article include providing global cultural-competence training and education for employees and their families before doling out assignments; helping ex-pats re-adjust at home; and leveraging multicultural and multinational resource groups. 

Click here to read this 1,396-word report, featuring case-study examples from these four global companies and additional video clips.

The full article is available to DiversityIncBestPractices.com subscribers. Not a subscriber? Click here to request subscriber information and pricing.

For more on global diversity, read Ask DiversityInc: Who Has Global LGBT Groups?

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In Why You Need Global Resource Groups, four companies’ diversity leaders reveal the measurable results they’ve seen and why this diversity-management initiative now is crucial to achieving sustainable growth.  

 The panel, moderated by DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti, was featured at our spring 2012 event: Eugene Kelly, worldwide director, Global Diversity and Inclusion, Colgate-Palmolive (No. 10 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50); Jennifer Christie, chief diversity officer and vice president, Executive Recruitment, American Express (No. 14); Sarah Siegel, human resources, social learning developer, Center for Advanced Learning, IBM (No. 17); and Lisa Mink, executive director, Global Diversity and Inclusion, Dell (No. 26). 

Two of the companies featured, American Express and Dell, were last year’s and this year’s recipients of DiversityInc’s special award as the Top Company for Resource Groups. IBM, which last year received DiversityInc’s special award as the Top Company for Global Cultural Competence, is the leading company globally in pioneering LGBT resource groups. 

Read Why You Need Global Resource Groups on DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

The panelists analyzed how global resource groups provide several benefits: 

• Corporate Values But Local Control: The groups provide insight into local culture for improved inclusion at regional offices and improved adherence to local values—for example, respecting laws that oppose “out” behaviors by LGBT people, as Siegel recounts in the full article. 

• Getting Global Groups to Communicate and Share Ideas, Challenges: Global resource groups allow employees the ability to discuss priorities and implementation electronically and plan regular virtual meetings for optimal communication. 

• Work With Other Companies in Region to Share Ideas: The ability to form intercompany networks and gain insights from benchmarking against external factors provides a business advantage.

Additionally, the panelists noted that their companies have leveraged global resource groups to expose local resource-group leaders to senior management; define goals for the groups; encourage employee participation; and increase innovation. These items are further detailed in the full article, accessible by logging into your DiversityIncBestPractices.com account. 

Kelly cites Colgate-Palmolive’s Global Innovation Fund, presented at our February Innovation Fest!, to allow the company to compete effectively in a global market. He gives an example of a recent meeting with the head of the Asian resource group, who was reporting out to a global division president who wanted to know how a product was impacting the Asian dentists in the United States. “They’re going to come back with insights, but they’re also going to have recommended solutions,” he says. 

Read Why You Need Global Resource Groups on DiversityIncBestPractices.com. 

For more on global diversity, read our research: Why Is Global Diversity So Difficult?

The post Are Global Resource Groups Worth Your Investment? appeared first on DiversityInc.

This game-changing strategy allowed 20 companies to move up in rank on The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, which was announcd at the DiversityInc Top 50 awards dinner on April 24. Additionally, three companies moved onto the list from DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies list and two companies made the list for the first time.

More than 300 chief diversity officers and senior-level managers—representing 110 companies from 24 industries—attended the 10 sessions over two days.

Winning the War for Talent: Best Practices in Mentoring, Recruitment and Promoting Women

These four learning sessions featured seven speakers including three CEOs who spoke directly to current trends in diversity management. The sessions highlighted the need for accountability in leadership and firm CEO commitment to drive diversity in talent development and recruitment throughout an organization.

Watch the full videos of each session, which include:

A keynote address by Mark Wagar, president and CEO of Empire BlueCross BlueShield, on the importance of diversity leadership at the senior level >> Watch the video

Beth Mooney, chairman and CEO of KeyCorp, discussing mentoring/sponsorship and how women can dispel stereotypes to rise to the highest levels of male-dominated organizations >> Watch the video

A presentation about how to find and nurture global talent by Maritza Montiel, deputy CEO and vice chairman of Deloitte >> Watch the video

An interactive panel on the best strategies for developing female talent, featuring Jodi Davidson, Sodexo; Jim Norman, Kraft Foods; Rhonda Crichlow, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; and Karyn Twaronite, Ernst & Young >> Watch the video

Building Cultural Competence for Global Diversity and Inclusion

Day two of the event offered three learning sessions and two interactive panels, featuring one CEO and 14 senior executive speakers. The sessions focused on trends in global diversity and how to maximize talent on a global scale with innovations in diversity management.

Watch the full videos of each session, which include:

A Q&A with Tom Voss, president, CEO and chairman of Ameren, and DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti about visibility and accountability >>Watch the video

Attorney Raymond Brown’s discussion about the intersection of corporate outreach in societies that have different views on human rights >>Watch the video

An interactive panel on best practices for establishing and maintaining successful global resource groups with Lisa Mink, Dell; Sarah Siegel, IBM; Eugene Kelly, Colgate-Palmolive; and Jennifer Christie, American Express >> Watch the video

A presentation by Rutgers’ Vice President for Enrollment Management Courtney McAnuff on how to achieve quality, quantity and diversity in recruiting >> Watch the video

An interactive panel on global assignments and how to maximize those experiences for high-potential employees, featuring Linda Clement-Holmes, Procter & Gamble; Patricia Rossman, BASF; Sarah King, Wyndham Vacation Ownership; and Nancy Calderon, KPMG >> Watch the video

The second installment of DiversityInc’s in-depth global research from 17 countries, presented by DiversityInc Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Barbara Frankel, on the meaning of “inclusion” and how different industries compete for global talent >> Watch the video

Visit www.DiversityInc.com/events for more information and to register for our upcoming events and learning sessions.

The post Diversity-Management Best Practices of the DiversityInc Top 50 appeared first on DiversityInc.

The key, said Jim Turley, chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young, at a DiversityInc event, is to have multiple approaches. (Ernst & Young is No. 6 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity.) He said it’s best to tailor your company’s initiatives by geography so diversity strategies remain central to local customs and beliefs. Once established, diversity leaders can then look to incrementally push the boundaries.

“The mental picture I have is of somebody pushing a round, heavy stone up a hill, and you have to lean into it and put your shoulder into it, and the real art is—and we all can picture this—if you lean too far, you will fall flat on your face and the stone rolls over you and you’re back at the bottom,” said Turley.

During his presentation, “The Growing Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility,” Turley spoke with DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti. He recounted the story of a recent trip he took to Saudi Arabia, where contact between men and women is rigidly controlled.

“We have a number of women in our professional staff,” he said. “They have to be in a separate office, separate everything. But they were sitting in the same town-hall meeting, which, technically, was probably a violation of the law in Saudi, but again, you push.”

In this 33-minute video, Turley discusses more about Ernst & Young’s global diversity strategies and shares best practices that can help companies achieve a more equitable workforce despite cultural barriers. Click here to watch.

For more on global diversity, read DiversityInc’s exclusive Global Research report with comprehensive data, demographics and best practices from 17 countries.

The post E&Y CEO: One Global Diversity Strategy Isn’t Enough appeared first on DiversityInc.