Diversity and inclusion research shows that understanding local cultures is key to creating inclusive workforces globally. But how can companies actually do it? Global diversity is an increasingly complex issue: Organizations must sustain their corporate values, often U.S.-based for multinationals, while respecting local cultural nuances. DiversityInc addressed this issue at our event in Washington, D.C.

DiversityInc Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Barbara Frankel presented initial findings from the DiversityInc Global Diversity survey of 17 countries, which surveyed more than 100 companies in 17 countries (in Europe, Asia and BRIC countries) on global diversity-management challenges and best practices.

Read the complete 1,008-word article Best Practices to Overcome Global Diversity Challenges, with full-length session videos, on DiversityIncBestPractices.com for more detail on how to implement these best practices at your organization.

Key findings include:

• Efforts to value and measure difference, including gender, are challenges in most countries and are illegal in some European countries. Differences are not valued across the board
• Disability recruitments are increasingly government-mandated in some countries (France, China, Brazil)
• Corporate LGBT efforts are rare globally, except for IBM
• Supplier-diversity efforts are minimal outside of the United States, even for gender

Leaders from five of The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity also provided case studies during the two-day event’s sessions. Attendees heard from Ron Glover, vice president of diversity and workforce policy, human resources, IBM (No. 17 in the DiversityInc Top 50) and a panel of global-management experts: Billie Williamson, partner, Americas inclusiveness officer (retired), Ernst & Young (No. 6); Sharon Wright, vice president, human resources, international division, Prudential (No. 9); Hitomi Fukasawa, human resources and general affairs, Dryden Customer Center, Prudential (Japan); Deborah Dagit, vice president and chief diversity officer, Merck & Co. (No. 16); and Eugene Kelly, worldwide director, global diversity and inclusion, Colgate-Palmolive (No. 10).

They discussed the strategies needed to successfully leverage cultural differences among employees and the markets they serve, and how to increase business from a talent and performance standpoint. Their best practices include:

1. Align diversity goals with core business values
2. Communicate those diversity-infused business goals to local regions
3. Be consistent across all regions and management levels
4. Hold leaders accountable for diversity goals

Read the complete 1,008-word article Best Practices to Overcome Global Diversity Challenges, with full-length session videos, on DiversityIncBestPractices.com for more detail on how to implement these best practices at your organization.

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Prudential exemplifies corporate citizenship reflecting its core values. The company’s efforts to revitalize its home city of Newark, N.J., as well as its philanthropic, employee-volunteer and educational initiatives, are changing lives throughout the country.

Specifically:

• Sixty-eight percent of its donations are allocated to multicultural nonprofits, including Boys and Girls Clubs of Newark, Children Defense Fund, and YouthBuild Newark. This compares with 37 percent for the DiversityInc Top 50.
• Two-thirds (67 percent) of its senior executives (CEO and direct reports and one level down) sit on the boards of multicultural nonprofits. The average for the DiversityInc Top 50 is 23 percent.
• The Prudential Foundation spends more than $25 million annually on public education, workforce development, business development, community revitalization, arts and civic infrastructure, and helping neighborhood organizations rebuild.
• The company has invested more than $1 billion in local redevelopment since 1976. Social Investments, an asset-management group for Prudential and The Prudential Foundation, manages portfolios of private placement debt, equity and tax credits, including low-income housing and new-markets tax credits. Current social investments include Newark, N.J.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; New York City; Hartford, Conn.; Philadelphia; Chicago; Boston; New Orleans; Dallas; Houston; Phoenix; and Jacksonville, Fla.

Award accepted by John Strangfeld, chairman and CEO:

“We at Prudential are very proud of what we do in the area of community service. As corporate citizens, we’ve come to realize that this is not always easy. Therefore what we’ve been doing through our foundation has been to build community capacity, strength for initiatives that help nonprofits function better and enhance their ability to be continually effective in the community. It’s not just about having programs: it’s about enabling these nonprofits in making decisions and to use their resources to achieve levels of success that have not historically been achieved. We are all called to be leaders in different ways, to create a hybrid of sustainability.”

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