Globally Sodexo is one of the largest companies in the world operating in 80 countries and employing nearly 420,000 employees. While the decentralized nature of our business model allows Sodexo to operate with agility and speed, it poses a challenge with regard to employee engagement.  As a service company, employee involvement and enthusiasm are essential components to delivering the optimal products and services Sodexo is known for.

Research has shown that companies who disregard diversity as a component of their business strategy have a higher percentage of disengaged workers. Organizations that effectively capitalize on the strengths of all employees and leverage their differences and unique values have the most engaged employees. In addition, employees with the highest level of engagement perform 20 percent better and are 87 percent less likely to leave the organization, according to a survey by TowersPerrin. A study by the Hay Group found engaged employees were as much as 43% more productive.

Over a decade ago Sodexo embarked on a journey to drive employee engagement through a sustained and comprehensive commitment to diversity and inclusion. Employee Business Resource Groups, Mentoring, Training & Development, Flexible Work Arrangements and Recognition all became instrumental in fostering a culture of inclusion and engagement. Sodexo held itself accountable for progress through various measures and metrics. The result has been systemic culture change that has differentiated Sodexo for our clients, customers and employees.

Measuring the impact diversity and inclusion has on engagement is key. Sodexo conducts an enterprise-wide Employee Engagement Survey as well as special surveys targeted at Employee Business Resource Group members and mentoring participants.  The results of these surveys clearly demonstrate improved engagement as a result of participation in diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Sodexo’s Employee Engagement Survey has reflected increases in the engagement of women and people of color since the survey was first conducted in 2006.  In fact, 2012 results show that diversity is one of the top two key engagement drivers for employees.

Despite several years of economic challenges, Sodexo’s total management population reached an engagement high of 69 percent, which represents an increase at a time when most companies experienced a decline in overall employee engagement.   According to Aon Hewitt, this is considered Best Employer Range.  In addition, 83 percent of employees believe “At Sodexo, employees who are diverse are valued for the differences they bring to the workplace.”  That is up 16 percentage points since 2006.

Engagement for women and people of color also experienced increases that are at or above Aon Hewitt’s Best Employer Range.  Qualitative research findings revealed that both groups feel good about being able to bring “all of themselves” to work.  One of the most interesting findings was with regard to white male managers who said that they were proud to be a part of a company that is committed to diversity and inclusion.

Employee Business Resource Group members were also recently surveyed about their level of engagement and 65% said that Resource Groups enhanced their engagement and connection to the business.  Results from this survey are incorporated into Employee Business Resource Group’s strategic plans. Participants indicated Networking, Engagement and Opportunities as the three top reasons for increased engagement.  Participants also noted their performance improved and they were more likely to stay with Sodexo due to their involvement with a Resource Group.

Sodexo has experienced firsthand the link between employee engagement and business results.  When employees feel valued and empowered to focus on their strengths and honor their differences, diversity becomes one of the organization’s strongest competitive advantages.

The post How Diversity and Inclusion Drive Employee Engagement appeared first on DiversityInc.

Ernst & Young
Get on Board: Driving Action Through Gender Parity
NEW YORK CITY—Ernst & Young hosted “Get on Board: Driving Action Through Gender Parity,” a Forté Foundation event about woman representation in corporate boardrooms at which Forté released its list of Global Board-Ready Women. Nancy Altobello, Ernst & Young’s Americas Vice Chair, People, opened the program by discussing key data from a new E&Y report on the number of women on U.S. boards, and Karyn Twaronite, E&Y Partner and Chief Inclusiveness Officer, participated in a panel discussion. In attendance was DiversityInc Vice President, Consulting Debby Scheinholtz. Ernst & Young is No. 6 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Forest City
Real Estate Associate Program (REAP)
BEACHWOOD, Ohio—DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti spoke at a session of the Real Estate Associate Program (REAP)—a 13-week series of courses that exposes professionals from underrepresented groups to the commercial real-estate business—at the headquarters of DDR. The session, titled “Career Workshop,” was facilitated by Andrew Passen, Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Forest City; Mark Floyd, Executive Vice President of Employment at DDR; and Daniel Gold, Vice President of Human Resources at Associated Estates. Forest City and DDR sponsored the program, which had only been held in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C.

TD Bank
Women in Leadership
MT. LAUREL, N.J.—TD Bank celebrated three years of its Women in Leadership program with a presentation on TD Bank’s diversity initiatives from President and CEO Bharat Masrani, a panel with a number of the company’s most senior women leaders, and a keynote address from Betsy Myers, Founding Director of the Center for Women & Business at Bentley University and former official in the Clinton Administration. The event was attended by DiversityInc General Counsel and Senior Vice President, Transformation Services Lora Fong; Director of Benchmarking Shane Nelson; and Web Editor Stacy Straczynski. TD Bank is one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies.

National Organization on Disability
NOD’s 30th Anniversary Celebration
NEW YORK CITY—The National Organization on Disability’s 30th anniversary celebration was held at the offices of McGraw-Hill. Kessler Foundation President and CEO Rodger DeRose spoke about the disability employment field and NOD’s place within it. NOD Chairman Tom Ridge and NOD President Carol Glazer presented awards to founder Alan Reich and founding board members. NOD also screened its 30th anniversary video, featuring board member and actor Robert David Hall (CSI), and highlighted its two signature programs: Bridges to Business and Wounded Warrior Career Demonstration. Members of NOD’s CEO Council, including from DiversityInc Top 50 companies Aetna (No. 24) and MetLife (No. 50), were recognized. DiversityInc Foundation Director Stuart Arnold attended the event.

The post Diversity Events: HACU’s Annual Conference, Ernst & Young on Woman Directors [Slideshow] 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.

Michele C. Meyer-Shipp
Michele C. Meyer-Shipp has been named vice president and chief diversity officer of Prudential Financial, succeeding Emilio Egea, who retired. In her new role, Meyer-Shipp is responsible for leading and directing all diversity-and-inclusion initiatives for the company, and for ensuring ongoing compliance with federal and state equal employment opportunity/affirmative action laws and requirements. Prudential is No. 9 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity.

Meyer-Shipp joined Prudential in April 2010 as vice president and counsel in the Employment and Labor Law group. She has also been general counsel for the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, vice president and diversity manager in Merrill Lynch’s Global Wealth Management division, and director of the state of New Jersey’s Division of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Prior to that, she was a practicing attorney.

Meyer-Shipp is an active member of the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Minority Corporate Counsel Association, Corporate Counsel Women of Color and the National Employment Law Council. She earned a bachelor’s degree at Rutgers School of Criminal Justice and her juris doctor at Seton Hall University School of Law.

R. Fenimore Fisher
R. Fenimore Fisher has been named a deputy commissioner and the chief diversity and EEO officer for the City of New York. He is responsible for the leadership of the Office of Citywide Diversity and Equal Employment Opportunity, and will design and implement strategies to position the city as a world-class leader in diversity and inclusion. Prior to his appointment, Fisher was managing partner of the R. Fenimore Fisher Group, a global D&I and alternative dispute-resolution firm. Fisher previously served as vice president of diversity initiatives and analysis for Walmart and as executive director of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition’s Wall Street Project.

A member of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Fisher serves on the national leadership council for GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) as well as the corporate advisory council for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Fisher holds a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University, a Juris Doctor from Ohio Northern University and a labor-mediation certification from Cornell University.

Jennifer “Jae” Pi’ilani Requiro
Jennifer “Jae” Pi’ilani Requiro has been named national manager of diversity and inclusion at Toyota Financial Services. Her responsibilities include diversity-and-inclusion education and executive scorecards, mentoring and Toyota Business Partnering Groups. She also develops strategies to increase market share, capture more multicultural customers and increase partnerships with diverse suppliers. Requiro has a bachelor’s degree from UCLA.

Barbara Frankel
Barbara Frankel, senior vice president and executive editor of DiversityInc, has been named to the newly established global advisory board for WEConnect International, a corporate-led nonprofit that facilitates sustainable economic growth by empowering and connecting women business owners globally. Others named to the 22-person board include Kathleen Matthews, executive vice president and chief global communications and public affairs officer, Marriott International; Julie Oyegun, chief diversity officer, the World Bank Group; and Catherine Rodgers, vice president, Global Opportunties and Business Development, IBM.

Margaret E. Burke
Margaret E. Burke has been admitted into PricewaterhouseCoopers’ partnership. In her ongoing role as U.S. Advisory human-capital leader, Burke oversees the strategic development, direction and implementation of the Advisory practice’s recruitment, development, talent management, rewards and retention programs. Burke holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College. PricewaterhouseCoopers is No. 1 in the DiversityInc Top 50.

Tracy Nolan and Pushpendu Pal
CVS Caremark has appointed Tracy Nolan and Pushpendu Pal to new positions, Nolan to vice president of strategic product delivery and Pal to senior vice president of the information technology division within the company’s prescription benefit management (PBM) business. Nolan, who comes to CVS from WellPoint, is responsible for operationally expanding flagship product offerings and for newly developed products and programs. Pal’s promotion is a reflection of his work in leading the division in delivering stable and robust internal-application services and deploying information technology.

Terrez Thompson
The Coca-Cola Company has promoted Terrez Thompson to vice president of global supplier diversity. She will lead and promote the company’s efforts to maximize procurement opportunities with diverse businesses as suppliers, contractors and subcontractors. Thompson has held a variety of roles in more than 25 years at The Coca-Cola Company, including controller of The Coca-Cola Trading Company. The Coca-Cola Company is No. 46 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.

Kevin Jennings
The Arcus Foundation, a leading global foundation advancing pressing social-justice and conservation issues, has named Kevin Jennings as executive director. Jennings was previously CEO of Be the Change Inc., where  he was instrumental in launching the Opportunity Nation campaign to promote economic opportunity and social mobility in America. Jennings has also served as assistant deputy secretary of education under President Obama and founded the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN). Jennings has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and master’s degrees from Columbia University Teacher’s College and New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Jesus Soto Jr.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has appointed Jesus Soto Jr. to further solidify the leadership team charged with building the nation’s safest natural-gas delivery system. He will serve as senior vice president of gas transmission, operations, engineering and pipeline integrity. Soto is responsible for overseeing four major functions: public safety and integrity management; project engineering, design and management; gas transmission; and gas system operations.

Richelle Parham
Richelle Parham, chief marketing officer of eBay North America, has been elected to the board of directors of Scripps Networks Interactive. At eBay, Parham directs the company’s core marketing functions. She is also responsible for brand engagement, driving eBay’s seasonal marketing calendar and leading its customer-insights and marketing-analytics functions.

Richard Mark
Richard Mark has been promoted to chairman, president and CEO of Ameren Illinois. Mark’s responsibilities include the company’s natural-gas and electric delivery business, customer service, natural-gas and electric supply, community relations and government relations. Prior to joining Ameren in 2002, he spent five years as COO and six years as president and CEO at St. Mary’s Hospital in East St. Louis, Ill.

Daisy Auger-Dominguez
Daisy Auger-Dominguez joined the Disney/ABC Television Group as vice president of organization and workforce diversity. Auger-Dominguez focuses on helping the company attract, develop and retain diverse talent in support of business objectives, and is responsible for continuing to develop the company’s diversity-and-inclusion strategy, goals and plans. She previously served as a diversity executive at Time Warner and Moody’s Corporation. She has a bachelor’s degree from Bucknell University and a master’s degree from New York University.

Ramona G. Blake
Ramona G. Blake has been appointed director of diversity and inclusion at TIAA-CREF Financial Services. She is responsible for diversity-strategy design and implementation, special initiatives and training in the following areas: marketplace, supplier, workforce and workplace. Previously, Blake was manager of diversity and inclusion at PSEG. She has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a Certified Diversity Professional certificate from Cornell’s ILR School.

Dermot J. O’Brien
Dermot J. O’Brien has been named chief human resources officer and corporate vice president at Automatic Data Processing. In his new role, O’Brien works with ADP’s senior leadership team to develop workforce plans and programs that align with ADP’s overall strategic objectives. His responsibilities include forecasting ADP’s global talent needs; implementing initiatives that effectively attract, develop, deploy and retain a diverse talent population; overseeing succession planning and management development; and improving ADP’s already strong levels of employee engagement. Prior to joining ADP, O’Brien was executive vice president of human resources at TIAA-CREF. A Dublin, Ireland, native, O’Brien has a bachelor’s degree from Pace University. ADP is No. 27 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50.

Dr. Antonio Flores
Dr. Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities (HACU), invited DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti to become a member of the organization’s 17-member Corporate & Philanthropic Council. The council’s goal is to provide guidance and assistance to Dr. Flores and the association’s development division and public-affairs office to ensure its mission, programs and events receive support and that its strategic plans are realized. Other council members include: Raymond Arroyo, Aetna; Alma Guajardo-Crossley, General Motors; Jim Fjelstul, Sodexo; Jerry Gattegno, Deloitte; and Angel Herrera, ARAMARK.

Anthony Salcido and Mónica Gil
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund inducted six new members into its Alumni Hall of Fame on Oct. 17 in New York City. The 2012 inductees are: Dr. Yolanda García Romero, professor of history, North Lake College; Mónica Gil, senior vice president, public affairs and government relations, Nielsen Company;  José P. Chan, MIT Sloan Fellow in Innovation and Global Leadership and adjunct professor, Parsons the New School for Design; Cyrus Amado Salazar, equal opportunity manager, U.S. Air Force; and Gilbert and Jacki Cisneros, president and vice president, The Gilbert & Jacki Cisneros Foundation. Additionally, Melanie L. Healey, group president, North America of HSF partner company Procter & Gamble, accepted an honorary recognition on behalf of P&G for contributing more than $4 million to HSF since 1986.

The post Prudential’s New CDO, Plus Toyota Promotes Diversity Leader [Slideshow] appeared first on DiversityInc.

Generating buy-in from white men is a challenge in some companies, especially for middle management. Even the DiversityInc Top 50 companies are split on strategies, with some choosing to directly focus on white men as a demographic group while others insist they are included in all workplace-diversity efforts.

In Do White Men Really Need Diversity Outreach? DiversityInc’s Barbara Frankel, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor, addresses this issue head-on in a 3,124-word analysis. Frankel interviewed 20 companies to learn how they handle including white men in their workplace-diversity efforts.

Companies include: Sodexo (No. 2 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity), PricewaterhouseCoopers (No. 1), The Coca-Cola Company (No. 46), Merck & Co. (16), CSX (No. 23), Aetna (No. 24), Health Care Service Corporation (No. 19), AXA Equitable (one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies), Harley-Davidson, Ameren, Comerica, Choice Hotels, Staples and the Army & Air Force Exchange.

Readers will also receive need-to-know answers to key questions in workplace diversity including:

• Can white men be diversity leaders in the workplace?
• What aggressive workplace-diversity efforts are companies, such as Coca-Cola and PricewaterhouseCoopers, making?
• Why do you need to keep senior management accountable for diversity efforts in the workplace?
• How can you make a business case for workplace diversity to middle managers?
• How will creating an action plan help make workplace diversity meaningful?
• Should white men have resource groups?

Read Do White Men Really Need Diversity Outreach? at DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

Watch the video below to hear DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti discuss the business case for workplace diversity and why it is important for ALL groups to be included in diversity efforts.

Read DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti’s Ask the White Guy column, Can a White Man Speak With Authority on Diversity?, for more on this subject.

The post Workplace Diversity: Do White Men Really Need Diversity Outreach? appeared first on DiversityInc.

The six CEOs and eight senior executives at our event demonstrated how their personal passion and commitment to diversity have become a critical factor in making strategic business decisions. In many cases, this helped gain traction within senior leadership and generated measurable results in workforce diversity, while sometimes improving market share.

The two-day event featured two panels with six chief diversity officers—one focused on best practices for executive diversity councils and the other on using compensation to drive diversity-management results. Additionally, DiversityInc Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Barbara Frankel presented exclusive advice on what companies need to do to improve their DiversityInc Top 50 rank.

Watch all the presentations from this event via the players below or view our YouTube playlist. Videos of all the speakers will be posted throughout the day.

Also, be sure to save the date for our upcoming 2013 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity Announcement Dinner, April 23–24, 2013.

How New York City Drives Diversity Results
R. Fenimore Fisher, Deputy Commissioner, Chief Diversity & EEO Officer, City of New York
How does the City of New York drive diversity metrics and results? Find out from a world-class diversity expert.

Diversity in the Workplace: Leadership Counts
Jorge Benitez, Managing Director – North America, Chief Executive – United States, Accenture
This CEO really values work/life issues. He tells us how he includes spouses and encourages family priorities.

Panel: Best Practices on Executive Diversity Councils
Debbie Storey, AT&T; Rhonda Crichlow, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Michelle Lee, Wells Fargo 
Three companies with the best practices—and results—on diversity councils talk about CEOs chairing the councils, setting goals and accountability.

Building a Strong Diversity Brand
John Bryant, President and CEO, Kellogg
The CEO of Kellogg tells us why his company has invested so much over the last two years in its diversity-management efforts.

Workplace Diversity: The Personal Connection in Leadership
Forest T. Harper, CEO, INROADS 
The son of migrant workers, who went on to be a top Pfizer executive, talks about how INROADS helps Black and Latino college students become corporate leaders. Click here to download the presentation slides.

Corporate Diversity at the Top: Q&A With Luke Visconti
Steve Howe, Area Managing Partner – Americas, Ernst & Young
The U.S. head of Ernst & Young discusses how corporate values drive business decisions at his firm

Diversity & Inclusion: Accountability & Your Business Future
Thomas F. Zenty III, CEO, University Hospitals
The CEO of this Cleveland hospital system tells us how outreach to Blacks and Latinos is driving hospital growth.

Workplace Diversity: Using Leadership to Save Lives & Talent by Creating Inclusive Workplaces
Dr. Eliza Byard, Executive Director, GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)
The head of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) tells you about young lives saved through the help of corporations like yours.

Panel on Diversity Metrics: Using Compensation to Drive Results
Maruiel Perkins-Chavis, Marriott International; Joy Fitzgerald, Rockwell Collins; Chad Johnson, Sodexo
Three companies with the most effective diversity metrics tell you what’s on their diversity scorecards and how they link goals to compensation.

Corporate Diversity: A Personal Story of Why Corporate Values Matter
Michelle Lee, Executive Vice President and Northeast Regional President, Wells Fargo
This exec shares her remarkable story of how and why she became a banker and the challenges she faced as the only young, Black woman in her management-training program.

DiversityInc Benchmarking: Tips on How to Move Up on the DiversityInc Top 50 List
Barbara Frankel, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor, DiversityInc
See our tips on the best ways to answer questions on The 2013 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey. Click here to download the presentation slides.

The post 8 CEOs Prove the Intersection of Diversity, Engagement & Innovation appeared first on DiversityInc.

Sodexo’s global diversity leader Dr. Rohini Anand analyzed at our diversity event the increasingly critical issue of whether diversity execs should report in to HR.

Sodexo, No. 2 in the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50, is one of eight leading companies that presented at our “Managing Relationships Between HR & Diversity Departments” diversity event held in New York City.  Watch the video below. The full presentation slides are available on DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

The post Should Your Diversity Department Report to HR? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Diversity leaders and HR experts from eight leading companies shared their proven strategies at our “Managing Relationships Between HR & Diversity Departments” diversity event held in New York City, revealing take-away best practices for maximizing organizational-behavior implementation and the successful navigation of corporate cultures.

Companies included: Sodexo, Toyota Motor North America, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, General Motors, KPMG, Accenture, Ernst & Young, and MasterCard.

Watch videos of the presentations in the player below. (For closed captions, press the CC button in the YouTube player.)

Click on the links below to view the presentations’ PowerPoint slides, available on DiversityIncBestPractices.com.

Managing Relationships Between HR & Diversity Departments

Should Diversity Report to HR?
Dr. Rohini Anand, Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer, Sodexo

Working Collaboratively With HR
Recruitment & Talent Development: Dana Green, National Manager, Corporate Diversity & Inclusion, Toyota Motor North America

What HR Really Needs to Succeed
Rhonda Crichlow, Vice President and Head, U.S. Diversity & Inclusion, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation

Navigating Large Organizations
Cindy Brinkley, Vice President, Global Human Resources, General Motors

Can Diversity & HR Leave Room for Organizational Development?
Dr. Walter McCollum, Senior Director, Organizational Development, Sodexo

HR, Diversity & Mentoring
Dana Foote, Partner, Member of Diversity Advisory Board, Co-Chair, Abilities in Motion Network, KPMG

HR, Diversity & Resource Groups
Pedro Suriel, Senior Executive, Accenture

HR & Communications
Karyn Twaronite, Partner, Americas Inclusiveness Officer, Ernst & Young

HR & Legal—Setting Goals
Donna Johnson, Chief Diversity Officer, MasterCard Worldwide

Panel on How to Build Synergy Between Diversity Departments & HR
Dr. Rohini Anand, Sodexo; Dana Foote, KPMG; and Pedro Suriel, Accenture

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Despite entreaties from GOP leaders, including presumptive vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan, Akin is continuing his run for the Missouri Senate seat. And all this focus on what he said, his alleged sources of information and the backfighting in the party are proving a negative distraction for the Republican national convention in Tampa next week.

The greater organizational issues one can take away from this are both of a preventative and a reactive nature. From a preventative perspective, how can an organization create a culture of inclusion and respect so people do not feel they can make blatant—and erroneous—statements that are harmful to others? And once a statement is made or action taken, what are the legal and ethical ways to respond? How do you prevent negative stereotypes from seriously impacting productivity?

Without proactive efforts to create an inclusive culture, organizations run the risk of permitting inaccurate stereotypes to flourish, which hampers engagement and productivity. Dr. Claude Steele spoke about this to a DiversityInc audience, highlighting stereotype threat and how it impedes talent development for people from underrepresented groups. [Scroll down to watch the video.]

What’s Legal?

DiversityInc legal columnist Bob Gregg, who specializes in discrimination law, says our laws encourage the ability to have different viewpoints. “We recognize that if we have people from so many races and religions, all these differences create frictions. We address our differences with laws as opposed to guns and bullets … Our policies have to be flexible enough to allow difference but not to allow discrimination.”

Many of these statements are voiced as “religious beliefs.” In the private sector, the Title VII Civil Rights Act of 1964 guarantees that employees cannot be discriminated against because of religious beliefs. Employees can believe whatever they choose but cannot take actions that violate a company’s policy. However, the company must be very clear in its communications on the policy.

AT&T, No. 4 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list, ran up against this issue in 2004. The company had adopted a diversity policy requiring its employees to “value the differences” in all employees. A Christian employee, who said he believed that being gay is a sin, requested clarification on the policy and did not receive it. He then refused to sign the policy and was fired. He sued for religious discrimination and won because, according to Gregg, “AT&T failed to accommodate his religious beliefs by failing to provide an explanation and ordering him to sign the policy.”

But in another 2004 religious-discrimination lawsuit against Cox Communications, No. 25 in the DiversityInc Top 50, the outcome was quite different, says Gregg. A supervisor was fired for violating the anti-harassment policy (which had been clearly explained) when he told a lesbian employee during an evaluation that being a lesbian was a sin and that he would pray about her sexual orientation. The court found that the behavior violated a reasonable company policy, and the firing was upheld.

“Our policies should not prohibit beliefs; they should focus on behaviors. If it’s not a matter of public concern, a religious belief or something protected by the whistleblower law, a company can say that if a person doesn’t go along with company values, they can work elsewhere,” Gregg says, adding that it also depends on the person’s job. A vice president of HR, for example, would have more at stake for making a comment perceived as biased than a file clerk. It also matters whether the comment was made on company or personal time, he says.

Can You Prevent These Incidents? 

From these cases, it’s obvious that an organization must communicate its values clearly—and that those values must emanate from the top.

DiversityInc Top 50 companies all have consistent diversity and inclusion policies and statements from the CEO on their websites supporting them. In almost all of these companies, the mission statement also includes a diversity component.

Organizationally, it’s important to engage employees “whose thoughts around their personal values may differ from corporate values,” says Dr. Walter McCollum, senior director of Organizational Development at Sodexo, No. 2 in the DiversityInc Top 50. Dr. McCollum, who will be the luncheon speaker at DiversityInc’s Sept. 13 event on “Managing Relationships Between HR & Diversity Departments,” says it’s critical to recognize the interplay between departments, sub-units and identity groups.

“By paying attention to the impact of actions on different populations, we make sure we account for key aspects of the system, and, therefore, create comprehensive and lasting change. Attending to diversity increases the likelihood that a change process will benefit the system as a whole along with its many parts,” he says.

An essential way to do that is through the use of resource groups, which are a major source of cultural education in an organization and a conduit between mid- and low-level employees and senior executives. All of the DiversityInc Top 50 companies use their resource groups for these purposes, and they make sure the groups are inclusive—so anyone can join, even if they are not of the direct “affinity” of the group. That increases the ability to reach those who have different views, as does mandatory diversity training for the workforce, which 66 percent of the DiversityInc Top 50 has.

Corporations don’t have power over freedom of thought or speech. But companies with clear communications and diversity-management initiatives in place are better equipped for the legal and organizational challenges of dealing with those whose views collide with corporate values.

–Barbara Frankel

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Question on diversity management: We’re looking to post employee polling questions on our diversity and inclusion website. Do you have tested questions that might be probing and relevant to our company?

Answer: Diversity-management questions on employee surveys are a key way to gain critical feedback on the impact of your company’s diversity initiatives. All of the DiversityInc Top 50 companies include questions specific to diversity in their employee surveys. These questions also serve to increase knowledge of engagement and awareness.

The DiversityInc Top 50 companies also use these questions to drive specific diversity-management results, such as increasing participation in mentoring and resource-group programs.

Take Sodexo, No. 2 in The 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. The company uses employee-engagement surveys to measure the effectiveness of its IMPACT cross-cultural mentoring program. Participants are polled twice throughout the one-year program—at the midway mark and at the end. Questions are designed around engagement, job satisfaction, performance and retention.

Results showed that the top three intangible benefits of the IMPACT mentoring program for mentees and mentors were increased communications, job satisfaction and organizational commitment. More than three-quarters of each group attested that the program increased their desire to stay with the company. Sodexo also uses results from the surveys to constantly refine its mentoring programs. For more about Sodexo’s mentoring program and results from its employee-engagement surveys,  read Mentoring Roundtable: How Mentoring Improves Retention, Engagement & Promotions. Also watch our mentoring web seminar.

For one DiversityInc Top 50 company, diversity surveys increase awareness of and participation in its resource groups. This company surveyed employees in its resource groups and those not in its resource groups. On a year-to-year basis, employee engagement increased considerably more for those in resource groups.

Start by creating specific questions to gauge the effectiveness of your diversity-management programs, such as mentoring, resource groups and diversity training. Asking questions around the importance of those programs to one’s career development is critical. For mentoring, you want to focus on the relationship between mentor and mentee and if the programs are easily accessible. Finally, look to gain perspective from employees on whether the mentoring or resource-group programs are effective in recruiting, advancing and retaining talent at the company.

Ask DiversityInc is a forum for companies to pose diversity-management questions to our expert team of benchmarking analysts. Our analysts base their responses on 12 years of data collected for The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity survey. If you have a question, please email us at askDiversityInc@DiversityInc.com. 

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