By Priscilla Kohl, HRTools Staff Writer
Diversity:
- The condition of being diverse (different)
- The inclusion of diverse people
(as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization
How is diversity planning connected to baby-boomer retirement?
In 1963, Bob Dylan, a baby-boomer generation folk rock icon, wrote the song, “The Times They Are a Changin.’ ” Now, Bob Dylan and the first wave of baby boomers (people born from 1946 to 1964) are eligible for Social Security early retirement benefits.
According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics study, “As aging baby-boomers begin retiring, the effects on the overall economy and on certain occupations and industries will be substantial, creating a need for younger workers to fill the vacated jobs, many of which require relatively high levels of skill which directly affects all business.” As a result of this major demographic shift --- baby boomers retiring in droves --- the nation’s workforce will lose an immense amount of skill and knowledge.
What does this potential mass exodus mean to a small business owner? With boomers making up one-third of the nation’s workforce, they fill many of the technical, skilled and knowledge-based jobs. Therefore, workforce planners are concerned about the gap between baby boomers and Generation X, the group following the boomers.
Think diversity
Understandably, a small business owner is primarily focused on generating revenue and making payroll. So, recruiting, hiring and developing a culture mindful of diversity may seem like tasks worthy of procrastination. Will Rogers said it best, “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
First of all, how is diversity defined? According to Moira Butler, a manager of equal employment opportunity compliance with Insperity, a Houston-based professional employer organization, “Workplace diversity is a process of developing a workplace environment that works for all employees and allows for all employees to contribute to their maximum ability.”
Continuing, Butler said:
Workplace diversity is not limited to differences of race or gender but extends to differences in: generations or age, education, job functions, geographic locations, tenure, personal background, religion and many other differences. A common example for our client companies is the difference in values for Baby Boomers and Generation X employees. Generally speaking, Baby Boomers value loyalty and long term relationships with their employers while “Gen Xers” may not value this as much. Both groups work hard and contribute much to the organization but what is important to them in their role in the workplace is very different.
Why think diversity?
Demographic studies predict workforce shortages---with 56 million baby busters (those born between 1965 and 1976) available to replace approximately 78 million baby boomers. Therefore, to be competitive, most labor-planning experts recommend that employers recruit for a diverse workforce – one that spans gender, generations, races and faiths --- and forming an inclusive culture.
As Insperity’s Butler pointed out, other workplace diversity experts explain the difference between affirmative action and diversity programs. In a Workforce Management article, Anita Rowe and Lee Gardenswartz, partners in a Los Angeles diversity consulting firm, said, “Diversity is much broader and deeper than that. For us, an inclusive definition makes everyone feel this is for them.”
Simply put, there are two distinct reasons for any business to be concerned about workplace diversity:
- helping employees to work well with each other; and
- keeping a competitive edge.
Take for example, Target Corporation. In 2002, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed suit against Target Corp., alleging that the nationwide retailer discriminated against African Americans by not hiring them for entry-level management jobs. Ending nearly six year’s of litigation, Target agreed to pay a total of $510,000 to four African-Americans who were denied jobs as assistant store managers in 2000 and 2001.
Not only did this discrimination lawsuit result in enormous legal expenses, including major settlement costs for Target, this kind of publicity tarnishes a reputation. Negative publicity of this magnitude and scope can also affect future sales and revenues. Minorities have both significant customer and investment power, and they can take their business elsewhere. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, collectively, African Americans, Hispanics and other minority groups make up 30 percent of the overall population.
As Butler states, “Businesses today must compete in a global market, and they lose out when different perspectives are missing. The workforce has become very diverse in the past 20 years. Managers have to get the best and the brightest of this diverse workforce to work together in the most effective business environment possible.”
Relatively cost-free and adds a competitive advantage
Regardless of company size, developing a diverse and respectful workforce culture costs relatively little. It also makes good business sense. Ironically, when a business discriminates on the basis of a human label, it makes it easier for competitors to draw from a broader and greater talent pool of prospective employees.
Today, diversity is a business imperative. For example, studies show that companies with a diverse employee and supplier base are more successful in gaining access to multicultural markets.
As USA Today reported after a June 2007 United Nations diversity conference, “Companies ramp up diversity like never before. One big theme that arose during the lively panels: how U.S.-style diversity, historically focused on compliance with federal hiring mandates, is evolving into a broader global version of a multilingual, cross-cultural workforce linked to strategic business goals.”
In addition to the low-cost advantages of a diversity-committed workplace, there are attractive fringe benefits. According to Butler, “An environment that recognizes and values differences is an environment that can be flexible to customer needs. A diverse workforce also adds perspectives that would otherwise be missing in decision-making processes.”
Recruiting advantages, too
Diversity in the workplace turns out to be more than just a goal of the equal-employment-opportunity forces, says the online recruitment service Monster.
Job seekers seem to value it, too. Monster surveyed 1,859 such people by age, gender and ethnicity, seeking "commonalities." Almost half of white respondents said the level of diversity in the ranks of a prospective employer is "very important" to them.
Preparing for diversity
Workplace diversity experts recommend that business leaders prepare in the following ways:
- Remember that diversity exists within the same culture.
- Avoid making assumptions based on characteristics such as appearance, name or group.
- Pay attention to how people identify themselves.
- When writing and speaking, evaluate if some adjectives or references should be left out.
- Articulate a vision
- Communicate the business case
- Broaden your network
- Top management should model the talk
- Stay in touch with employee concerns (focus groups, workshops, employee bulletin boards)
Diversity training
In addition to preparing, it is important that business owners train, recognize and reward managers and supervisors for creating and running successful, diverse teams. According to Mark Williams, author of The 10 Lenses: Your Guide to Living and Working in a Multicultural World, a business leader should look to influence in three critical ways:
- Train managers to recognize and develop strengths in employees across diverse populations.
- Expect managers to create human resources systems that address needs of diverse employee populations.
- Emphasize the organization’s ability to communicate with and respond to, members of diverse populations – including employees, customers and communities.
The federal government is also lending a hand. According to the EEOC 2007 Performance and Accountability Report, the Commission is reaching out to small businesses to help with their employment efforts:
Small Business Outreach: The Commission is working cooperatively and collaboratively with the small business community to proactively prevent employment discrimination and promote voluntary compliance. We recognize that many small businesses do not have separate human resources and legal staff to guide them through the regulatory process. Therefore, it is important to establish open lines of communication and provide the necessary training and tools to ensure that small employers comply with the law. EEOC district offices conducted 634 no-cost outreach events directed toward small businesses in FY 2007, including several events under the President’s New Freedom Initiative (NFI). An additional 4,367 small business representatives attended EEOC Training Institute events. The topics of mediation, EEOC overview, sexual harassment, charge processing, Title VII, and the ADA were the most popular for small business audiences.
Diversity misconceptions
When asked about common misconceptions relating to workplace diversity, Butler described the following:
A common misperception is that diversity is for white males to learn about their employees; when, in fact, it is for everyone to learn about everyone in their workplace.
- Another common misperception is that diversity is about race and gender and other legally-protected groups. Typically, it is about more complicated issues.
- Another misperception is that diversity is a series of events such as multicultural food at a monthly lunch or recognizing Women’s History month or Martin Luther King Day celebrations. Diversity programs are about the employees and recognizing their diverse contributions to the organization.
In guiding small businesses to effectively prepare for a workplace diversity program, Butler explains that, “A workplace diversity program should ensure that all managers have the skills to recognize employee differences and to break down any barriers that limit full participation and collaboration for all employees.”