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Diversity Policies: Toothless Tigers?
A new survey of global senior executives finds that a majority of companies have either one or no minorities in their executive ranks, despite the fact that more than half the companies have official "diversity in the workplace" policies. What would Martin Luther King Jr. think?
As many in the nation take time off to celebrate the historic legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr., a new study finds that three-fourths (76 percent) of global senior executives say their companies have one or no minorities among its top five executives, despite the fact that the majority of the companies (54 percent) have an official "diversity in the workplace" policy. The study was conducted by the New York-based Association of Executive Search Consultants, and its president, Peter Felix, says he was surprised by the results "even though I'm conscious of the fact that there's a gap between what people claim about diversity and what is actually happening. ... Clearly, we've got a long way to go." According to U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, minorities make up 17 percent of the workforce, and that number is expected to rise to 20 percent by the year 2016. "While many companies have made inroads to reflect the demographics of their customers through diversity in the workforce, they don't have an effective strategy for extending this commitment to the boardroom or the C-suite," Felix says. And while the current presidential field is showcasing America's diversity, with both a black and a female candidate in the running, there is still a long way to go before racial equality is found in the boardroom. "We have a diverse slate for the presidency. We've got white people voting for black people," he says. "But what's really evident is that we haven't made the progress that we ought to have made by now. ... A lot of organizations in the U.S. are facing this. [Executives] look around the board room and all the faces are white and male. That tells you rather quickly that you're not achieving implementation of a diversity policy." HR executives looking to improve the diversity in their company's executive suites could begin by focusing on skills and abilities, says Las Vegas-based FreshStart Telephone owner Richelle Shaw, the nation's only female public-utility owner. "We do blind resumes without names for the initial review and then put the top candidates on the short list to remove any prejudices," she says. At the same time, Shaw, who is African-American, says HR should also consider applicants who may not be on C-suite track but have the capabilities to be there. "Remember that there are some [applicants] who were not given the chance early and may not have the resume-builder prerequisites," she says. "Your [HR] department currently may not be prejudiced, however it may not have always been that way. Many times, minorities are sent on a different track early instead of to the C-level track." There's a simple reason why diversity has not penetrated deeper into the nation's boardrooms, says Kenneth Arroyo Roldan, partner in the diversity practice at Battalia Winston, a New York-based executive search firm. "The problem is that, despite policy, values and mission statements, diversity for some organizations continues to be a toothless tiger," he says. "Many times, by the time it gets down to the vice presidents who implement policy, the diversity message isn't getting through." Roldan says very few companies tie diversity performance into executive compensation, and even fewer include a punitive bite for failure to meet performance goals. "Let's face it," he says, "executives will put on their hearing aids only when there's a forced slimming of their paychecks." He thinks HR executives and their departments "need to be risk takers and challenge the hiring managers to not always 'hire in their own image' and be open to courting and retaining people of color." It's an issue of comfort, says Janet Reid, principal and founding partner of Global Lead Management, based in Cincinnati. "The biggest obstacle is finding executives with whom the CEO and other C-suite executives feel a high enough level of familiarity, comfort and trust to admit them onto the team," she says. "This is a human-nature issue. We all tend to choose first those that look, speak and think like we do, whatever race or ethnicity we are." In order to change that mode of thought, "it is important to have a diverse slate presented for any key position and to have the candidates interviewed by a diverse panel of reviewers," she says. And like Roldan, she also advocates "diversity performance accountability measures" for C-suite executives. But, "the reality is that if you don't get the commitment [to executive diversity] at the top of the organization, then it won't work," says AESC's Felix. "Management is simply not showing by example what it would like to see happen."
January 21, 2008 Copyright 2008© LRP Publications |
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