I first realized that I had become a grownup when….

• I ordered vanilla ice cream instead of chocolate

• I chose the Ferris Wheel over the roller coaster

• I was no longer too cool to cry during movies

• I realized that I didn’t have to finish a book that wasn’t engaging me — my time was too precious

• I no longer felt the need to one up my sister all the time

• My friends and I threw a dance party (that started at 7 and ended at 10:30) , instead of just going to a bar to boogie

• I said to our son, “because I said so.”

• I walked the dog because I needed the exercise, not her

• I started to read the business section in the daily paper

• I still read the daily paper

• I stopped wearing t-shirts with logos on them (except at the gym)

• I went to buy a sexy outfit and came home with a pair of men’s pajama pants

• I turned down the volume on the car radio when my son was driving

• I began subscribing to the symphony

• I put sunscreen every time I went outside—even on a cloudy day.

• I stopped being embarrassed about my horrendous singing voice and began singing Take me out to the Ballgame at the top of my lungs.

• I had sexual fantasies about the Paul Newman in the Color of Money instead of the Paul Newman in Hud

• I resisted sneaking that extra slice of wedding cake

• I realized I was relating to the girl next door instead of the bad girl in TV movies

Your company has revenue is sliding like a bobsledder down a chute. The C-Suite is putting pressure on you to cut budget. So which programs do you jettison and which survive the axe?

A strong case can be made that this is not the time to cut diversity programs. Diversity is not a luxury; it is imperative for the bottom line. The literature suggests that workforce diversity positively affects a company’s bottom line by increasing the skill base and range of talent among employees. In part, this may be because

companies that recruit from a wider pool of candidates have access to and are able to hire a larger number of exceptional personnel. Effective diversity programs can also reduce certain types of personnel costs. Minority employees at firms with such programs are more likely to be satisfied and stay with the firm, reducing turnover.

Yet another profit-oriented argument is that by developing a diverse workforce that mirrors its consumer market, a firm can increase its customer base and appeal. Thus, corporations can boost market share by having a workforce similar to their target clientele. Furthermore, multicultural employees might be better able to communicate with and understand the needs of minority consumers, thereby increasing the quality of customer service and relations.

Some of this qualitative data has been substantiated by a number of studies that have demonstrated that diversity initiatives boost a corporation’s revenues.

For example, Fortune Magazine and the Society of Human Resource Management  produced a study in 2001, “Impact of Diversity Initiatives on the Bottom Line,” which culled the responses of 121 HR professionals from Fortune 1000 companies and companies on Fortune magazine’s list of “100 Top Companies to Work For.” (http://www.criticalmeasures.net/diversity_training/invest.htm)

This survey found:

·        77 percent say diversity improves recruitment of new employees

·        52 percent say it improves client relationships

·        91 percent of HR executives say that diversity awareness helps their organization keep a competitive advantage

·        58 percent say awareness decreases interpersonal conflict

·        59 percent say it increases creativity

·        52 percent say it increases productivity

Then, another study, by the Hackett Group, concluded that establishing a supplier diversity program increased a company’s bottom line by generating 133% greater return on the dollar for procurement services when contracting with a diverse supplier. Here’s the piece, in Information Week, Diversity Benefits the Bottom Line: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2006/08/diversity_progr.html

And, in fact, most Fortune 1000 companies are not slashing their diversity initiatives in our current recession. In February, DiversityInc surveyed its 2008 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® ((http://www.diversityinc.com/public/5190.cfm)). As it states on the Diversity Inc website: “More than 80 percent of those that were experiencing significant corporate cutbacks said their diversity budgets were either increasing or remaining stable. That’s a strong testament to their company’s beliefs that diversity is critical to their lines of business and is vital to both their long- and short-term success.”

In fact, the article concluded, some companies are currently ramping up their diversity efforts to take advantage of the buyer’s market in talent.

As the CDO of Merck and Co, Deborah Dagit told DiversityInc: “Diversity is essential because we MUST reflect our marketplace to have a competitive strategy and successfully execute against that strategy.” 

Furthermore, a study by the Society for Human Resource Management (http://shrm.org/hrdisciplines/Diversity/Articles/Pages/ShouldDiversityPay.aspx), revealed that while 40% percent of the companies they polled have decreased their discretionary spending (such as morale and teambuilding activities), only 10% of respondents said they had decreased spending on recruitment initiatives targeted at increasing the diversity of their workforce.

So, if your company is considering reducing its diversity training and outreach, tell them to stop! Perhaps diversity can be one of the pathways for your company to rise once again to the top of the heap.

Additional resource:

http://www.diversityinc.com/public/5106.cfm

http://www.diversity-executive.com/article.php?article=514

Until September of 2007,   I basically had no idea that there was any such thing as CDOs, diversity and inclusion departments in organizations, affinity groups and the like.  I knew about affirmative action; but not much more.

That September I received a phone call from a publisher North Carolina, Sheila Robinson.  Sheila was launching a new national women’s business magazine, to be entitled Diversity Woman. [www.diversitywoman.com] She asked if I would help her launch the magazine and serve as the editor-in-chief.  A few weeks later I flew to North Carolina, helped her hire and train the staff and all the sudden diversity was my world.

Except of course, for the previous 15 years, diversity really was my world in a personal context.  In 1992 I met an 11-year-old African-American male, Joshua, when I was volunteer tutoring at-risk youth at the Berkeley Young Adult Project. Joshua was in foster care at the time, and we hit it off immediately (it certainly helped to that I’d spent the previous five years as a sportswriter, covering the NBA and Major League Baseball, and had interviewed his hero, Michael Jordan, a number of times!).

Over the next few years, our relationship evolved, from tutoring, to mentoring to eventually Josh moving in with my husband Larry and I, to him calling us mom and dad. Josh became interested in politics and won the election as the president of the Berkeley High Black Student Union, the oldest and largest high school black student unions in the country. He went to and graduated from Howard University, (www.howard.edu)  one of the historic black colleges (he is now living in Washington, DC, working in politics).

So, as you can see, on the face of it, diversity was no big deal in our household.

However, it’s not quite that simple.  Just as a corporation has a culture and must work to incorporate other cultures and value systems into the greater aggregate, a family is the same. When Josh wouldn’t celebrate Christmas because he was raised in a literalist Baptist sect, we had to adjust and celebrate with gifts New Year’s Day instead (not all that hard, especially given that I’m Jewish!). What he thought the food we served was too bland and not salted enough, we had to do a combination of adjusting and educating. When my cousin called me to ask if was okay for her to serve watermelon when Josh came over for dinner (she didn’t want to embarrass him by reinforcing cultural stereotypes), we talked to him about it—and had a good laugh.  As we learned, accepting diversity takes work—but is incredibly rewarding.

So fast-forward 15 years and I realized that I have been fortunate enough to combine two of my passions in life—written communications and diversity. I’ve gained an incredible amount of knowledge about the rationale and process of diversifying small and large institutions, and learned how to communicate diversity messaging to a diverse audience. And best of all, as I delve deeper and deeper into the world of diversity, I have Josh to bounce ideas off of—and through the many complex and fascinating discussions that arise around race, ethnicity, religion, cultural expectations and much more, we have found another avenue for growing our relationship.