Distribution is getting diverse: Minorities and women show modest workplace gains - Distribution

Electronic News, Feb 11, 2002 by Rob Spiegel

Just how diverse is the workplace at electronic distributors? A lot more diverse than in the past, but not as diverse as some other business sectors.

When it comes to minority employment, the electronics industry reached 29 percent, according to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) most recent numbers from 1999. This put electronics on par with most industries and ahead of a few sectors such as Petroleum and Coal, which the EEOC reported at 22.7 percent minority employment.

As for women in the workforce, the electronics industry sits in the middle of business sectors with 38.3 percent women employed. The communications industry is made up of 47.6 percent women, while Petroleum and Coal is male-dominated with only 23.4 percent women.

All distributors with government contracts have to answer to government audits on workplace diversity.

"Jaco is reviewed by the government because we have contracts with the military," said Joel Girsky, president and CEO of Jaco Electronics Inc. in Hauppauge, N.Y. "I'm sure diversity is still an issue because we still have affirmative action. It's never been an issue here because of my personality." Girsky noted his discomfort with government oversight on diversity. "I hate the government's involvement in this. I hate quotas, especially being Jewish. Jewish people have always had quotas," Girsky said.

Some companies have developed full-fledged programs to address the diversity question. A number of years ago, Phoenix-based Avnet Inc. decided to put an end to the less-than-stellar results it received from government diversity audits.

"Six years ago on a snowy, cold day in Atlanta, Roberta [Carr, Avnet's manager of workforce diversity], myself and a team locked ourselves up in a hotel room for two days to work on a diversity plan," said Robert Zierk, Avnet VP of human resources. "Until then, Avnet had some difficulties with the affirmative-action plan."

Zierk noted that in the past, Avnet did not put a lot of energy into creating a diverse workplace. "Avnet did not often receive a clean bill of health, which is called a Letter of Compliance," Zierk said.

As a result of the 1996 meeting in Atlanta, Avnet formed a diversity council, which is a cross-functional group of 12 employees assigned the task of communicating and educating Avnet managers on the company's diversity process.

Avnet's first annual diversity plan was also a result of the Atlanta meeting. The plan included recruitment tactics. Zierk noted that much of Avnet's diversity recruitment is now done over the Internet by placing ads on targeted job boards.

"We can post on different boards for different diversity-oriented jobs," Zierk said.

The 1996 emphasis on turning around its diversity problem came from CEO Roy Vallee. "The commitment from Roy Vallee was there from the beginning," Carr said. "That spurred things. We measured progress from year to year. We started slow, and we had to communicate that it was a slow process."

Increasing diversity in the workplace is a noble cause, but that doesn't mean a company will instantly accept a new way of doing business.

"We had to convince a lot of people in the company that the diversity wasn't ultimately threatening," Zierk said. "Six years ago, diversity was not embedded in our culture."

The emphasis on solving the diversity challenge paid off for Avnet. "For the last four years, we've received a Letter of Compliance for 12 out of 13 audits," Zierk said.

He noted that the one audit that didn't result in a Letter of Compliance concerned a minor matter that was quickly corrected. "Now when the government comes in to audit us, they remark that we have a best-in-class diversity initiative."

Diversity compliance is generally measured across an entire organization. "I don't believe the government is looking to see how many women are in management. They look at the whole company," said George Perris, founder and president of Sierra Marketing in Rocklin, Calif.

Management Needs Work

A look at the management picture shows the electronics industry is still run primarily by white men. 80.02 of officials and managers are men, according to the 1999 EEOC numbers. Only 14.4 percent of electronics management consists of minorities. This beats Petroleum and Coal, with 84.4 percent male managers and only 12 percent minorities in management. But electronics doesn't do as well as the communications sector, with 40.9 percent female managers and 18.9 percent minority management.

Perris said he believes distributors have generally overcome diversity problems from the past. "I really don't se it as a problem anymore," Perris said.

Diversity Employment by Industry

Numbers are %

                                                Petroleum
                 Electronics                Comm.             & Coal
          Total          Mgmt      Total     Mgmt      Total

Men        61.7          80.2       52.4     59.1       76.6
Women      38.3          19.8       47.6     40.9       23.4
Minority   29.0          14.4       28.9     18.9       22.7

          Petroleum
            & Coal
          Mgmt

Men       84.4
Women     15.6
Minority  12.0

SOURCE: U.S. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION, 1999 FIGURES