What matters for diversity

Chief Executive, The, Oct, 2004

A SURVEY of 5,500 American workers by the National Urban League found that the U.S. work force is quite willing to accept more diversity on the job and faults top management for paying only lip service to the issue. Less than a third felt top management had an effective diversity program or initiative.

No major surprise there. Everybody wants to blame the brass. But when asked to list the specific practices that mattered most, respondents chose "marketing" ahead of 12 other practices. (See table.) "It may be surprising that employees and workers place a great premium on marketing, but that's the company's most visible manifestation externally," explains Mare H. Morial, the league's president and chief executive officer.

In Morial's view, employees want to see that their company is marketing and advertising in different languages and through different niche publications. Softer marketing activities, such as supporting nonprofits and trade associations, also send big messages to workers.

Internally, Morial says, the most important thing CEOs need to do is to personally embrace the diversity message, even if a chief diversity officer manages the issue on a day-to-day basis. "Many workers realize that when the CEO says diversity is important, it goes a lot farther than if just front-line managers, the human resources department or chief diversity officer says it," he adds.

More companies do seem to be creating diversity officers because they are recognizing that human resources departments do not have the clout to influence philanthropy, procurement or other functions that are essential to fostering more racial, sexual and religious diversity. "It's not enough to give them a fancy title and office with no power," cautions Morial. "The entire organization has to understand that the chief diversity officer has the full support of the CEO."

Downloadable copies of "Diversity Practices That Work: The American Worker Speaks" are available at www.nul.org.

Workers who said these diversity practices were very important

Marketing to diverse customers              63%
Retaining diverse talent                    59%
Recruiting diverse talent                   57%
Leadership commitment/involvement           57%
Inclusive culture and values                57%
Diversity education and training            56%
Community involvement                       55%
Advancing diverse talent                    55%
Career development for diverse talent       54%
Diversity employee communications           52%
Employee involvement                        52%
Supplier diversity                          49%
Performance accountability and measurement  47%

Source: National Urban League

Note: Table made from bar graph.