GDF Meeting Highlights June 2010: Continuing the Journey- Diversity in Canada and Japan and a lesson in Global Diversity Best Practices from American Express

The 24th June meeting of the Global Diversity Forum was the largest meeting in its history since the network launched in 2006. The meeting drew a global audience from over 40 organisations in the automotive, financial sector, technology, entertainment, pharmaceutical, defense and security, food, and manufacturing industries. Participants heard from Canadian and Japanese speakers on the diversity and equity issues in those countries as well as best practices on topics such as indigenous peoples, generational diversity, LGBT, disabilities and women in the workplace. In addition to member roundtable discussions on a range of global D&I challenges, Donna Wilson also shared the three pronged strategy of American Express’s global diversity and inclusion initiative. We are pleased to welcome two new members to the Forum - Joe Hussman of Toyota and Sam Mathis of Praxair - whom many members met in June.

Best Practices: Global Diversity at American Express

Although American Express has been on the D&I journey for several decades, they did not begin with a global initiative. They started in the US, but their strategy is evolving and in the last years have taken a global approach “following the business strategy.” Donna Wilson, Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion, American Express Company explained the company’s three-pronged strategy for advancing global diversity and inclusion efforts, which is executed at the local level. Their strategy considers talent segmentation, market segmentation, and workplace segmentation.
The talent segmentation piece is divided into two initiatives, one for women globally and one for African American talent in the United States. The women’s initiative focuses on how to get more women in the leadership pipeline and at the top of the organisation.

Although in terms of overall representation women do well within the company, they realise there is a need to focus more on senior level women within the company who are underrepresented. The African American talent initiative focused on how to retain African Americans in senior levels in the US. The company was not pleased with the lack of progress in that group and so launched a task force to look at market availability and tied that to their Affirmative Action Plans. They also created diversity scorecards and tied compensation to accountability. Talent segmentation programs run parallel to each other so that lessons can be learned from one another. The market segmentation efforts focus on the internal and external customer base to address the fact that the company needs to attract a more diverse set of customers. In India, this means appealing to younger card members. In Canada, the fastest growing group of card members is Asian Canadians, whereas in the US it is the Latino market.

Workplace segmentation means a focus on understanding the employee population. To this end, they have created groups such as an alumni network and a group called Blue Work which focuses on working styles of the employee population. The Blue Work Group also called Hub Club Home Grown looks at flexibility in the workplace and how to measure and assess it beyond work/life balance.

To continually assess the progress of their approach American Express conducts continuous “pulse checks” to measure engagement levels as they transform. They also do an overall evaluation included in their annual employee survey.

Canada: Diversity and Equity Issues and Best Practices with a focus on Indigenous People

Philip McLarren of McLarren Consulting Group (and former head of ORC Canada) spoke to members about the main human rights and equity issues facing Canada. With respect to human rights in Canada, the legislation is relatively young: in 1977 the Canadian Human Rights Act was passed (which includes pay equity), however some of the major problems is that administration and enforcement agencies do not receive enough government support, as well as various problematic interpretations of the Human Rights Act by several commissions responsible for enforcing and administering the CHRA.

According to Phil, people with disabilities present the biggest challenge in Canada with respect to workplace equity. With 60-80 percent of persons with disabilities underemployed, unemployed or opting out of the job market, the major challenge in Canada is finding, attracting and retaining talent. Phil suggested that organisations identify the most active agencies for people with disabilities and work with them to facilitate job shadowing, jointly determine viable jobs and practical accommodations create a pool within the organisation for future placement opportunities and prepare co-workers. Engaging disability affinity groups is also helpful.

Philip McLarren, president of McLarren Consulting Group Inc. speaks to the Global Diversity Forum on diversity and equity issues in Canada.

Another major focus for Canadian equity initiatives is Aboriginals. While they make up only 3.1 percent of the population , compared to women (47.9 percent), visible minorities (15.3 percent), and people with disabilities (approx. 5 percent), they wield significant influence in the workforce, some of which can be attributed to their control of 20 percent of the land mass in Canada.

Phil also provided a case study of the largest Canadian bank, Royal Bank of Canada, and explained that their approach, which makes diversity one of their five corporate values and part of their business strategy, has won them the 2010 Catalyst Award and six other “Best Employer” awards.
 

Diversity in Japan 

In the afternoon members heard from ORC Worldwide Consultant, Jody Mousseau, a specialist in human resources issues in Japan, and the Executive director of the Japan Local Government Center (JLGC), Hiroshi Sasaki. Daiba-shitii is a new buzzword in Japan, as diversity moves up the policy agenda for business and government. The country which once prided itself on homogeneity is now starting to tackle issues of diversity and inclusion.

According to Jody, Japanese companies do not usually have a global diversity effort; rather different locations around the world are left to implement their own diversity and inclusion strategy at the local level. Japan has an ethnically homogenous population and its labor force is shrinking due to an ageing population and declining birth rate.

In Japan, women in the workplaceis one of the biggest challenges as 70 percent of working women quit their jobs when they start a family. One concern is the marketplace cost for childcare which is extremely high because there is no labor force for nannying and daycare service is very limited. One of the reasons according to Mr. Sasaki is cultural because Japanese families do not feel comfortable leaving their children in childcare. However a forum member noted that their organisation did a study and found that childcare would be a huge economic benefit for Japan.

The Japanese government has set some significant policy goals to be reached by 2020. Among them, increase the ratio of female employees between the ages of 25 and 44 from 66 percent (2009) to 73 percent, increase the ratio of women who continue to work after their first child from 38 percent (2005) to 55 percent, and to increase the ratio of men who take parental leave from 1.23 percent (2008) to 13 percent.

One of the major differences among the Japanese labor force is education. According to Hiroshi, Japanese companies put a major emphasis on training employees well and therefore do not expect applicants or employees with undergraduate or graduate degrees.
On the topic of immigration, the percentage of foreigners in the total population in Japan was just 1.7 percent in 2008. The majority of immigrants come from East Asia (45 percent), Central and South America (29.1 percent) and Southeast Asia (14.5 percent).

Regarding the LGBT community, according to Jody it is not an issue often brought to the forefront in the workplace. Recently, however, the Japanese government did legalize overseas marriage of Japanese nationals, but Japan does not actually recognise gay marriage.
 

Global Diversity Forum attendees take some time to network during a break at the Penn Club of New York.

UPCOMING GLOBAL DIVERSITY FORUM MEETINGS:

22 September in Paris Hosted By SODEXO - European Focus

Members can register here https://www.orcnetworks.com/calendar/2010-09-22/global-diversity-forum-m...

17 November in New York City

Members can register here https://www.orcnetworks.com/node/3283

To request an invitation click here