Sustaining Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion in Difficult Economic Times

For diversity professionals and business champions of diversity and inclusion, one of the challenges of today’s economic environment is maintaining a serious focus on diversity and inclusion when managers are distracted by crisis. Not surprisingly, this issue was one of the top concerns for members of the Global Diversity Forum (GDF) who gathered from around the US and Europe to meet in New York last month.

One of the strategies discussed was using the growing importance of Corporate Social Responsibility to bolster the case for investing in diversity management despite limited resources. CSR expert Philip Sack, a senior consultant at ORC, noted that companies are under increasing pressure, especially in Europe, by investors, non-governmental organizations, labor organizations, and employees to manage their businesses in a way that has a positive impact on society, especially in the realms of human rights, environmental protection, and labor rights. Nonetheless, while many companies include metrics of workforce diversity in their CSR reporting, few actually align their CSR and diversity efforts with one another and with business objectives. Speaker Ed Gadsden, former head of diversity for companies such as Texaco, Coca-Cola, and ADM, and other Forum members described how linking CSR and diversity to multicultural marketing, product development for diverse consumers, and philanthropy to local communities can increase the value of each of those activities to the business.

Other Forum members shared strategies for embedding diversity and inclusion into the culture of the organization so that the principles survive downsizing and budget cuts. One such key process is leadership assessment and development. Inclusive behaviors should be part of the leadership model used to evaluate and develop managers. Although the purse available for rewarding these behaviors has shrunk, non-monetary recognition is still a powerful tool.

One company noted that having a very lean diversity function can actually be an advantage in tough times, because there is no fat to trim. That organization, like many others, relies heavily on the diversity council, which is made up of line managers, to implement diversity plans. Another member added that it is working to “professionalize” its diversity council, to develop the members’ strategic and operational diversity capabilities. Several also agreed that effective metrics that demonstrate the returns generated by diversity and inclusion efforts were important to sustaining investment in this area. (Diversity metrics will be an area of continuing focus by ORC’s Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Networks in the coming months and the theme of the June 25th Global Diversity Forum meeting in London.)

For more information on the Global Diversity Forum, ORC’s US- and UK-based Equality, diversity, and inclusion networks, or ORC’s diversity consulting capabilities, contact Liz MacGillivray, Deirdre Golden.