Diversity

Citation

Nolan, S. (2013), "Diversity", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2013.37212caa.001

Diversity

Article Type: Editorial From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 12, Issue 3

Editorial

The theme of this issue of Strategic HR Review is diversity. It includes in-depth case studies showing different approaches to facilitating and fostering diversity and inclusion. HR processes are key to attracting, growing and retaining all talent – regardless of age, culture, ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation – giving organizations the best chance of gaining a competitive market position.

In “Diversity and inclusion – LGBT inclusion means business”, Michelle Fullerton shares Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s aim to have a culture where employees can bring their whole selves to work. She discusses the company’s policies to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) inclusion in the workplace. With research showing that many employers have LGBT friendly practices, but are not LGBT friendly in practice, at Bank of America Merrill Lynch inclusion starts with “the tone at the top” of the organization to ensure it reaches throughout the organization. Supporting this are networks, high profile sponsorships and a LGBT friendly benefits package, for example, extending benefits to same sex domestic partners and including transgender treatments in the primary health plan. The company’s approach is comprehensive and thorough and includes challenging inappropriate behavior – in relation to all inclusion practices. As a result it attracts and retains all talent, regardless of cultural backgrounds, ethnicities, religions, and sexual orientations, and it benefits from dynamic and cohesive teams.

“Data inspiring action – getting to the heart of women’s career progression”, by Dr Ines Wichert and Peta Steele, introduces a framework for identifying the factors that impact on women’s career progression. The framework is broken into three levels and identifies 11 factors that make a difference. It was developed from an academic research review to identify all the relevant factors. However, its real value in achieving change emerges in applications where the framework is adapted to an organization and its specific areas of need. The authors provide a case study of a professional services firm that used the framework in this way. Despite an already strong focus on and commitment to female development, there was frustration that not enough leadership positions were hold by women. The led to an evaluation by the executive team of the way female talent was attracted and developed. An analytic approach to understanding career progression combined the three-level framework with stakeholder interviews and focus groups. The information and insights gained were used to move beyond processes to create a culture that encourages and enables female progression.

Carole Joseph also focuses on gender diversity in her paper, “Leveraging a Women’s Network to attract, develop and retain high potential female talent.” She discusses the Women’s Network that was introduced at GE in 1997 and has since been leveraged to impact diversity and equality throughout the EMEA region. The network aims to attract, grow and retain successful women across the organization by giving members of the network significant influence across all GE businesses. The EMEA Women’s Network is extensive, with over 10,000 members across 35 countries, and encompasses a wide range of initiatives, events and partnerships. With senior management backing – including financial sponsorship of events – and deep rooted commitment to the network, it is sustainable and is helping to create a diverse talent base and culture of inclusiveness that ultimately gives GE a competitive advantage. The network is about more than doing the right thing, it is about creating diverse and innovative teams that will succeed.

Dr Broughan addresses diversity from an age perspective in her paper, “An evidence based approach to creating an age-friendly culture.” She asserts that age diversity is one of the most pertinent diversity challenges facing HR professionals, particularly in the UK, due to changing demographics and an increase in the number of claims made in employment tribunals based on age discrimination. The claims are more in numbers, and also in the size of the awards made compared to other discrimination cases. Looking beyond this, the author says organizations can benefit from having an age friendly culture due to the learning opportunities, knowledge retention, the overall increase in satisfaction within a diverse workforce, reduced cost of unnecessary staff turnover and the ability to tap in to the spending power of the older generation. She goes on to dispel common myths surrounding older workers and to present practical ways of analyzing existing levels of age-friendliness and building on them.

“Making diversity business critical,” by Leigh Lafever-Ayer, looks at how and why Enterprise Rent-A-Car created a Diversity Scorecard to help its regional managers build diversity into their businesses. With diversity training and policies already in place, the company faced challenges in achieving diversity goals. A worldwide business, including regional businesses operating with autonomy, there were difficulties associated with structure. In addition, a policy of promoting only from within meant diversity needed to be successfully achieved at recruitment stage in order to ensure a diverse leadership team. In order to overcome such challenges, the organization creation its own Diversity Scorecard – developed from a study of diversity practices that have been a success in America and implemented across the organization through collaboration and modification at local level. This resulted in a practical tool to help managers focus on the twelve core operational functions that have been recognized as areas where a diverse approach can have the greatest impact. Each function is then broken down into four subsection action points to guide managers in formulating ideas and initiatives.

Sara NolanE-mail: saranolanshr@emeraldinsight.com