Workplace Diversity—Part 2: Best Practices to Help Ensure Your Diversity Program Is Effective and Legal

Last month, as a follow-up to recent Supreme Court affirmative action rulings, we explored the reasons to adopt diversity practices in your workplace and how to implement a diversity program. This month we’ll look at best practices to help ensure your diversity program is successful and legal.

Tips for Success

Because a diversity program can change the way you do business, it’s imperative to consider a variety of approaches to maximize your program’s success. Here are six practices experts suggest:

 

1. Use methods that meet your needs. Diversity can be achieved by developing nonmajority candidate lists for all job openings, ensuring compensation and pay equity, and building a diverse pipeline of talent. Michael L. Wheeler, president of OEStrategies Inc., notes you can develop ‘special programs’ from existing programs by including initiatives appropriate to all your various employees. Rhoma Young, of Oakland-based consulting firm Rhoma Young and Associates, notes there is a difference between equity and fairness: ‘You’re not just looking at treating everyone the same—you tailor to given situations as needed’ to be fair.

    

2. Understand it’s hard to blaze a trail. Menlo Park diversity coach Esther Heller says it can initially be difficult to attract diverse employees to homogeneous companies, so employers must work on developing a message and a culture that is open to people coming in with different backgrounds. To get the first person in the door, you may need to assure them that the organization and their manager understands them, Heller says, and that it’s an open environment with a desire for different knowledge and ideas. Then, continue hiring people of different backgrounds so you develop a critical mass.

    

3. Hire a pro. Many employers hire a consultant to implement a diversity program. Usually the consultant conducts a workforce survey and holds training sessions for employees and management to heighten sensitivity to cultural and gender differences. Select a consultant or trainer who reflects your philosophy and thoroughly check their references.

    

4. Utilize group support. Wheeler says companies often use networking and affinity groups both for personal skills development and to help ensure a work environment that recognizes and addresses the needs of a diverse workforce. Mentoring programs can provide access to role models who can help newcomers move up through the organization.

    

5. Avoid overassimilation. Diverse employees can add different perspectives and viewpoints to your organization, so you don’t want them to be just like everyone else in every way, says Robert Cassell of the San Francisco office of the law firm Jackson, Lewis, Schnitzler & Krupman. As diverse employees succeed, he says, make it a point to learn from them and make changes to move your organization forward.

    

6. Adopt a long-term approach. A diversity program isn’t a one-shot effort. Young says companies must periodically reexamine their various processes to make sure the systems still work.

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Legal Pitfalls to Avoid

The road to creating a diverse workforce may be bumpy if you don’t heed the following guidelines:

 

1. Watch out for negative reports. A memo stating, ‘We’re not doing a good job of promoting women’ could become explosive ammunition in a sex discrimination lawsuit. So you may want to skip a written workforce analysis by you or a consultant for this reason. If you decide to have one, work with legal counsel to see whether the report can be created as part of an attorney-client relationship to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

    

2. Minimize discussion about past experience. Avoid soliciting information from employees about past experiences in the workplace or about stereotypes—it could come back to haunt you if taken out of context. Instead, encourage employees to talk about the changes they would like to see in company policies and practices. Also, it’s not a good idea to include what’s said in employee discussions in a written document or report.

    

3. Mind your language. Tracy Brown, president of Diversity Trends, says diversity efforts are sometimes hampered by the terms used. The words ‘minority’ and ‘disadvantaged’ appear in certain federal regulations and programs, but in casual speech they can be taken as offensive and in extreme cases might be considered harassing. Also, Heller says it’s ‘important to know what the people around you like to be called.’ For example, she notes, some people may prefer ‘Jamaican- American’ to ‘African-American.’

    

4. Anticipate adversity. When the subject of discrimination is raised, issues employees hadn’t previously thought much about (or were afraid to discuss) may come to the surface. And if you don’t follow through on your diversity program, you could end up with a serious morale problem—or worse yet, a bias lawsuit. Be aware that adopting a diversity program may cause some employees to become dissatisfied. Be prepared with resources and strategies to handle potential negative fallout.