Industry doing a good job on diversity, NEW study finds
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The consumer products and retail industry is doing a good or excellent job implementing diversity and inclusion as a business strategy, according to a majority of respondents to a recent survey by the Network of Executive Women, the industry’s largest diversity organization. More than 53 percent of respondents said the industry was doing a good job on diversity and inclusion, 5 percent said the industry was doing an excellent job, 40 percent said "there is room for improvement” and 2 percent said the industry was doing a poor job implementing diversity and inclusion.
The survey of 635 NEW members and supporters was conducted July 10-21 as part of the organization’s upcoming Best Practices Report, "White Men: Enrolling the Dominant Culture in Diversity and Inclusion,” which will be published in October. The survey respondents were 70 percent white females, 16 percent non-white or Latina females, 12 percent white males and 1 percent non-white or Latino males.
Trudy Bourgeois, president of The Center for Workforce Excellence and the session leader at this year’s NEW Multicultural Workforce Conference, said the focus on role of white men as diversity champions is long overdue. She said white men have a stake in diversity because "first and foremost, white men are diverse,” and recognizing this diversity will help white men identify with other groups. Diversity and inclusion efforts "cannot leave anyone out,” Bourgeois said, especially white men who dominate business leadership. "For me, it’s all about business. We need a new style of leadership or our industry will not be able to recruit top talent.”
White male advantage?
When asked if white men have an advantage in hiring and promotions in the consumer products and retail industry, 37 percent said "very much so” and 40 percent answered "somewhat.” Twenty-three percent agreed with the statement, "The playing field is level.” Asked if white men had an advantage in their organizations, 32 percent said yes, 35 percent said somewhat, and 33 percent said the playing field was level (a handful of respondents said white males were disadvantaged in their organizations). Unconscious bias (33 percent) and corporate culture (31 percent) were the top reasons cited for white male advantage when it existed.
Respondents were almost evenly divided in rating the performance of white men in their organizations on diversity and inclusion: 9 percent said they were doing an excellent job, 42 percent said they were doing a good job, 45 percent said there was room for improvement and 4 percent said white men in their organizations were doing a poor job on diversity and inclusion.
Nearly 22 percent of respondents said white men in their organizations embrace and execute diversity, 45 percent said white men embrace the concept but fall short on action, 26 percent said many still don’t understand the importance of diversity and inclusion, and 8 percent said there was a divide between white men in the organization on the issue of diversity and inclusion.
Asked why some white men might have a negative attitude towards diversity and inclusion, 23 percent said white men do not see themselves as diverse, 25 percent said white men do not see any personal benefit in diversity and inclusion, 24 percent do not see any business benefit, and 29 percent said white men fear they will lose influence and opportunity in their organizations.
What can organizations do to improve? More than 67 percent said career development and retention were an important area for improvement, followed by 50 percent who cited greater leadership accountability and 42 percent who said their organizations could improve in recruiting. More than 35 percent said their organizations could improve in the area of senior management commitment and 35 percent said their organizations could improve their diversity and inclusion training.
"White Men: Enrolling the Dominant Culture in Diversity and Inclusion” is the eighth report in NEW’s Best Practices Series. It will be available to NEW members on the Research section of www.newonline.org in October. Copies will also be available at the "Leveraging the Multicultural Organization” session at this year’s NEW Leadership Summit, October 13 in Dallas. The panel discussion will be led by Trudy Bourgeois and will include a discussion of information in the report.
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Julie Hamilton (left) shares a laugh at the NEW Executive Leaders Forum with Network President Alison Paul, past presidents Kim Betts and Helayne Angelus and President-Elect Michelle Gloeckler. More
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