Tuesday, February 17, 2009

For Diversity Officers, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Workforce Management
February 2009
Diversity officers struggling to increase minority headcounts come in for criticism. As the executives themselves note, having a thick skin and a healthy dose of perspective can be essential to the role. By Rupal Parekh

It’s not easy being a chief diversity officer.
Some of the insults hurled at those taking the job have included "pimp," "Uncle Tom" and "window dressing." In fact, as the executives themselves note, having a thick skin and a healthy dose of perspective can be essential to the role.
"I don’t see those individuals who say those things standing with me on the front lines," says Tiffany R. Warren, who recently left her position as a diversity executive at Havas-owned Arnold to take on the newly created role of chief diversity officer at Omnicom Group.
"I’m literally on the front lines, and sometimes it’s a lonely place. If there were more of me, maybe we could make more of a difference," she says.
The ad agencies who have hired diversity officers are likely praying that they do figure out a way to make a difference—and quick. Civil rights attorney Cyrus Mehri is knocking on the door, after all. Last month, he released research in partnership with the NAACP that is believed to be the groundwork for a race discrimination suit against the ad industry.
Nancy Hill, president and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, said after reading the report: "The numbers speak for themselves."
Ask the advertising companies that have hired diversity officers—only Interpublic and Omnicom have done so at the holding-company level—and they say the fact that they have appointed chief diversity officers shows their commitment to improving diversity, a massive task that requires sweeping organizational and cultural changes.
What’s more, they say, these individuals are responsible for some measurable strides—from rising awareness to rising numbers of minorities in agency ranks.
Making strides Interpublic Group of Cos., for example, reported to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that from 2004 to 2007, it increased minority headcount across various ethnic groups by 25 percent overall and by 50 percent in terms of total "officials and managers."
Interpublic’s U.S. headcount during this period was essentially flat (up 1.5 percent, or fewer than 300 people), but it changed the composition of the workforce to increase minority professionals and managers by more than 1,000 people.
Beyond headcount, it points to initiatives such as a two-year multicultural fellowship program, relationships with historically black colleges, minority job fairs and linking executives’ incentive compensation to how well it is meeting its diversity objectives.
"When I got here, all there was a desk and a chair and a telephone," says Heide Gardner, Interpublic’s chief diversity officer.

Full Story: http://www.workforce.com/section/09/feature/26/16/87/index.html

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