Chicago-area busineses are beginning to respond to the diversity of their work force with a range of programs designed to increase productivity. But little data exists to gauge their impact on the bottom line.
The trend began five years ago with the publication of the Hudson Institute`s study, ”Workforce 2000.” The study estimated that 85 percent of new hires between 1985 and century`s end would be women, minorities and immigrants.
Last November, the Bureau of Labor Statistics published similar projections for new entrants between 1990 and 2005 and predicted 87.5 percent will be either non-white or female.
”To be competitive, we need to tap the resources that are available to us, and that`s a very diverse work force,” said Calvin S. Stowell Jr., director of human resources at Harris Trust and Savings Bank.
Harris, Quaker Oats Co. and Marshall Field & Co. represent a growing number of companies hiring a new class of consultants to educate their staffs about recognizing and accepting their co-workers` cultural and gender differences.
One of the most recognized in the field is R. Roosevelt Thomas Jr., director of the American Institute for Managing Diversity Inc., who is working with Harris and Quaker.
”Until recently, people who were different for whatever reason tended to suppress those differences,” Thomas said. ”Now people are more inclined not to see differences as inadequacies, but to celebrate being different. They are less willing to fit in and be assimilated. That means the manager will have to deal with people who are different on and below the surface.”
As companies weave diversity awareness into their personnel procedures, one government official questions their validity in the short term.
Arthur Fletcher, chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, is skeptical for example, because there is a dearth of concrete data to link enhanced awareness of diversity to productivity and profit.
”It has been my view that it (diversity) is a buzz word and will continue to be a buzz word until companies trace performance back to the diversity program,” said Fletcher.
Joan S. Green, director of affirmative action at Quaker Oats, agrees.
”If a company believes incorporating diversity in the work force is something that can take place in the short term, they are mistaken. Diversity has to be thought about in terms of slow going.
”But there can be short-term results in retention and promotion rates,” said Green.
Quaker has reduced turnover rates among minorities and women and is making attempts to eliminate the so-called ”glass ceiling” that keeps women from being promoted beyond a certain level, Green said.
Since 1986, the Chicago-based company has seen a 1 percent reversal in a once rising attrition rate among women and minorities. At the same time, Quaker is seeing a growing number of women and minorities in managerial positions, she said.
Female representation in managerial positions increased 6.9 percentage points to a high of 25 percent in December. The minority growth rate was significantly less, with a 0.3 point increase to 9 percent. Green blames the minority figure on layoffs by Quaker in Oakland and Indianapolis.
”In my judgment, those numbers represent increasing management opportunities for women and minorities,” said Green.
For long-term effects, Quaker hired Thomas four years ago. Since then, the company has set up a Diversity Council of 20 employees representing a cross-section of the company`s work force. Subcommittees address specific issues, such as dependent care and cultural awareness, said Green.
Two years ago, a group of employees, most of them black, planned an on-going workshop with an industrial psychologist to familiarize colleagues about cultural differences. More than 600 employees at Quaker headquarters in Chicago have participated in half-day seminars on ethnic-related issues.
Quaker started an English as a Second Language course at its Bridgeview pasta production plant in 1989. To date, a fifth of the 250 employees at the southwest suburban site have taken the one-hour classes taught by a professional instructor twice a week, said the program`s director, Lillian Vogrig.
Forty percent of Bridgeview`s workers are Hispanic, and Spanish conversation classes are offered to increase morale, said Vogrig.
Marshall Field`s offers a less structured language program. Weekly 90-minute classes are held during working hours, said according to Ron Whitley, assistant general manager of human resources for restaurant operations. Tutors are company employees, who receive eight hours of training from Literacy Volunteers of Chicago, the agency Field`s hired to coordinate the program.
Whitley says there have been marked improvements in the productivity levels of employees who have participated in the program since 1988.
”They feel so much better about themselves. They can better communicate with co-workers and people in their neighborhoods. It has eliminated a lot of isolation they once felt,” said Whitley.
One tutor, who has worked with Chinese immigrants for almost two years, has developed a more liberal attitude towards non-native English speakers.
”I always felt if someone was not fluent in English it was because they weren`t motivated,” said Gary Ross, a tutor and a Field`s manager
specializing in drapery adjusting. ”Now I realize what a struggle it is.”
Lack of formal classtime instruction created scheduling problems over the holiday season, because tutors and pupils were assigned to different departments with dissimilar schedules, said Whitley.
Dayton Hudson Corp.`s takeover of Field`s stalled sessions for more than a year, because 50 of the 60 tutors were laid off, he added. Today there are about 40 active tutors, Whitley said.
Because of the high numbers of immigrants in the food division at Field`s, Whitley`s department has bilingual speakers in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese to communicate medical and financial benefits and train workers. Sometimes, Field`s issues memos in Chinese and Spanish, he said.
At Harris Bank, diversity-related programs are being formulated in conjunction with the consulting arm of Thomas` institute, Diversity Consultants Inc.
”We are identifying with Roosevelt Thomas and his crew to find what barriers exist,” Stowell said. ”We are saying, it`s OK to be different and let`s see how we can embrace those differences and both move together-manager and employer.”
Last summer, the bank conducted a companywide survey to learn employees`
child- and elder-care needs.
The bank already has dependency-care spending accounts and flextime. As of the first of this year, all part-time employees will receive all benefits. Partial funding for the bank`s programs comes from an undisbursed portion of a $15.6 million sex and race discrimination settlement with present and former Harris employees after a 14-year court battle. The $1.4 million has been funneled into establishing programs that were part of a consent decree, signed in 1989, said Nancy Kreiter, research director of Women Employed, a national organization that initially filed the suit in 1974.
Harris agreed to start a career counseling and training center to enhance business skills for women and minorities.
Before the settlement, the bank began offering seminars specifically designed for women, minorities and managers. The sessions are called Efficacy Training.
