Category: Workplace Culture

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Why a Focus on Diversity and Inclusion Is Vital to Health Care Companies

diversity, gender

Corporate America is learning that our responsibilities to our stakeholders are multifaceted and interconnected. When we strive for a diverse and inclusive workplace, it benefits everyone — workforce, clients, shareholders, vendors, and communities local and global.

This may be most important in the health care industry, where the workforce needs to be both clinically adept and socially empathetic to serve their increasingly diverse communities.

Focusing on diversity and inclusion is absolutely necessary to access and engage the very best talent available. As everybody should know by now, a company’s workforce is the most critical ingredient in its ability to succeed.

We can’t possibly have the very best team unless we are tapping into the widest and deepest pool of workers available. If any group is not engaged or left out, excellent job candidates with unique experiences and opinions are lost. That means we must be deliberately inclusive to find, hire and retain the top quality workers.

As the leading health care staffing and workforce solutions company, AMN provides a wide variety of health care professionals to clients in all 50 states, from major urban medical centers to home health care companies to rural clinics, while also delivering complex and advanced services ranging from predictive analytics to mid-revenue cycle management. To provide the greatest support to health care organizations, so that they in turn can provide the highest quality patient care, we must have the very best team.

The health care industry we serve is very diverse. Among the overall workforce, 76 percent of people who work at hospitals are women and about 35 percent are black, Asian or Latino, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of women in health care is higher than any other industry and our team should reflect the clients we serve.

External stakeholders, like vendors, partners and investors, are looking for value and performance, which are directly dependent on a company building the very best team possible. These stakeholders are also looking for companies that they can be proud of — companies that share their values. Many stakeholders today want to know a company’s diversity numbers up front, to ascertain both the company’s value and its values.

For our team members to do their very best work, they must be engaged. Many women, people of various races and ethnicities, and LGBTQ individuals have been excluded or undervalued in business for a long time.

Inclusion must be an action verb. Diversity and inclusion must be actively interwoven into the fabric of company culture so that all people feel like they belong in the workplace — and that they can succeed there. This effort has to start at the top. It can’t just be a few programs; it must be a fundamental part of the corporate framework.

To be able to track your progression it is important to establish the demographic metrics of your team and regularly check your numbers. Diversity and inclusion are not abstract concepts. They are quantifiable, and a company must keep track to know whether they are making progress.

AMN Healthcare has been striving for gender equality for decades, and more recently has been working harder on other areas of inclusion. In the spirit of transparency, here are the AMN numbers as of April 2018:

  • 66 percent of our entire team companywide is women.
  • 62 percent of our supervisors and senior managers are women.
  • Our executive team includes women as CEO, general counsel, chief clinical officer, chief talent officer, and divisional or brand presidents.
  • 34 percent of our entire team is nonwhite.
  • Our team is 56 percent Millennials, 34 percent Generation X and 11 percent baby boomers.

We’re pretty proud of our gender diversity. But we know we can improve in other areas. And we need to enhance the culture and spirit of inclusion companywide. So here are some of the things we are doing:

  • Talent acquisition strategy for diversity, including metrics on diverse candidate slates.
  • Employee resource groups to support a variety of groups and to help the company become a better place for everybody to work.
  • Diversity champions and committees.
  • Companywide engagement survey that includes questions about diversity and inclusion.
  • Unconscious bias training.
  • Support for and membership in the Gender Equality Index and Human Rights Campaign Index.
  • Increasing diversity among our suppliers.
  • Promoting a commitment to diversity externally, particularly in the communities where our team members live.

Diversity and inclusion are the right thing for our team members, our communities and our country. And for our company value and performance. The growing commitment to diversity and inclusion in corporate America is making the workplace a better place.

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Old Age Argument

In 2017, Roger Federer set an all-time record when he won his eighth Wimbledon tennis title at the age of 36. About the same time, Bob Williamson, a lifelong friend of mine, won his 10th salesman of the year award for a large medical systems company at the age of 59.

Neither win was probable, but Federer and my friend were lauded by their competitors and supporters. Their age was once perceived as a hindrance and insurmountable obstacle to reaching the pinnacle in their respective professions. Both my friend and Federer agree that age played a role but didn’t let it define them and subsequently alter their success.

One of my younger friends in his late 20s recently became the chief technology officer of a venture-backed start-up. The position was competitive and he beat out several older and much more experienced individuals to get it. This wasn’t a surprise to me, as I always knew of his superior abilities. His opinion, however, of why he got the job stunned me.

“This was actually easy,” he recalled of the hiring process. “All my competitors were too old.”

While I initially dismissed his reason as utter nonsense, he insisted it was true, that “older workers often don’t work as hard or as long as we do. They prioritize off-work obligations that detract their attention from their primary job. Also, they usually have obsolete skill sets and work styles that make them fall behind.”

I was perplexed and intrigued at how such a damaging and distorted view had come to dominate the tech industry — a view where anyone over the age of 40 was seen as frail, obsolete and left to shuffle through the wilderness with their Apple II computers duct-taped to their walkers.

So in the eyes of younger workers, and more and more commonly among the board members across the tech industry, the definition of being “too old” rests with having interests and obligations outside of work and being perceived as possessing outdated skills.

Working ‘Hard’

It’s no secret that the industry has a fetish for younger workers because of their levels of energy and willingness to pull all-nighters in order to meet deadlines. The willingness to work hard isn’t a bad thing.

But let’s be clear: There is a significant difference between working a lot and working hard and smart. Having a team that works all hours to meet deadlines is admirable but can often be a result of bad time management and result in burnout. From the outside, it looks like you have a group of hard workers but the reality is that it isn’t a sustainable way to work.

Also read: Boomer Bust: Ageism in the Workplace

Companies have known for some time that demanding too much of employees will lead to burnout. But make policies too lenient and productivity will suffer.

The result is a slew of policies, from extreme ones such as a California company that introduced a five-hour workday for all employees to the way my company Ximble and our closest partner, BambooHR, provides open-ended paid time off and a maximum eight-hour work day for all employees.

These policies are not simply altruistic. They indeed provide a well thought-out ROI as they contribute to the employee’s satisfaction, productivity and retention.

This trend perfectly fits the needs and priorities of older workers seeking a more accommodating working environment that allows not just a better work-life balance but a better work-life integration.

This is especially true in the tech industry, which can be highly flexible and more suitable for working habits of older workers who value spending time with their families and focusing on other life interests without allowing their work to suffer. Smart CEOs should look to create a culture and an environment fostering flexible work schedules leading to a perfect balance of performance and enjoyment.

Obsolete Skill Sets

Is using a personal AOL email address or a desktop Outlook app for email correspondence a sign of an outdated tech skill? Or is it the fact that some of us do not buy into a notion that Slack is a panacea to human productivity?

There is no doubt that technology changes rapidly and that innovation leads to availability of new tools designed to improve efficiency, accuracy and quality of products and services we sell. At the same time, very few technology innovations managed to replace time-tested rules of business engagement.

People still buy from people, and teamwork tops individual effort. Just because an older worker may not be as skilled or as fast as a coder using a new front-end language or who’s used to new Java tools, they still can offer ongoing value to their organizations through their set of professional and personal experiences, including their successes and failures.

As Cicero put it in ageless perspective: “Historia magistra vitae est” — history is the teacher of the life.

Corporations learn from historical perspectives how to avoid errors and decrease the time necessary to create successful new outcomes. Only employees who have lived through those times may be able to impact both.

By 2020, it’s expected that in the United States there will be a shortage of 1.5 million qualified workers with as many as 6 million unqualified workers available. So why does the tech industry seem so adamant in shooting itself in the foot by holding such narrow views of a cohort that holds so much untapped potential?

Also read: As Our Workforce Ages, Age Discrimination Will Only Worsen

Tie that to the fact that the future workforce will be much older. Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta and co-chair of Shift: The Commission on Work, Workers and Technology, told the attendees at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference, “As much as we like to talk about millennials, the future of work is much older.” By 2024, his Shift commission report notes, “nearly one-quarter of the workforce is projected to be 55 or older.”

People are healthier than ever and living decades after the traditional retirement age. Living longer develops a changing set of needs resulting in traditional retirement becoming obsolete.

Shifting aspirations for retirement, people’s desire for purpose and want for ongoing application of their talents is and will continue to disrupt previous retirement norms. With a deficit of talent, surely it would make sense to open our eyes and make use of the vast pool of talent that’s being neglected.

While meeting with my salesman friend Bob to congratulate him on his achievements, I brought this up with him.

His outlook was, “When individuals pass 50, they generally shift their gaze into being productive in areas that have meaning to them and start to think about how they will be remembered. They start looking at fulfillment as a primary objective over pay.” He added, “While it’s true I was hired and trained in a new role, it’s also true that very few companies are presenting those opportunities to our age group.”

With a “generative urge,” it appears that an increasing amount of individuals are willing to contribute to the nonprofit sector. The Milken Institute noted that 16,000 experienced, savvy, corporate professionals have each brought a powerful inventory of talent, knowledge and human skills to a new environment as encore fellows.

The reason, we concluded, was twofold. The first is as a status symbol, displaying themselves as a high-performing and valued member of society to help keep their worth to prospective employees up while also being involved in something they feel worthwhile about. These altruistic efforts will be looked on with envy, even more than net worth.

The second is a way for them to place themselves in an unfamiliar environment where they can build and expand upon their own skill sets, in particular, leadership skills — a form of anticipatory careering to develop the skills they need for career progression.

The aging megatrend will test the leadership of all CEOs in the tech industry. Where success is concerned CEOs will need to push for a strong shift in hiring practices and perceptions within their workforces.

Employees across the board will need to realize and come to terms with how valuable older workers are to the sector, not just in their experience and ability but in the nonquantifiable benefits they bring, too. Such as emotional stability, complex problem solving skills, nuanced thinking, high emotional intelligence and institutional know-how, not the typical skills a youthful cohort tends to carry.

Rebecca Knight writes in her article, “Managing People From 5 Generations” in the Harvard Business Review that “studies have shown that co-workers learn more from each other than they do from formal training, making it important for organizations to establish a culture of coaching across age groups.”

So much for the “won’t fit into our company culture” argument.

We can expect to see over-50s having more control over when and how they will work. A growing number of older Americans will begin working in the gig economy. Working freelance, with short-term contracts or with pick-up jobs, the older worker will represent a vast majority of the growth of alternate work and contracting projects due to the flexibility.

For a company to retain and make use of these valuable skills, they will need to find ways to attract and retain employees by bringing renewed interest and meaning to their roles.

Providing a lack of opportunities or training for new skills only acts as a disincentive.

This brings us back to what was mentioned previously. Older workers are looking for fulfillment. Accommodating a flexible work pattern or schedule allows time for skills development and a better balance of work-life assisting in the retention of employees and skills.

Transitional arrangements for those who want to enter retirement will enable the opportunity to transfer skills to younger workers, offsetting the deficit of talent as baby boomers enter retirement.

The benefits of retention will flow in all directions. Younger workers will be able to obtain institutional knowledge and wisdom through job shadowing and mentorship, leading to long-term stability and protection of the businesses interests.

Incorporating a longevity strategy will develop a competitive edge in the tech industry, where many are willing to discard valuable talent based on age.

Develop and implement best employment policies and practices to cater to the needs of the increased longevity of the workforce.

These benefits should meet the needs of the employee but also capitalize on the experience and talents of the older workers while adding value to the workforce through intergenerational collaboration.

Provide training and awareness to colleagues across the board, educating them in the changing demographics of the workforce and shifting preconceived conceptions of the older workers to stamp out ageism and maximize collaboration.

While the current situation may seem unfavorable for many older workers, smart employees will continue to develop their skills while wise CEOs will be hiring older workers for their untapped potential.

Over a short period of time the industry’s focus will shift to this cohort and the most successful companies will identify how to create a workplace that understands how to manage a diverse age group appropriately and beneficially toward their long-term strategies.

A company that can accommodate diversity and recognize their employees’ needs will always produce results far ahead of their competition. It will be interesting to see how perceptions shift as diversely aged workers pave a way for innovation through collaborative views and approaches to challenges.

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Give ‘Em a Break: Employees Want Their Lunch Break Back

lunch at work

A new survey shows the vast majority of employees take into account whether they get a lunch break when scouting for a job. Once they land that gig, however, results also show that more employees are scarfing down a sandwich rather than leisurely dining on dim sum.

“Take Back the Lunch Break” shows that 27 percent of the 1,600 North American survey participants don’t take a lunch break each workday. The study notes that going out for lunch helps workers feel more engaged and productive, said Jennifer J. Deal, senior research scientist at the Center for Creative Leadership and affiliated research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California.

“If you think about athletes, there’s halftime for a reason, right? Because halfway through any endeavor, you need a break. You need to take time to breathe and not continually engage in the activity,” said Deal, who partnered with workplace hygiene company Tork for the study. “For people in the workplace, taking a lunch break is just that. It’s halftime.”

Employees who took a lunch break every day scored higher than those who didn’t in the survey results for job satisfaction, the likelihood to continue working at the same company, and recommending their employer to others.

Deal said employees want to be perceived as hard-working so they bypass lunch and power through the day.

There may be some truth to that, given that survey results show 22 percent of supervisors think employees who take regular lunch breaks are less hardworking.

Employees and employers can nibble away at the problem. Deal recommends that employees pay attention to their energy levels to notice when they start to get drained. And employers can help change the culture at the company.

“You need to model the behavior and not reward the person who never takes breaks. So, it’s a matter of modeling behavior, encouraging behavior and rewarding behavior,” Deal said.

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The 13th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Hire-to-Harm Manager

Jon Hyman The Practical Employer

Today’s post is a lesson in how not manage a poor performing employee.
Believe it or not, it’s generally considered poor employee management to attempt to motivate employees by causing them serious physical harm. It’s even worse when that serious physical harm results in an employee’s death.
From Cleveland.com:

A Solon man who hired a handyman to do some yard work around an Elyria convenience store is accused of conspiring with two men to hurt him, resulting in the handyman’s death, Elyria police say.
Willie Fisher, 46, of Lakewood, was found shot dead about 6:30 p.m. Friday behind the Convenient Food Mart on East Avenue near Fuller Road, police said.
During the course of their investigation, police learned that Fisher was hired as a handyman to do some yard work around the store by 56-year-old Bruce Arnoff, of Solon, a news release from the Elyria police department says.
Arnoff became upset with Fisher, and he asked two East Cleveland men, 29-year-old John Sullivan and 18-year-old Saint-Velle Pruitt, to “cause serious physical harm” to Fisher, police said. Their actions resulted in Fisher’s death.

The Convenient Food Mart is not directly owned by Arnoff, property records show. It’s unclear if he is an employee at the business or works for a third party that hired Fisher.

If you (allegedly) cause the death of an employee by (allegedly) hiring two men to rough him up as a workplace motivational tool, you might be the worst employer of 2018.

Previous nominees:

The 1st Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Holy Harasser

The 2nd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Arresting School Board

The 3rd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Camera Creep

The 4th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the (in)Humane Society Harasser

The 5th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Political Pension Preventer

The 6th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Sadistic Sergeant

The 7th Nominee for Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Pregnancy Provoker

The 8th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Age Discriminator

The 9th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Retaliator

The 10th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Whitewasher

The 11th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Supervisor Supremacist

The 12th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Soulless Supervisor

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Everything Old Is New Again for Gen Z

I never made a commencement speech. Class salutatorian or valedictorian? More like class clown.

My kids would probably tell you that the wisest piece of advice I offered them at our post-graduation party was, “Order the chicken; the burgers are really greasy.”

But that won’t stop me from providing you, the graduating Class of 2018, a bit of advice. I know, you’ve already heard the insights and anecdotes of irrelevant politicians, has-been actors and ol’ State U’s biggest donor. Serial, what can the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am possibly impart on any graduating class?

So I didn’t create anthems like “Let’s Get It Started” or “My Humps.” Will.i.am may be a wizard of the soundboard but let me be your workplace sounding board.

Hear me out, ay? Gen Z is predicted to occupy over 20 percent of the workforce by 2020. I can help launch your career and simultaneously boost the spirits of the fine folks operating Chez Mom y Dad by prodding you out of your cozy suburban bedroom and into the cold reality of a two-room studio with a rotating flow of roommates and god-knows-how-many random visitors crashing on your couch, floor and bathtub.

No probs, you’re Generation Z! Boomers existed when there were just three channels on TV. Generation X thought Billy Idol was cool. And millennials? They’re just … old. Fail!

You got this. Except … well, those millennials. They’re gonna be your bosses.

Gen X will be your bosses, too. And yes, even some of those ancient boomers will be your bosses. In other words, you are on the low rung.

Cheer up. We’ve all been there. Do you think for a second that boomers were running Eastman Kodak or Ma Bell (Go ahead, Google it; I’ll wait) in the late 1960s as they en masse entered the workforce?

Also read Ed Frauenheim’s rebuttal: Advice for Gen Z: Demand a Better Workplace Than We Did

No, they were protesting the Monsantos and Dow Chemicals of the corporate world, not to mention smoking weed and tripping out on Hendrix playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at Woodstock.

When the 1980s rolled around and that sullen, self-absorbed (some say independent and self-sufficient) cohort we call Gen X was joining the workforce, they could only look up as Bill Gates and Steve Wozniak built their tech empires.

And then there is the millennials. Be happy you are not among them. Generation Y has been poked, prodded and overanalyzed in the workplace to the point of near-paranoia.

Over the past decade I have watched this jaw-dropping fixation. Hundreds, if not thousands of books offer overhyped drivel like, “what’s wrong with millennials in the workplace” to “tips to help you manage millennials” to simply “understanding millennials in the workplace.”

Swap out millennials with any generation, fam. Bosses and co-workers of past generations had the same concerns as they do today: How do I deal with them?

This generational obsession is a load of crap. I never got it and still don’t, even on the cusp of you all joining us in our workplace sandbox.

Gen Zers will be adulting just like we fossils did: with difficult and awesome bosses; overbearing and enjoyable co-workers; layoffs, downsizings and offboardings; pay raises, bonuses and pay cuts.

Today’s headlines trumpet that there are more jobs than people who are out of work. Hooray for jobs!

That is, until the next recession hits, like it did in 2008 (totes ask millennials about that one), and in 2001, and 1991, and 1980, and … well, you will tolerate several during your working life.

Then as senile boomers and sullen Gen Xers phase out, you and those doddering old millennials will roll your eyes at new generations of workers. And they will have the same workplace experiences as all of us from that bottom rung.

Some experts contend that you can be choosy about your job in this economy. Don’t accept your first offer, one so-called culture expert wrote, since you may be stepping into a dangerous company culture.

What an incredibly arrogant and ignorant statement. You can’t even know if there will be a second offer. And if you have to move out of state for a job — say, the new weekend news anchor at WOMP in Tublone, Texas — experience eats culture for lunch every day of the week and at 5 and 11 on weekends.

I don’t know if “Let’s Get It Started” played during USC’s commencement ceremony, but if so, will.i.am may have imparted some perspective on those grads after all. Gen Z, as you begin your careers, just like the rest of us when we stood in your Adidas Superstars, you defs have no where to go now but up.

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The 11th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Supervisor Supremacist

Jon Hyman The Practical Employer

Last week, I asked why anyone is still using the N-word. 

Which brings us to today’s nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018, which apparently did not receive the “Thou shalt never use the N-word, ever!” memo.

The EEOC recently sued a Phoenix moving company, alleging that it created a racially hostile work environment for one of its employees, Clinton Lee.

Specifically:

    • Lee’s supervisor, Gary Carpenter, made numerous racially charged remarks, including “white power,” “if you’re not white, you’re not right,” and the N-word.
    • Carpenter often began morning staff meetings by uttering “white power” and saluting the staff with a Nazi salute.
    • When Lee had to pick up his paycheck from Carpenter, Carpenter would routinely tell Lee, “get out of here, we’re having a Klan meeting.”
    • Carpenter placed a horse jockey statute on his desk, affixed a whip in the jockey’s hand, tied the whip around the horse’s neck in the style of a noose, and labeled the statute, “Clint.”
    • In or about May 2014, a troll doll was spray-painted black and hung from a hook in full view of staff and management. A Post-it note was affixed to the doll. The note read “Clint King.” During a staff meeting, Carpenter pointed to the doll and told Lee that the doll was Lee. When Lee reported the troll doll to the company’s owner, she directed Lee to remove it himself.

A worthy nominee, indeed. Thank you, Eric Meyer, for the nomination.

Do you have a nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018? Tag me in a post of your own, or leave it in the comments below. If it’s worthy, I might just use it.

Previous nominees:

The 1st Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Holy Harasser

The 2nd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Arresting School Board

The 3rd Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Camera Creep

The 4th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the (in)Humane Society Harasser

The 5th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the Political Pension Preventer

The 6th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the Sadistic Sergeant

The 7th Nominee for Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Pregnancy Provoker

The 8th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 is … the Age Discriminator

The 9th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Retaliator

The 10th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Whitewasher

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The 10th Nominee for the Worst Employer of 2018 Is … the Whitewasher

Jon Hyman The Practical Employer

White only

If I told you that an employee hung this sign inside his workplace, you might think I was talking about 1950s Mississippi.

I’m not. It’s 2018 Sacramento, California.

That alone would be enough to earn this employer (Vivint Solar) a nomination as the worst employer of 2018, but it’s just the tip of the racist iceberg.

At least according to Teshawn Solomon, the plaintiff in a recently filed lawsuit.

Solomon alleges that in addition to the “White only” sign, spray-painted and hung by his co-workers outside a cardboard fort they built, various supervisors and managers:

  • Called him the “N-word” so frequently it was “like it was part of his everyday vocabulary.”
  • Told him to “reach his black hands out” when being handed a box.
  • Offered him a banana while saying, “Monkeys like bananas.”
He also claims that management ignored his complaints, refused to discipline any of the offenders, and allowed the racist misconduct to continue. Ultimately, Solomon resigned.
For its part, Vivint apologized and admitted the misconduct.

We typically have a policy of not commenting on specific personnel matters or pending litigation. However, in this case, we wish to extend a sincere apology to Mr. Solomon for the deeply concerning and understandably upsetting situation he endured. Mr. Solomon’s experience was an isolated one and it has been addressed by our HR team to ensure something like this never happens again. Mr. Solomon’s experience simply does not reflect the values or culture of Vivint Solar and stands in direct contradiction to our core values as a company.

Its apology, however, does not excuse the stunning failure that allowed this to happen in the first place. According to Solomon’s attorney, “When employees ​freely use racial slurs on a daily basis, brazenly construct a racist monument in plain sight and are then shielded by management, it is only because the culture allowed it.”

He’s 100 percent correct.

The Sacramento Bee has the full details of the lawsuit, including a photo of the offending sign.

Suffice it to say that if your workplace allows a “white only” clubhouse, you might be the worst employer of 2018.
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8 Things to Expect From a Highly Competent Diversity Consultant

For 20 years, I’ve been a diversity trainer and consultant — as an internal employee, subcontractor for other firms and president of my own company.

Aside from providing excellent value to my clients, my goal has been to improve the reputation of my field by raising the bar on what organizations expect from diversity and inclusion work and D&I professionals. One way I do this is to educate potential clients about what they should look for in a consultant, and how to engage with them. Here are eight things I tell them to expect from a highly competent consultant that will get results that matter.

They will want to do some intake. Probably lots of intake. A highly competent D&I consultant won’t simply do a training session if that’s what you ask for. That’s “old school” and very likely a waste of your time and money (see When Diversity Training Is a Waste of Time and Employers’ Money). No ethical, highly competent health professional would write a patient a prescription for a medication they request without first conducting a thorough patient history, ordering lab tests and making a diagnosis. It’s no different with D&I practitioners, and the good ones are experts just like your physician. The consultant will want to ask lots of thought-provoking questions, talk to key stakeholders, and perhaps review your existing data or documents. If there’s no contract in place yet, it’s OK to ask them to sign a non-disclosure agreement before handing over your confidential information, but be prepared to share information openly. If you don’t, you hinder the consultant’s ability to identify your root problem, assess fit with their style and expertise, and make appropriate recommendations. It also gets your partnership off to an untrusting, inequitable start.

They will help you define your goals and outcomes. Every organization begins with some sense of their problem and what they want. The competent D&I consultant will help you figure out what you need. They will work with you to define your concrete, mission-critical goals. Diversity is not an end, it’s a means to an end that’s already top of mind for your organization and its leaders. An excellent consultant will help you figure out how to get results that already matter. Be prepared to answer questions like: What is your No. 1 pressing problem as an organization right now? Your major pain points? What’s keeping your senior leaders up at night? How do you want to go from good to great? What specifically do you want people to do, think or feel differently after this project? How will you know this project was successful? Having top leaders and key decision makers involved in the intake process ensures you’ll get the most robust, accurate answers. An excellent D&I consultant will help you tie D&I work to those goals and pain points to yield a high return on your investment of time, talent and budget.

They will recommend a solution that meets your goals. Training is only a solution if lack of knowledge and skills are the problem. Most organizations that request training don’t need it. What they usually need is help improving leadership, holding staff accountable, revising policies and procedures or gathering baseline data. Training may be one aspect of addressing systems flaws or leadership deficits, but rarely produces meaningful results on its own.

They will help you assess impact. Ask your consultant how they plan to demonstrate results and ROI. A highly competent consultant won’t be surprised by the question – they’ll be impressed. They should have a good understanding of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods, including the four Kirkpatrick levels, and how to apply them. Make sure in your contracting that goals, deliverables and evaluation of results is included. At a bare minimum, I provide all my clients with a written report of results (including quantitative and qualitative metrics), my recommendations and concrete next steps. For long engagements, have regular mid-point evaluations to assess project effectiveness and adjust your plan if needed.

They have expertise outside of D&I. The best D&I practitioners have a background in organization development as well as D&I. Many have first-hand leadership or industry experience, while others are skilled at designing and delivering training. Some are certified or credentialed coaches, while others hold certificates in specialty models, assessment tools, or communication techniques. Ensure that your consultant possesses a robust yet relevant skillset that will add depth and value to your work together.

They run an effective business. Whether the D&I professional is an external or internal consultant, expect them to be reliable and professional. They should communicate clearly, be reasonably available, respond to messages, keep their word, honor deadlines, and avoid starting work without a clear and thorough written contract. They will set boundaries to ensure you stay within your contract, and don’t get too much of their time and expertise for free. They will handle invoicing and financial transactions smoothly, use technology effectively, provide any tax or insurance documents you require, and address your concerns with a customer service-oriented attitude.

They leverage their expertise and push back gently. Don’t engage a D&I consultant unless you’re willing to partner with an expert who will use that expertise. Their role is to set you up for success by providing sound advice and analysis, and to see what you can’t. They will ask questions or push back if you make an inaccurate interpretation or ineffective decision. Expect them to listen well and answer all your questions, but to direct you if you need direction. Don’t be shy to ask the consultant for research or best practices to back up what they’re recommending, or to explain what informs their opinions.

They walk the talk. No one is perfect, but it’s reasonable to expect a highly competent, ethical D&I consultant to speak and act more skillfully and inclusively than most when interacting across differences. They should read and stay current in D&I developments, be in regular reflection about their own identities and impact on others, and do ongoing “personal work” to disrupt their ineffective biases and improve their emotional intelligence. The way they engage with you, your staff, and the public (i.e. on social media and blogs) should align with their espoused values and the general goals of D&I.

A highly competent, ethical D&I consultant, who is also an excellent fit for your organization’s culture and current needs, is a critical partner in your ongoing success. Don’t treat this role as anything less, and keep your expectations high – you’ll be glad you did!

My postings on Workforce.com represent my own personal views and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Korn/Ferry International, Futurestep, or any other organization with which I may be affiliated.

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Second Chances Versus the #MeToo Movement

The issues that HR face today tend to be divisive now. What’s fair? What’s appropriate? What even are the facts?

Coretha Rushing, senior vice president, chief people officer at Equifax and board president at the Society for Human Resource Management, said this to a room of thousands of HR professionals on the Monday morning of SHRM’s annual conference. And she has a point: HR is increasingly in the spotlight, and most of these topics are heavily debated topics for which get people emotional on either side of the issue.

“Everywhere you look, people issues are dominating conversation, from #MeToo to AI and so much more,” Rushing said. That seemed to be a major theme of this year’s annual conference: HR is both increasingly the subject of people’s attention now, and meanwhile organizations like SHRM are making more of an effort to advocate for issues publicly under the leadership of Johnny C. Taylor Jr., who certainly does not come across as someone who’s nervous to debate.

My editor Rick Bell has gone into detail about this as it relates to the Workflex in the 21st Century Act, and I’d like to throw out another context a well as I conclude my SHRM18 coverage for Workforce. I’ll use Taylor’s press conference on Monday, June 18, as source material. Also my inspiration: an HR professional who in a passing, short conversation said that they were surprised SHRM didn’t have more planned around sexual harassment.

Harassment is one of those hotly debated topics that is difficult for HR to address.

SHRM
SHRM CEO Johnny C. Taylor Jr.

According to Taylor, three major agenda items for SHRM are workplace immigration, second-chances for the formerly incarcerated, and harassment (both sexual and otherwise). An obvious tension point between two of these three items, which one journalist did ask Taylor about at his press briefing, is #MeToo versus people who have been incarcerated for a sexual crime.

We didn’t get a clear answer on this from Taylor in the press conference, although it seems clear what SHRM’s perspective will be on second chances. Case in point:

  • Everyone deserves to start over after they’ve served their time, Taylor said. Everyone deserves that second chance. I’m playing devil’s advocate here: That’s a pretty broad statement. Not everyone does. What about the Harvey Weinsteins, Mario Batalis or Matt Lauers of the world? There are enough men in the world who don’t harass women, and enough women who haven’t been given those same career opportunities as men, historically, that maybe they should be the ones to get their first chance.
  • An even more interesting debate moving forward will be, what about third chances? And fourth chances? Taylor posed this thought. My counterpoint: I’d really, really hope companies would put their foot down after a certain number, in the context of harassment. To do otherwise would be irresponsible. Also, think of how many of these cases that have come to light recently in which a person has continually committed similar verbal or physical abuse and gotten away with it. They’ve already gotten their chance not to repeat a behavior again.
  • If a person’s criminal record says “assault,” that can mean many different offenses, Taylor said. For example, maybe it was a verbal threat and nothing physical. My counterpoint: Verbal threats are still serious. Let’s not undermine the seriousness of these just because nothing physical happened; emotional and mental abuse are real and not to be taken lightly.

Big picture, here’s what I’m getting at: People have the capability to change and reform. But let’s admit the seriousness and pervasiveness of sexual harassment. Crazily enough, there are people out there who still don’t get that this is a big deal! Or that women don’t seem to know how to take a compliment or a joke!

My concern is that it’s already pretty well-known that HR historically has not done enough or gone far enough in the fight against sexual harassment. Yes, it’s a positive if HR folks want to give people second chances, but I really hope that they’ll be much more proactive at appropriate punishments, like firing or filing criminal charges if necessary, when it comes to people who have been incarcerated for sexual offenses, whether that’s verbal or physical. HR has a lot to prove right now in how it deals with sexual harassment.

This brings me to Rushing’s talk, because at one point she brought up how at Nike, when a group of women wanted to come forward about harassment, they went to the media, not HR. That’s how they knew something would actually get done to address the situation.

“Too often we’re hearing, I went to HR and nothing happened,” Rushing said.

My personal call for HR professionals in the advocacy space is: Yes, of course, advocate for the formerly incarcerated. It’s true that they’re an untapped source for talent. I want to be clear that I agree this is a very positive development, that Taylor had many solid points in his argument, and that many people out there deserve a second chance.

Meanwhile, don’t put sexual harassment on the back burner. That’s still important and should remain in the spotlight as well. As you move to improve the job-search environment for the formerly incarcerated, also remember to be more assertive in how you address harassment.

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2018 Workforce Game Changer: Shirley Cruz-Rodriguez

Shirley Cruz-Rodriguez has made quite the impact at financial services company Fannie Mae, where she received six awards in the company’s internal recognition program for the work she’s done throughout all her projects.

Shirley Cruz-Rodriguez, Process Improvement Manager, Fannie Mae

Her colleagues describe Cruz-Rodriguez, 39, as a “dynamic leader who takes on every challenge with excitement and dedication.” One of her most recent innovations at Fannie Mae was the Single-Family Mentoring Program for the company’s single-family division, a provider of single-family mortgages in the United States.

Cruz-Rodriguez developed the pilot program as a way for employees to not only receive advice from company leaders but also advance their careers and move up the Fannie Mae ladder. The program also includes something atypical: reverse mentoring. Officers are paired with lower-level employees of the organization, which gives them the opportunity to look at challenges through a different lens and view what’s going on in the organization differently.

“It’s a push-and-pull relationship,” Cruz-Rodriguez said. “It’s something that both ends learn how to collaborate, close any generational gaps, and the mentees have the opportunity to see the perspective from the leadership.” Some 200 people, including mentors and learners, participated in the pilot program, and after the success of the pilot, the HR team scheduled to expand the program formally across the company.

Go here to read about the rest of our 2018 Game Changers

Meanwhile, Cruz-Rodriguez also strives to make a difference outside of the office through various volunteer efforts. She’s a leader in her church and an active member of her company’s Hispanic Employee Resource Group. She also participated in relief efforts after Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico in September.

Cruz-Rodriguez, even while she continued to push forward on the Single-Family Mentoring Program pilot, also kept her focus on helping with hurricane relief efforts. She’s originally from Puerto Rico and still has family there.

“Everyone has a call to serve others, and for me, when I serve others, it is my way to really achieve happiness in life,” Cruz-Rodriguez said. She sees doing good as a way to better understand herself and other people, a way to have more empathy toward other people, and a way to “open our eyes in the sense of how we can help and support each other in order to have a better society.”

For her professional drive to create a groundbreaking new mentoring program and her humanitarian drive to make the world a better place, Cruz-Rodriguez is part of the Workforce Game Changers Class of 2018.

— Andie Burjek