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Diversity
Makes Good Business Sense
By Joyce Romine
The
St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative will help companies
attract and retain a talented,
diverse workforce and develop a diverse supplier base.
Variety,
a.k.a. diversity, is the spice of life--and business.
The mix of different people and cultures creates an interesting,
unique environment--one that both employees and clients
appreciate.
Research
shows diversity in the workplace makes good business sense.
According to the July 1999 issue of Fortune
magazine, "Minority-friendly companies tend to be superior
performers." The magazine reports that companies on its
ranking of America's 50 Best Companies for Asians, Blacks
and Hispanics for each of the last two years have outperformed
the S&P 500.
Enterprise-Rent-A-Car,
which has a national diversity committee in place, has
significantly accelerated its attention to diversity with
good results, according to Andy Taylor, Enterprise CEO
and the current president of Civic Progress. "We're not
yet where we want to be, but we're working hard to create
the kind of diverse company that reflects the make-up
of our society and our customer base. It's the right thing
to do and it's good business."
Taylor
continues: "For companies like ours, as well as for
others throughout the region it's also very important
that the community itself be the kind of place that
is appealing to talented people of all backgrounds.
Some cities have a jump on us in this regard--such as
Atlanta--but if each of us, working within our own spheres
of influence, works to make a difference, we can effect
change."
In
1997, FOCUS and the St. Louis Minority Business Council
created the Greater St. Louis Covenant 2004, an initiative
for minority economic opportunity and development. Firms
and entities that participated in Covenant 2004 endorsed
the Covenant's broad goals and agree to support initiatives
related to minority economic opportunity and development.
From
this collaborative effort came the St. Louis Business
Diversity Initiative, which has developed over the last
year and is now being launched. The St. Louis Business
Diversity Initiative is designed to help companies in
the St. Louis region attract and retain a talented,
diverse workforce and develop a diverse supplier base.
The initiative will provide resources to help businesses
strengthen workforce and marketplace diversity efforts.
Sponsors
include the RCGA, Civic Progress, Leadership Council
Southwestern Illinois, the St. Louis Minority Business
Council, FOCUS and St. Louis 2004.
Eddie
Davis, president of the St. Louis Minority Business
Council, is excited about the Business Diversity Initiative's
efforts. "The groups involved in the initiative have
the foresight to recognize the value of diversity
in business," he says. "Locally, we now have a formidable,
collaborative effort to make diversity a key issue
and reposition St. Louis as a major league city known
for its inclusion."
Joanne
S. Griffin is vice president, administration at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car,
and a co-chair of the Diversity Officers Network,
which is part of the St. Louis Business Diversity
Initiative. She says the combined efforts of civic
organizations and businesses can make a powerful impact
on diversity in the workplace. "Together we're pioneering
this type of diversity effort in the United States,"
she says.
The
first result seen from the initiative came with
the growth in the Senior Management Minority Business
Development Conference held last fall at Washington
University. About 150 employees from St. Louis area
businesses participated. It was designed to assist
senior executives in forming and/or expanding the
minority business development program at their companies
through expert panelists and working brainstorming
groups.
"The
Minority Business Council took the lead and addressed
minority supplier challenges," Griffin says. "There
was plenty of positive interaction that will have
lasting effects."
Davis
credits much of the conference's success to Andy
Taylor and Civic Progress' leadership. "With this
conference, they worked closely with us to better
engage Civic Progress members and increase participation,"
he says. "Their efforts made all the difference
in the world. We had about a 300 percent increase
in participation over the previous year."
He
says the St. Louis Minority Business Council is
near completion of a Strategic Development Guide
that compiles comments made at the conference to
help participants further develop diversity programs.
"Now
we need to cast a broader net," Davis says. "Many
large companies are now engaged in diversity initiatives.
We also need to target the mid-size companies in
the region."
The
Initiative's goal is to recruit 100 major companies
to participate. Many sizeable St. Louis businesses,
working with sponsoring business and civic organizations,
are organizing this community-wide St. Louis Business
Diversity Initiative to provide additional information
resources to businesses regarding diversity issues.
One service will be a web site to provide more detailed
information about various successful practices,
as well as links to other web sites and organizations
that can provide counsel and assistance.
"We
think promoting diversity brings business value,"
Griffin says. "In addition to broadening our customer
base and making sure we're representative of our community,
working toward diversity helps develop teamwork internally.
We're stronger when we partner together."
A
Sample of Diversity's Efforts
Firstar,
which acquired Mercantile Bank, is finding that
the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative is
helping broaden and improve the company's diversity
efforts. "Mercantile was already building diversity,"
says Kurt Held, senior vice president, human resources
of Firstar. "Firstar is adding to it."
One
key program Firstar is carrying on from a 30-year
Mercantile tradition is a high school training
program. Working with cooperating education teachers,
the program hires African-American students from
St. Louis city schools for the summer before their
senior year. Then during the following school
year, they work half days at the bank. "This introduces
students to the working world," Held says. "They
learn about appropriate behavior, attire and phone
etiquette, and they get experience, skills and
financial resources."
The
program's results are impressive. Half of the
participants go on to college. And the other half
come to work for the bank, Held says.
"Diversity
allows us to tap all the wonderful traits of a
diverse population," he says. "It offers businesses
a different perspective. The key is to capitalize
on the many strengths diversity brings to the
table. Firstar is a big believer in diversity
training. All our employees have training to understand
and appreciate what diversity means to our company
and the virtues of diversity. Diversity has created
a feeling of inclusion in our company."
Firstar
also continues Mercantile's sponsorship efforts
of the National Black MBA, a professional business
organization open to all African Americans with
professional degrees. One of the group's initiatives,
"Leaders of Tomorrow," chooses students "teetering
on the fence" and brings them to the organization's
national conference. "This opens students' eyes
to professional African-American role models in
business and can help nudge the students in the
right direction," Held says.
An
effort is underway to bring the National Black MBA
conference to St. Louis in 2004, which would draw
about 12,000 people.
"Working
with the formal diversity initiative has given our
company a chance to network and find out what other
companies are doing," Held says. "It's a wonderful
platform to share ideas, best practices and to get
the momentum going toward more diversity. This initiative
is a step in the right direction and will make St.
Louis a more attractive place to live and work.
It will bring the virtues of the city forward."
Reserve
Your Place at the Table
"We
discovered many employers want to purchase from
minority suppliers but they don't know how to
make the contacts," says Kathy Osborn, senior
vice president of the RCGA. "The St. Louis Business
Diversity Initiative will fill this void and
be a valuable source of information for employers.
Participating companies will share information
about their best practices in recruiting African-American
employees and finding qualified minority companies."
Businesses
in the area are encouraged to participate in
the St. Louis Business Diversity Initiative
to exchange ideas with other companies to strengthen
their own diversity efforts.
Here's
what participation in the St. Louis Business Diversity
Initiative will mean for a company. The Initiative
will offer the following resources:
-
Best
practices guide--with information on efforts
that are working at other area companies and
guidance on how to implement or expand programs.
- Resource
manual--with regional and national contacts and information.
- Directory
of contacts at St. Louis area companies regarding employment
and minority contracting matters.
- Directory
of employment and purchasing information--about the types of
employees the companies seek and the kind of goods and services
they purchase--to help potential employees and suppliers make
the right connections within the company.
- Periodic
report on business achievements in minority employment and purchasing
from minority businesses. These resources will be provided to
participating companies in print and available on the Initiative's
web site.
For
more information, call Kathy Osborn, senior vice
president at the RCGA, 314/444-1160.
Joyce
Romine is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
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