Diversity Executive - November 2008 - (Page 62)

BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE continued from page 59 oped from continuously refreshed census data. Stores, store support centers and distribution centers will have teammate proﬁles that mirror the communities they serve. When managers or recruiters place a job requisition in the new recruiting system, a ﬂag will appear, highlighting deﬁcient placement goals. Hiring managers also will receive diverse candidate slates from the company’s recruiting department so they can choose the most qualiﬁed individuals. Promotional decisions will continue to be made by identifying the most qualiﬁed candidate. 8. Create comprehensive training curricula for all leaders and teammates. Managers will participate as teams in instructor-led training workshops. Hourly teammates will complete a mandatory e-learning course. “The goal of our education strategy is quite simple: to create teammate awareness and teach our managers new recruiting techniques so they can attract, select, develop and retain the most qualiﬁed, diverse talent the marketplace has to offer,” said Hart. 9. Report key diversity metrics in a new HR scorecard to assure accountability, effectiveness and continuous improvement. Performance measurement is the link between diversity practices and outcomes. Carquest and Worldpac will track four targeted measures: Process measures will track the establishment of speciﬁc processes and infrastructure to support the implementation of enterprise values and strategic diversity objectives. Behavioral measures will become the foundation for individual and organization-wide development and mastery of skills needed to create and sustain a diverse culture. Outcome measures will track the results of established processes and goal attainment such as percentage increase in diverse candidate slates and hires, proportion of spend with diversity suppliers and growth in market segments. Finally, perception measures will report shifts that relate to the enterprise’s diversity objectives over time, such as teammate and customer opinion surveys, community goodwill and public relations. Key talent metrics have been developed and will be reported monthly. “We know our commitment to diversity is fundamental to our success. We want our organizational culture to be as distinct as the teammates we hire, the customers we serve, the suppliers from which we purchase and communities in which we operate. Working at Carquest and Worldpac will mean being part of a team where diversity is valued,” Sloan said. “As our journey evolves, diversity will be ingrained in our company’s culture and embraced at all levels in the organization. Through these efforts, Carquest and Worldpac will create a better working environment, one that makes us an employer of choice, a preferred business partner for suppliers and an important contributor to the communities we serve.” « John E. DiBenedetto is the executive vice president and chief people officer for General Parts International Inc. He can be reached at editor@diversity-executive.com. 1. Examine the ﬁrm’s track record. Most, if not all search ﬁrms, will pay lip service to having a diversity practice or being able to ﬁnd diverse candidates. Drill down into their past searches to determine which ﬁrms seem more credible. Ask each ﬁrm’s representatives to share cases in which the ﬁrm successfully presented diverse, seniorlevel candidates to clients. 2. Scrutinize the sourcing strategy. Grill the search ﬁrms for the details and relationships they believe enable their diverse sourcing strategies. Which industry organizations do they belong to that help strengthen their network? What conferences do they attend? The search ﬁrm should be able to discuss which organizations exist and who attends their conferences. Additionally, the search ﬁrm also should be involved in national organizations and university alumni organizations that provide access to senior-level diversity talent. 3. Turn the tables. The search ﬁrms’ track records and sourcing strategies should give a hiring company a sense about the ﬁrm’s diversity capabilities; however, it also can be useful to ask representatives how their own organizations address diversity. How does the search ﬁrm hire, develop and retain diverse leaders? What does the ﬁrm’s CEO think about diversity, and how does that perspective resonate throughout the company? Ultimately, the hiring organization should evaluate whether a search ﬁrm’s approach to diversity reﬂects and fosters credibility in the marketplace. 4. Take names. Find out which individuals the search ﬁrm intends to place on the search team responsible for presenting candidates. Try to get a sense for how diverse the team representing the hiring organization will be. 5. Put your own best team forward. Once settled on a search ﬁrm, the hiring company should focus inward. Assemble a credible internal diversity recruiting team. This team is responsible for assessing the candidate pool, selecting candidates to interview, as well as screening. These individuals will speak to the hiring company’s culture and introduce candidates to the organization. The group should be characterized by diverse thinking and perspectives from organizational functions besides HR. From an organizational perspective, one of the most challenging aspects of unfairness is its silence. Executives, directors and employees who leave an organization because of unfairness are under no obligation to report the problem to their former organization. Yet, the problem’s impact is not subtle: The annual cost of turnover resulting from unfairness incidents exceeds the total cost of all sex and race discrimination lawsuits reported by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission between 1997 and 2006. « Eunice Azzani and Michael Kennedy are senior client partners at Korn/Ferry. They can be reached at editor@diversity-executive.com. 62 Diversity Executive | www.diversity-executive.com | November/December 2008 http://www.diversity-executive.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Diversity Executive - November 2008

Diversity Executive - November 2008 Editor’s Letter Contents Leadership Connections Guest Editorial Diversity Executive Online Middle Management Roadblock ‘Hidden Winds’ Hinder Progress The Domino Effect Supplier Partnerships Unlock Economic Opportunities Measuring Diversity Special Section: Who’s Who in Diversity and Inclusion Dimensions of Difference Overcoming Language Diff erences Business Intelligence: Combating Subtle Discrimination Case Study: Shifting Diversity Into Overdrive Advertisers’ Index Editorial Resources Strategies

Diversity Executive - November 2008

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