TM - January 2008 - (Page 20)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning Historical discrimination in employment led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. To prevent this inequality from continuing, Congress declared discrimination in the workplace based on race, color, religion, gender or national origin to be illegal. Court cases, such as Griggs v. Duke Power, enforced the concept of making job-related recruiting decisions, rather than making these decisions based on gender or ethnicity. A year after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the federal government made even greater efforts to remedy the discrimination of the past by requiring all federal contractors to take affirmative steps to recruit, hire, promote and develop a ance with legal requirements than about taking actions that make essential business sense. In the years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, changing demographics in the United States have presented a dramatic force for change in the workplace, taking us beyond discussions of social justice to the recognition that diversity is increasingly a significant business consideration. As the baby boomer generation retires and the number of new entrants to the workforce declines, employers in the U.S. will experience a critical need to recruit and retain top talent in order to remain competitive. The war for talent in a shrinking labor market will pressure employers to compete for talent among women and people of color. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, the white working-age population in the U.S. is projected to decline from 82 percent in 1980 to 63 percent in 2020 (see Figure 1). Over the same time frame, the minority portion of the workforce is expected to double (from 18 percent to 37 percent). People of color will constitute nearly half of those enrolled in colleges. Clearly, the pool of available talent for jobs will be increasingly diverse, necessitating a change in the way employers source and retain talent. Providing career development opportunities also will be essential to maintain commitment to the company and to increase employee retention in the shrinking labor market. Figure 1: U.S. Workforce Demographic 100 Whites All Minorities 80 60 40 20 0 1980 2020 workforce that would be reflective of the communities in which they operate. The focus was on increasing representation of women and minorities in jobs where they had been underrepresented. Federal contractors were (and are still) required to measure their employment practices and their progress toward goals in annual affirmative action plans. While affirmative action was embraced by many organizations, the context of these efforts was an attempt to remedy social injustices. As a result, for many employers, affirmative action has been more about compli- The same demographic changes altering the face of the workplace also are affecting the composition of the markets to which consumer products are sold. The Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia found the purchasing power of diverse communities has nearly tripled over the past 15 years and is becoming a significantly larger percentage of the total consumer pie. Marketing to and meeting the needs of diverse communities, both within the United States and globally, presents opportunities for growth that businesses cannot overlook. According to Gil Casellas, former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and now Dell’s vice president of corporate 20 January 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - January 2008

TM - January 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Learning Connections: Working With Those People Leading Edge: Hub Caps for a Buggy Human Performance: Hawthorne Effect Revisited Beyond Affirmative Action: The Changing Face of Recruitment Assessment Centers in Talent Management: Strategies, Use and Value Nontraditional Benefits- How to Hook the Best Talent Intersection of Web 2.0 and Talent Management Cross-Training for Workforce Agility Mapping Talent Among Younger Workers Dashboard: Using Personality Data to Identify and Develop High-Potential Leaders Application: Shaffer Title Uses Myers-Briggs to Develop Common Corporate Language, Jump-Start Growth Insight: Dreier, Stein & Kahan LLP: Using Strategy to Bring Back the Law Profession Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential: Stop in the Name of Leadership

TM - January 2008

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