July 20, 2010

Dear Attendees,

It was a pleasure to have you join Unbound Ideas and Eric Peterson for 10 Challenges that Keep HR and Diversity Professionals Up At Night, a webinar presented by Shirley Davis on July 13. Thank you for providing feedback and participating in the conversation.

Shirley began by stating that some of the people challenges she would be discussing have been exacerbated by the economy, but most are issues and opportunities that have been around since before the recession. She also acknowledged that there is a lot of work to do, and a lot of pressure on HR professionals to move the organization forward while being relevant to its bottom-line needs.

Her ten challenges, in no particular rank order, were:

1. To become more strategic and less transactional about HR work

Many HR leaders, Shirley said, are still grappling with moving their department from being transactional to being strategic. She noted that there is still very little time being spent on the strategic side.

The excuse for this is understandable. We devote so much time to putting out fires in the organization that higher level efforts get pushed aside. But HR leaders need to anticipate change put systems in place to meet evolving workforce needs. This is borne out by a 2008 study at PriceWaterhouse Coopers, in which only 43 percent of 1100 CEOs believed their HR departments were equipped to handle the challenges of the organization.

2. To become aligned with key business objectives

Consistent with the first challenge, Shirley has found that many HR leaders have created workforce or inclusion strategies that have little connection to the organization’s business objectives. Whenever she asks HR leaders to name the organization’s top 3 business objectives, or what’s keeping their CEO up at night, few are able to answer.

At this point Shirley talked about using measurements to show the impact of HR efforts on the bottom line. She emphasized that it is necessary to measure what’s important to your senior leadership team and its business objectives. Such measures can include

increased efficiency; cost per hire; cost savings of workforce improvement or capacity work; product improvement; increased quality scores on customer service.

3. To recruit top talent, and build a pipeline for leadership capability

According to a 2007 McKinsey Survey, finding talent is the most important management challenge, over other challenges like markets, competition, and growth

According to Shirley, this is a great opportunity for HR to make an impact on the organization’s strategic business needs. Moreover, talent recruitment and development will be a key differentiator between those orgs that survive and those that thrive. These efforts are becoming more challenging as demographic shifts place greater complexities and higher demand on recruiting.

4. To establish an inclusive culture

SHRM’s definition of inclusion is: the achievement of a work environment in which all individuals are treated fairly and respectfully; have equal access to opportunities and resources; and can contribute fully toward an organization’s success.

This nuanced understanding allows us to grasp the difference between diversity and inclusion. It is possible to have diversity in your organization and not have inclusion. As Shirley quoted a colleague: Diversity is the mix; inclusion is getting the mix to work well together.

But when people see that the organization is committed to an inclusive culture they’re more committed and loyal in turn. This is especially important at a time when engagement and retention have become critical.

5. To meet the changing global landscape of diversity and inclusion

Shirley used the iceberg metaphor to help us think about diversity differently. Much of what makes us different or diverse involves invisible diversity traits, traits that are below the surface. There are also those traits near the waterline that are invisible but frequently become visible.. Nevertheless, most organizations tend to get in legal trouble about the qualities that are above the surface or visible.

6. To meet the demands of globalization

Businesses have expanded, grown, and now operate across countries. But we are becoming more globalized also because of the web. We can conduct business 24 hours a day anywhere in the world.

This means that for HR professionals, awareness of new culture, language and social norms are become important.

Diversity issues are different and handled differently in different countries. Getting this right requires a sophisticated knowledge, and the capacity to ask the right questions from an international rather than a simply American perspective.

Eric recommended that interested audience members seek the resource The Global Diversity Index.

7. To develop practitioners’ skills, competencies and personal well being

Another challenge facing HR leaders is personal. HR and Diversity managers wear so many hats, and have so many responsibilities, that they must continually develop their skills, and stay fresh and involved in current issues order to keep the organization moving.

Shirley talked in depth about the myriad skills required by the role.

8. To anticipate growing health care demands

Rising health care costs are hitting companies hard. Organizations must have health care strategies that ensure fairness and equality, that offer flexibility to customize plans to their needs and expectations. HR leaders need to develop alternative approaches and strategies and communicate them well.

Wellness programs have become the number one health care cost containment strategy for many companies.

9. To meet diverse religion and spirituality needs

As people are feeling more comfortable coming to work and expressing their full self, we are seeing increasingly open and diverse expression of religious beliefs. This is complicated by the increased number of immigrants with diverse religious beliefs in the workplace.

10. To avoid legal risks and damage to reputation

$2.3 billion is the amount that race and gender discrimination lawsuits cost US corporations in settlements alone over the past 10 years. This cost does not include the damage to organizational reputation, morale, culture, etc. Clearly, HR leaders can provide a valuable service to their organizations by reducing such risk.

In conclusion, Shirley said that HR and Diversity professionals must reduce the amount of time spent on transactional activities, focus on the business needs of the organization, and orient their strategies to meet evolving needs of the workforce.

It was an incredibly content-rich presentation that resonated with listeners. Because time for questions was so limited we encourage you to ask questions in the comment box below, email us, or email Shirley directly. She promises to get back to you.
Finally, we’d like to mention that SHRM’s Diversity and Inclusion Conference in New Orleans October 11-13.

On behalf of Shirley Davis and Eric Peterson, we thank you again for joining us, and look forward to the next occasion.

Warm Regards,
Unbound Ideas