Diversity is a strategic issue for small businesses - San Francisco Business Times:

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That is because most fail to see diversityh as a business rather than a social experts say. Increased diversithy can bring many benefits to abusiness — variede perspectives and new ideas, the potential to reacgh new clients and a more vibrant and collaborative placr to work. But creating a diversre workplace — in gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, cultural backgrounds and sexual orientation — is often easier said than done. Eric the manager for diversity and inclusiobn with the Society for Humah ResourceManagement (www.shrm.org), said it’s often a “chicken versux the egg” scenario, as companies often need minoritiezs in the workplace to attract more.
“Itf I’m a typical minority job applicant, I know I’ going to be in high demand,” he said. “I will likelyy not choose the businesswhere there’sd no one like me.” Attracting minoritiew will be increasingly important in the coming as they will make up a larger segment of the populatiom at the same time many baby boomers will be retiring. Melani e Harrington, the president of the Americanm Institute for ManagingDiversity (www.aimd.org), said companies shouldd approach diversity strategically, just as they would a new producy line or a new customere market. First, determine where that audiencw is and whatattracts them.
Consider targeting minority job fairs or looking for candidates where yourcompanhy hasn’t searched traditionally. Businesses should also set measurable goalse and hold all people in hirin decisions accountable for meeting those just as top management would hold people accountable for meetinggsales objectives. But once you have achieved a divers eemployee base, it’s also important to integrated them into the experts say, by makinh sure you have benefits and programsd in place to accommodate all types of workers. It’s not enough to have a diverse experts say.
It’s equallhy important to recognize whether the diversity is clusterede within one segment of the workforce or sprea out acrossthe organization, including in “It’s a much more difficult task to reallyg take a hard look at the organization’s cultural issuea that may be presenting these arbitraryh glass ceilings and glass walls,” Harringto n said. Even when the initial hire is sometimes the workplace culture unintentionally may make the newcomeer feel unwelcomeor uncomfortable. For example, many professional firmw recruit women as partnersor managers, but often still have expectations that may not be family-friendly, such as requiring a lot of eveninf meetings.
This could make it harder to keep womehn with children inthese positions. In addition to examining policies that mighthinder diversity, employer s should establish mentoring programs. While many people don’t mind finding their own mentor or askingfor help, some minoritiesx fear it might be seen as a weakness, Petersom said. By organizing formal mentoring programs, businessese can help engage employees, especially new hires. It’ s also important that minorities know theier voices arebeing heard, whether it’s abour concerns in the workplace or abouyt ways to improve the product.
Petersonh cites a car company that was concerne d its handful of femaleengineers didn’t have enough It united them as a desigb team and encouraged them to creat their dream car. The team generated many new ideaes that have since been incorporated intothe manufacturers’ models. Some of the womej said they had expressed theseideas before, but without The final thing, experts stress, is to remember diversit is not a fixed goal. “Diversity management really is a Harrington said. “It’s an ongoing effort that you have to work on and engag e and manageand address.
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