ORC Sightlines

March 2008

Special Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Issue

Next Generation Diversity: A new construct for driving initiatives through the organization

The special challenge of managing diversity globally—indeed, of managing people globally—is how to instill universal corporate values and standards while honoring local differences. Failure to recognize key aspects of local culture and practice can result in costly mistakes and create further resistance to corporate mandates.

At the International Equality and Diversity Conference: Exploring Good Practice, hosted by ORC and the British Council in London in February, ORC consultants Deirdre Golden and Liz MacGillivray presented a new way of organizing global diversity efforts that would help diversity managers understand, manage, and leverage “all the differences that make a difference” in their locations worldwide.

Traditionally organizations have managed vertically, from the top down. Diversity efforts, especially, tend to be driven by the passion or personal commitment of one person, whether a diversity professional or a senior leader, or perhaps both together. Those people, often by sheer force of commitment and personality, drive the initiative forward. In today’s hugely complex, global world, however, this model, dependent on single individuals, is no longer tenable. We need to build diversity capacity throughout the organization.

The new construct for driving diversity suggested by Golden and MacGillivray engages and develops support for diversity across all levels of the organization by drawing on a broader range of mechanisms, including affinity groups/employee networks, diversity councils, diversity working groups and task forces, various forms of mentoring, partnerships with external communities, etc. Most large companies already employ many of these, but for the most part, they operate in the old, vertical construct, each focusing on one geographical location or set of constituents.

The chart below illustrates how we might reorient these mechanisms, so that diversity operates across and obliquely, as well as up and down, and ties the organization together. For example, diversity councils can cooperate across geographies and business units. Mentors can be paired with protégés from other locations. Employee networks and affinity groups can provide valuable insights to senior management about market segments and local issues, and middle management (perhaps the constituency most neglected by diversity initiatives) can help translate corporate principles and objectives into local terms, effectively bridging the gap between the global and the local.

Diversity initiatives construct

In this new construct, the critical role of the global diversity practitioner is to create the links, build the partnerships, and provide tools and resources. Most importantly, the diversity leader is the initiative’s compass, ensuring that everyone, everywhere is pointed in the direction of the company’s strategic goals, even though each may take different roads to reach the destination.

To talk further about aligning diversity strategy with global business strategy and organization, contact Deirdre Golden in the U.K., +44 (0)20 7591 5600, or Liz MacGillivray in the U.S., +1-212-852-0406.

ORC Worldwide Announces Award for Equality and Diversity Champions

Diversity practitioners generally labor in relative obscurity—unknown by the outside world and sometimes underappreciated in their own organizations. Yet it is their ardor, ingenuity, and persistence that has brought about much of the progress employers have made in recognizing the value of diversity and changing our culture and organizational systems for the better.

ORC Worldwide is pleased to announce that this year we will honor an extraordinary member of our Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) community with a special award. The ORC Peter Robertson Award for Equality and Diversity Champions, named for a pioneer in equality and diversity work, will recognize an individual from one of ORC’s EDI Networks who exhibits the qualities and accomplishments that ORC and its member companies strive to develop in their organizations and as a model for all employers.

We hope that this award will help to shine a light, not only on the honoree, but on all the dedicated people championing diversity in their organizations. ORC will present the award at a special ceremony on June 26th in Washington, D.C., following the spring meeting of ORC’s Workforce Opportunity Network.

Peter Clendenin Robertson dedicated his life to furthering diversity in organizations and championing the rights of all employees to contribute fully. Before his career was cut off by his untimely and unexpected death in 1997, Peter chaired ORC’s Equal Opportunity Group (one of the predecessors to today’s Workforce Opportunity Network) and, at the time of his death, was involved in ORC’s reorganization of the practice area to more tightly integrate equality and diversity efforts. Peter was in the forefront of the global diversity movement. He was instrumental in starting the Vanguard Group, ORC’s first EDI network in Europe, and a similar network in Canada and was a trusted advisor to equality officials in the Canadian government.  Before joining ORC, during his 12-year tenure with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Peter made an enduring contribution to equality in the U.S. He was responsible for preparing the Uniform Selection Guidelines that regulate how employers test and select employees, as well as guidelines on affirmative action, sex/pregnancy discrimination, religious discrimination, and national origin discrimination.  

Peter is remembered fondly by many in the business, government, and advocacy communities—and especially by those of us who worked with him—as a singular personality and a man of passion and commitment to the principles of equality and inclusion.

For more information about the ORC Peter Robertson Award or ORC’s Global Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion practice and networks, in the U.S. contact Liz MacGillivray at +1-212-852-0406 or, in Europe, contact Deirdre Golden at +44 (0)20 7591 5600.

Proposed FMLA Regulations Fall Short for U.S. Employers

For years, U.S. employers have complained about the burden of complying with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The primary bone of contention has been the definition of “serious health condition” covered by the Act, which is so broad that even the common cold can be included. The provision allowing employees to take “intermittent leave” has also come under frequent attack because of the administrative burden it places on employers to track leave and replace absent employees.

On February 11, 2008, more than a year after requesting comments on problems with the Act, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released proposed revisions to the FMLA. Employers are not likely to be appeased by the proposed changes.

The DOL determined that it did not have the regulatory authority to change the definition of “serious health condition” or to significantly alter “intermittent leave.” However, the agency did provide some new mechanisms by which the use of FMLA leave can be controlled:

The regulations as issued include new military leave provisions for Active Duty Leave, which provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave because of any qualifying exigency for spouses, children and parents of active duty and certain other service members. Another new type of leave is the Military Caregiver Leave which provides up to 26 weeks of unpaid leave during a 12-month period for the spouse, child, parent or next of kin of a service member who is undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy or is on the temporary disability retired list for a serious injury or illness.

So far the general response by employers has been less than enthusiastic because the proposed changes do not respond to employers’ real concerns with FMLA. ORC will be submitting comments based on members’ concerns by the April 11th due date.

ORC Worldwide’s Global Equality, Diversity and Inclusion practice tracks legislative and regulatory action on behalf of members of the Employment Law & Litigation Group (ELLG) and the Workforce Opportunity Network (WON). For more information on these groups or the issues involved with the proposed FMLA regulations, contact Nita Beecher, +1-212-852-0346.

Senior Leadership Impact on Diversity: What Really Works?

Ask any practitioner the sine qua non for successful diversity and inclusion programs—and, indeed, for almost any human resources-related intervention—and almost invariably the answer will be “commitment from senior leadership.” This assumption has become enshrined in best practices studies and “best place to work” lists and is often echoed in discussions in ORC Worldwide’s equality, diversity, and inclusion networks.

However, we really know very little about the actual benefits of senior commitment or the most effective strategies for achieving them. We don’t know what kinds of leadership support are most effective or whether there are other factors that might be equally or more critical than support from the top. As a result, diversity strategists in some organizations have assumed from the outset that their diversity performance will be limited because they do not have highly visible and involved senior leaders. Other companies have watched premier diversity programs wither in the face of regime change, reorganization, or business downturn, because the engine driving the initiative—the CEO’s personal commitment—has evaporated. Could there have been other, more enduring ways to institutionalize diversity efforts?

ORC’s Global Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion practice area is launching a study, funded by Industrial Relations Counselors (IRC), to shed insight into how positive, enduring change actually happens in mid-sized and large companies. The study will launch in early April when participants receive the link to a 25-question online survey.

There is no charge for participation, and data submitted will be kept completely confidential. In addition to the executive summary that will be publicly available, participants will receive detailed findings and benchmarking data that shows how their companies stack up on some key measures of diversity success.

IRC is a not-for-profit research and educational organization. Its mission is to advance the knowledge and practice of human relationships in industry, commerce, education, and government.

If your company would like to participate in the study, please contact Michal Fineman or Mary Martinez. Both can be reached at +1-212-719-3400.

Related Links
Sightlines Archive