ORC Sightlines
November 2009
In this issue:
- New Web Site to Provide ORC Networks’ Members with Enhanced Capabilities
- Best Practices in Response to Mounting HR Risk
- The Evolution of Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
New Web Site to Provide ORC Networks’ Members with Enhanced Capabilities
As part of our ongoing effort to enhance the value of membership in our Networks, ORC Worldwide is launching a new Web site that will make it easy for members to find information, network with each other, and keep up with the latest developments.
The site is rolling out in phases. In October, ORC’s Global Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion family of networks became the first to log in and begin using the new site’s features, including:
- A Topics section, filled with articles, news, recent research, and information about upcoming events.
- A Connections function that links members directly with ORC staff and other networks’ members to share current challenges, brainstorm ideas, seek information, and build a community.
- A Shopping Cart that allows members to purchase reports, studies, and presentations that can help their organizations get ahead. Members will find many of the resources are available to them for free or at discounted rates.
- Easy updating of Members’ Accounts.
The new Web site was tested with a cross section of members prior to its launch to ensure that the site provides a valuable addition to network membership. In the coming months, we will be moving all the ORC Networks to the portal. In the meantime, ORC Network members are welcome to sign onto the new site immediately and explore the equality, diversity, and inclusion content that is already available. Nonmembers will also find plenty of great material available to them at the public level of access.
Best Practices in Response to Mounting HR Risk
During the eight years preceding Barack Obama’s inauguration, the U.S. federal government issued fewer human resources-related regulations than at any time in the recent past. Budgets at enforcement agencies decreased and a more conservative judiciary tended to be friendlier to employers. As a result, U.S. employers put less focus on legal compliance—a position that could now put them at some risk in our new political landscape. At a meeting of the HR Leaders Network earlier this month, ORC’s Nita Beecher discussed how risk is increasing and suggested best practices for managing that risk.
With a Democratic President and Congress, the EEOC and the U.S. Labor Department’s Wage and Hour division have each hired 250 new investigators. Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which enforces affirmative action regulations, has added 213 new staff. Not surprisingly, these agencies are redirecting their strategies to stress more rigorous enforcement.
Congress has also been busy on the employment front. One new law has already passed (the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act) and several other major pieces of legislation are expected:
- Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
- A ban on mandatory arbitration for statutory rights for federal contractors and possibly for all employers
- A legislative requirement for all employers to provide 6 paid sick days
- Reversal of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gross affecting ADEA claims
In the face of all this activity, employers would be wise to intensify their attention on legal compliance and managing the risk inherent with HR processes such as performance evaluation, compensation, selection and retention, employee development, and career planning. In particular, employers should:
- Identify and review their most important HR processes to ensure compliance with antidiscrimination and other requirements.
- Document all decisions in writing, with signatures by the decision makers.
- Give accountability for compliance to senior executives who must report on those processes to senior management or the board.
- Structure their processes to avoid class-action litigation.
- Develop a self-audit program that reports to the executive committee or a board committee.
- Remember that what does not get measured does not get done in corporate America.
For further information on best risk management processes, contact Nita Beecher, chair of ORC’s Employment Law & Litigation Group. To learn about the HR Leaders Network, contact Susan Carter.
The Evolution of Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives
When multinational companies headquartered in the U.S. and Western Europe first began to consider globalizing their diversity and inclusion efforts, many D&I leaders started with the idea that HQ country structures, programs, and positioning can be transferred to other locations “as is”. That approach quickly proved unworkable and, in reaction, a belief took hold that the “total approach” to D&I had to be changed. Many also had the sense that globalization was a single, contemporaneous process: all parts of the world needed to move forward on the same issues at the same time, have the same goals, and use the same metrics, and that the corporate D&I team needed to be the experts on diversity issues everywhere in the world.
We’ve learned a lot in the last several years about building a successful global D&I initiative. Mary Martinéz, Director of Workforce Management Consulting, discussed some of these lessons with members of the Global Diversity Forum at the Forum’s November meeting:
- The basic concepts of diversity and inclusion make sense everywhere, but require translation– both literally and figuratively—to resonate locally.
- Every location may be able to work on some issues and goals together – but each in its own way. Other goals—and, therefore, metrics—will be specific to each location.
- Equipped with an understanding of inclusion and some knowledge of cultural differences, corporate D&I can guide local stakeholders in identifying the differences that make a difference in their workforces, help them determine locally appropriate strategies for addressing them, and provide tools and resources.
- There are multiple ways to roll D&I out globally, but all require engagement at the local level.
- There are multiple ways to structure a global D&I organization, but all must take into account the structure and culture of the larger organization.
Nor must global D&I strategy and structure remain static. In some companies, the role of corporate or HQ management in D&I diminishes while the business unit/local organization takes on greater responsibility for driving the initiative. Others may start out with a very decentralized approach, attacking D&I strategy country by country and gradually building up a core global framework.
To talk more about issues in globalization of D&I or for information about the Global Diversity Forum, contact Mary Martinéz, Deirdre Golden, or Liz MacGillivray.