diversity:workforce diversity – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Workforce Diversity

The Workforce Diversity page includes strategies, techniques and resources for attracting, hiring and retaining a diverse workforce. Information will focus on methods of attracting diverse candidates, developing a viable search process and creating and maintaining a positive workplace climate.

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Workplace Diversity_ A Social-Ecological Framework and Policy Implications.pdf Abstract: The diversification of the global workforce brings both challenges and opportunities. We focus on diversity defined by membership in traditionally underrepresented groups. To harness the power of diversity, organizations must: increase representation of diverse individuals throughout the organizational hierarchy, attend to the social processes that emerge once diversity is present, and foster an organizational climate that supports the full inclusion of diverse individuals. We review dynamics at multiple levels of analysis that affect organizations in these three realms. Policy recommendations are grounded in the following ecological principles: (1) organizational issues are nested within multiple levels of context, (2) any organizational event can have reverberating effects throughout the system, (3) people’s experiences of events shape their reactions and the impact of practices on varied groups shapes organizational consequences, and (4) people are continually adapting to one another and to organizational resources and requirements.

An interesting look at gender, racial, and class diversity within environmental organizations: The Disturbing Lack of D…pdf The full study can be found here: diversity in environmental organizations.pdf

Why do we see a an attrition of women in biological sciences but not in the medical field? This article re-examines some of the reasons hypothesized as to why less women are seen in scientific research fields: Attrition of Women in the Biological Sciences.pdf

The following study is two-fold. The first part gives insights into organizational approaches to diversity and managing a culturally diverse workplace. The second part introduces a “Diversity Perspective Questionnaire” that measures an organization’s approach to diversity. Managing a culturally diverse workforce.pdf

Learn how even in workplaces that seek to be inclusive, LGBT employees are affected by a “culture of silence”. sound of silence in inclusive organizations.pdf

There have been studies done on what has been termed the “bamboo ceiling” which describes the hinderance of Asian Americans’ advancement in the workplace. Many are also familiar with the “glass ceiling” effect describing the same phenomenon in women. However, there has not been many studies that have looked into the intersection between the two. Read the article hereHitting the Ceiling.pdf to learn more about barriers specific to Asian American Women

“Do Millennials Really Want Their Bosses to Call Their Parents?” An interesting article on an often overlooked aspect of workforce diversity, generation. http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/04/do-millennials-really-want-their-bosses-to-call-their-parents/

Workforce Bullying http://stopworkplacebullies.wordpress.com/

In order to ensure that work workplaces are inclusive, faculty may want to consider reflections in lieu of prayers when they are asked to pray at a meeting. This way each person, regardless of religion will feel comfortable in the workplace. http://extension.missouri.edu/staff/diversity-prayer.aspx

Non Tenure Track Women Faculty: Opening the Door Non Tenure Track Women Faculty.pdf

Federal Agencies to Develop a Strategic Plan to Insure a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce: http://1.usa.gov/qzJL5o mmmmm

Share your comments on our CoP Blog http://extensiondeicop.blogspot.com/

Resources for Recruiting Women and Minority Faculty Candidates:http://bit.ly/o5oygJ

Avoid the Craziness When It’s Time to Hire

Where to Advertise to Attract Underrepresented Professionals

Sample Diversity-Related Qualification Statements:http://bit.ly/psiWmm

Equity and Social Justice Diversity Links

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Related Links

Challenges and strategies

http://www.diversitycouncil.org/recruiting_diverse_staff.shtml

http://aarjobs.com/

http://aarjobs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28:recruiting-the-finest-gaining-access-to-a-diverse-workforce&catid=43:august-2008-issue

http://www.diversitycouncil.org/toolkit.shtml

http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/1650/

http://dlist.sir.arizona.edu/1650/01/DiversityKIM.pdf

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3919/is_200107/ai_n8980883

Diversity Articles

http://www.interplaytheatre.com/Diversity/diversity-articles.html

http://www.diversityworld.com/Diversity/workforce_diversity.htm

Achieving Workforce Diversity

http://www.diversityworld.com/Diversity/workforce_diversity.htm

http://www.slb.com/about/guiding_principles/diversity.aspx

http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/workforce-diversity.pdf

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Skills For Success
As Extension strives to meet the needs of an ever-increasingly diverse society, it must do so by recruiting, hiring and retaining staff that possess the attitude, competencies and qualities that enable them to effectively work across differences. They must have the needed skills for success. As a result, well-thought out recruitment, hiring and retention strategies that attract, support and sustain individuals with a mature diversity lens are a critical component of creating an environment that supports and promotes pluralism and diversity¹.

Today, most job postings and descriptions clearly identify the ability to show respect for differences in backgrounds, lifestyles, viewpoints, and needs in reference to areas such as ethnicity, race, gender, creed, and sexual orientation as being essential to the position and the organization. While articulating these as desirable qualities and behaviors is an important first step in recruitment, the challenge often arises in assessing the level of skill and competency during the screening and interview process.

The accompanying materials, Skills for Success©, developed by the Office of Human Resources at Cornell University, can serve a template for developing recruitment materials and interviewing questions that result in attracting and hiring individuals that bring a diverse perspective and are supportive of diversity. Skills for Success©, consist of the following materials:

Staff Skills for Success (pdf) – A broad overview of the skills essential for individual and organizational success and examples of demonstrated behaviors in these areas

Interviewing Candidates for Skills for Success (Short Version – pdf) – A short version of interview questions that address the skill areas

Interviewing Candidates for Skills for Success (Long Version – pdf) – A longer version of targeted interview questions that probe the breadth and depth of candidate’s skill level.

Characteristics of Performance Levels – pdf – A matrix that outlines a continuum of the characteristics of individual performance levels in the skill areas identified.

Staff Performance Dialogue Form (pdf) – A standard form to be used as a tool for conducting employee review, staff development and performance improvement discussions.

Each skill area identified in Skills for Success©, can lend itself to diversity and pluralism. The skills, behaviors and interview questions under the heading of inclusiveness specifically and intentionally address and provide a language for articulating desired diversity competencies in recruitment and a process for assessing them in hiring.

In addition to addressing the areas of recruitment and hiring, Skills for Success©, also provides resources for the ongoing support, development and retention of staff. As with other competencies, there is a need for ongoing assessment and development on inclusiveness. The Staff Performance Dialogue Form and the Characteristics of Performance Levels can serve as tools for creating organizational expectations around diversity and pluralism, as well as a means for supporting staff in assessing their skill level and identifying ongoing professional development needs in this area.

For additional information and case studies on Cornell Cooperative Extension’s efforts on staffing for diversity check out: http://www.joe.org/joe/1998february/a1.html

By Eduardo González, Jr., Diversity Specialist, Cornell Migrant Program

¹The concepts of “diversity” and “pluralism” as defined in Pathway to Diversity: Strategic Plan for the Cooperative Extension System’s Emphasis on Diversity (1991) are: Diversity is differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, spiritual practice, and other human attributes. Pluralism is an organizational culture that incorporates mutual respect, acceptance, teamwork, and productivity among people who are diverse in the dimensions of human differences listed above as diversity.