The Astron Road Show

Then on Thursday, May 29th, Astron Solutions is exhibiting at the New Jersey Collegiate Career Day held at Rutgers University. National Director Jennifer C. Loftus, Automation Expert Brendan Williams, and Marketing Specialist Stephen A. Lella will all be there, and will gladly accept résumés and applications for the current and future openings here at Astron.

Until next time, enjoy the beginning of Summer 2008!

Astronology Mini-Interview

I’ve just been promoted to Lead Technical Architect. I started here as an Automation Expert 4 years ago.

It’s the opportunity that came along. I didn’t have a preference what industry I got a job in. I was looking for flexibility and creativity in a good work environment.

Programming and researching new product ideas.

For business, San Diego…nice weather and a good sports town. Personally, I enjoy Greece…nice weather, good food, and very laid back.

Bigger staff and more business.

According to a 2004 study by Hewitt Associates, women and minorities will represent 70% of the new labor force entrants , and by 2010, 43% of the workforce will be non-Caucasian. This means that the workforce is no longer dominated by the same perspectives, ideas, and approaches that were popular 30 years ago. HR’s collaboration with employees of these cultures and different perspectives is now increasingly becoming a sought after asset. This collaborative approach allows for greater creativity and resources to improve organizational performance. To achieve this global diversity, managers need to know how to define, understand, and manage a diverse workforce.

If you are a human resource professional and have not truly considered the reality of your employees’ backgrounds, you may be in for a rude awakening. Employees from different cultures come with different expectations, values, and communication styles. These, in turn, must be understood and integrated into the organizational culture for a successful work atmosphere. However, there are more similarities than differences when it comes to what is important to employees. People tend to agree about what inspires their commitment to a particular employer:

• employees supported their organizations’ business plans,
• employees had a chance to use their skills on the job,
• employees enjoyed a competitive pay package, and
• employers acted on employee suggestions.

Although employees of different backgrounds do have similar organizational motivations, employers should know that a diverse workforce does come with some challenges. Having an inefficient organizational strategy for a diverse organization can reduce both morale and effective communication, and heighten conflict. Having good diversity practices will help decrease employee turnover, absenteeism, low productivity, and legal complaints.

An effective strategy used by diverse organizations is called the Inclusive Workplace Model. According to Managing Diversity Toward a Globally Inclusive Workplace, by Michalle E. Mor Barak, the ideal work organization has four levels which include the following organizational characteristics:

1. is accepting and utilizing the diversity of its own workforce,
2. is active in the community,
3. alleviates the needs of disadvantaged groups in its wider environment, and
4. collaborates across cultural and national boundaries with a focus on global mutual interests.

With these four points in mind, human resource professionals can take some of these steps provided by the Society for Human Resource Management to promote and manage diversity with ease and profitability:
 

• Allow employees to take unpaid leave to observe a religious or cultural holiday not observed by the organization or “swap” holidays	• Provide career development opportunities designed to increase diversity in higher-level positions within the organization (e.g, mentoring, coaching)
• Employ recruiting strategies designed to help increase diversity within the organization	• Employ retention strategies designed to help retain a diverse workforce
• Ensure that diversity is a consideration in every business initiative and policy	• Collect measurements/metrics on diversity-related practices
• Support employee affinity groups (groups formed around an aspect of diversity)	• Employ strategies to ensure diversity in the organization's suppliers, contractors, and so forth
• Offer training in English as a second language	• Engage in community outreach related to diversity
• Provide incentive pay for management linked to the achievement of organizational diversity goals	• Provide career development opportunities specifically tailored for diverse employees
• Provide incentive pay for management linked to the achievement of organizational diversity goals	• Demonstrate diversity awareness in the form of celebrating different cultural events (e.g., Black History Month)

Tips provided by: SHRM: 2005 Workplace Diversity Practices Survey Report

The most important thing that your HR department should keep in mind is the focus on management of diversity – not your employees’ cultural differences. A good diversity program focuses on the management of diversity and yet meets very common needs, such as child care, flextime, leave to take care of elderly parents, and maternity / paternity leave.

At the end of the day, organizations that want to keep pace with their competition must increase their diversity efforts. Diversity within an organization that is encouraged and embraced will increase contributions toward the accomplishment of organizational goals. With the increasing number of minority groups in the U.S., as well as the growth in global business transaction, it would be unwise not to. The more similar an organization is to its customers, the better for everyone involved. 

Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting? Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues. For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.

Are you reading a pass-along copy of Astronology? Click on this button to start your own subscription today!

Send inquiries to info@astronsolutions.com or call 800-520-3889, x105.

To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail.

Copyright 2008, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467