What's happening with diversity now? Donna Stringer's view
By Janna Charles and Barbara Deane
***Editor's note: This article is first in a series exploring the status
of diversity and inclusion efforts during the recession with interviews of
both internals and externals.***
Is the recession causing companies to throw in the towel on their diversity efforts? "No," says one consultant emphatically!
Donna Stringer, president of Executive Diversity Services in Seattle, says "I
once asked a CEO whose company had filed for Chapter 11 if they intended to continue
with their diversity initiative. He said 'When you are in a crisis, it is not
the time to set aside your core values.' He has become one my models for demonstrating
the ethics of core values."
Stringer advises that it's critical at a time like this not to put the diversity
initiative on the shelf, but to recognize that it may need to be downsized.
Companies are finding innovative, cost-effective ways to maintain their diversity
and inclusion initiatives in spite of limited economic resources, according
to Stringer. And she forecasts that the economy isn't going to be bad forever.
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