In It Together: A Conversation About Race Developing Diversity Companies Are Learning The Importance Of Expanding Their Cultural Awareness

FOR THE RECORD (July 7, 1998): Figure incorrect: Thirteen percent of 950 employees at the Spokane division of Hewlett-Packard Co. are members of racial or ethnic minorities. The figure was incorrect in a Sunday article about diversity in the workplace.

When Vickie Countryman asked her boss if she could visit Buddhist temples and African-American churches in her search for new employees, some eyebrows shot up at American Express Financial Advisors.

It wasn’t a standard recruiting practice. But Countryman isn’t a typical recruiting manager.

Bruce Bushman, field vice president of the Spokane office, agreed to let her try. He had hired Countryman, a social worker, away from the YWCA. “And he was willing to let me take risks,” she said.

Creating a diverse work force is a challenge in Spokane County, where about 92 percent of the population is white.

But American Express Financial Advisors views it as vital to the company’s success. The company provides financial planning services, and it sees a huge, underserved market among women, minorities and gays and lesbians.

To serve those populations, “we needed to understand what diversity was,” Bushman said.

American Express isn’t alone. Hiring a broad array of workers is more than good policy, it’s good business, companies say.

A diverse work force helps them reach new clients, and increases the pool of workers in a shrinking labor market. Understanding different cultures also prevents the faux pas that can alienate customers.

But when American Express advertised for financial planners, most of the resumes were from white males.

That’s where Countryman, a Japanese-American woman fluent in Spanish, came in.

During her four years at American Express, she and her staff have worked hard to forge ties with Spokane’s diverse communities. Countryman attends gay pride parades, women’s events and Native American festivals. She works in the kitchen at Japanese-American dinners and talks to college students about dressing ethnically, yet professionally.

“It takes time to build credibility,” said Countryman, who is starting to see results.

About half of the 50 employees in American Express’ Spokane office are women, and nine staff members are minorities, gay or lesbian.

But Countryman’s work isn’t done. As recruiting manager, she oversees an area that includes parts of six states. American Express employs 149 financial planners in that area, and wants to grow to 500 over the next 10 years.

Affirmative Action forced companies to look at whether their work forces reflected their communities.

Now, competitive issues are forcing businesses to ask whether their work force reflects their customer base, or the pool of future workers.

“What little conscious discrimination remains will be swept away soon - not by government regulation but by the enlightened self-interest of employers,” the Hudson Institute predicted in its Workforce 2020 report.

Women, immigrants and minorities made up the fastest growing segment of the labor market during the 1990s. Companies that once expected all new employees to “assimilate” now talk about changing “the white male culture.”

Attitudes about diversity seem to run the gamut in Spokane, said Judith Mason, director of community development for the Spokane Area Chamber of Commerce.

Some companies embrace it as essential. Others have a “we don’t need it” attitude, she said. The chamber ran a job referral service for minorities for 3 years, but only 15 to 20 companies used it.

However, “I really believe that companies that don’t go that route are at a disadvantage,” said George Laue, who works in human resources at Metropolitan Mortgage in Spokane.

They have a smaller labor pool to recruit from, and less of an edge in an increasingly global marketplace, he said.

Jim Rundle once thought of “workplace diversity” in terms of numerical goals for hiring and promoting women and minorities. Now, the general manager of Hewlett-Packard’s Spokane division thinks about an environment where all 950 workers can flourish.

“Six or seven years ago, I could quote you the numbers, but I didn’t view it as critical to our long-term success,” Rundle said.

Several issues changed his mind, including shifts in labor market trends. Graduating engineers are no longer predominantly white males; half are either women and/or minorities.

To recruit the best workers, HP’s Spokane Division needs to be diverse, Rundle said. “If you have an all-white, male work force, it’s hard to recruit women and people of color.”

But the company had to concentrate on more than the numbers, he figured. If it kept the “white male culture” traditional to engineering, it would become a revolving door for women and minority employees, he said.

Or, it would have a diverse work force, but employees wouldn’t be working to their potential.

Rundle cites a Chinese-born engineer as an example. The engineer won’t interrupt or shout suggestions during a free-wheeling brain-storming session. But if asked for input, he’ll have tremendous ideas.

The company has also worked to root out subtleties in its hiring practices that favored men over women. Anecdotes about football, for instance, might gain points with men on the hiring team. But that doesn’t always mean the male candidate is the most qualified.

“White males sometimes think I’m putting them down. That’s not the case,” said Rundle, who is white. “If Hewlett-Packard was a totally female culture, we’d have problems too.”

Though the company thinks of diversity in broad terms - age, religion, lifestyle, and sexual preference - racial and ethnic diversity are among the easiest types to measure. About 13 Spokane division employees are racial or ethnic minorities.

“It’s not like I’m trying to fill a quota,” Rundle said. “I’m really trying to create an environment where everyone here can contribute to their full potential.”

Jack Bunton, of RAM Engines, wasn’t thinking about quotas either when he hired a dozen Vietnamese immigrants in the 1980s. He was thinking about how hard it was to find skilled employees to work in his Spokane machine shop.

A government program gave him tax credits to hire the immigrants, and also subsidized their wages while they took community college classes.

“Some employers are a little hesitant to do it because it’s outside of their comfort zone,” Bunton said. But the program has been so successful that he has continued it over the years.

Five immigrants - one from Mexico, three from Russia, and one from Vietnam - currently work in his 30-person shop on North Freya.

Bringing employees of different backgrounds into a small shop required adjustments. Several Vietnam vets quit when Bunton hired the first immigrants. Other workers complained about the new employees “jabbering” in their own languages.

Bunton eventually established a policy. Social talk should be done in English so that no one feels left out, he told the immigrant workers. But they could talk in their native languages when they were explaining work matters to each other.

Companies that don’t understand diversity risk alienating or losing customers. An incident in 1994 drove home that point for the staff at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

A nurse summoned two security guards after she noticed pungent smoke pouring out of a patient’s room. The guards burst in, expecting to find an arsonist or a pot-smoking patient.

Instead, they had interrupted a “smudging” - a traditional Native American healing ceremony, where prayers mingle with the purifying smoke of sweet grass.

Before the confusion was cleared up, the Native American elder leading the ceremony had been pinned against the wall. The hospital staff was embarrassed; the elder felt violated.

Sacred Heart later invited tribal members to talk about traditional practices and their perceptions of the health care industry.

“They told us a lot of things that were hard to hear,” said Alicia Steed, co-chair of the hospital’s multi-cultural diversity commission.

The meeting was the beginning of the hospital’s efforts to reach out to Spokane’s ethnic communities. “What do we need to understand about your culture to provide you with good health care?” hospital staff asked.

The outreach was so successful that it eventually evolved into the “Diversity Health Care Collaborative” - an effort by the area’s health care providers to understand and address cultural diversity.

Sacred Heart also looked inward, Steed said. It invited employees of color to talk about experiences they’d had as staff members. The sessions were revealing.

An African-American nurse described how her work received more scrutiny than that of white colleagues, and how patients referred to her as “the black girl” or the “chocolate nurse.” A Russian immigrant told how resentful his coworkers became when he was pulled away to interpret in emergency medical situations.

White managers were often oblivious of the problems. “It’s easy for Euro-Americans to be unaware because of what we call ‘white privilege,”’ Steed said.

The frank discussions became the foundation for diversity training and awareness at the hospital.

As one of many changes, nursing stations now are stocked with cultural diversity guides.

“Though we don’t use them as recipe books,” Steed said.

After the smudging incident, an elderly nun respectfully asked an Indian family if they wanted to perform a ceremony for their sick relative.

“Well, sister, we prefer the rosary,” a family member replied.

They were Catholic.