a

seeo
lity t
w.

28 Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005

Blac
 By Damian Johnson

rofiles in Diversity Journal is proud to announce the winners of its 2005

P International Innovation in Diversity Awards. Over 250 companies were invited

to participate and the application was available online as well.
This year’s top ten winning companies were selected for taking diversity initiatives deeper
into the company with specific, innovative plans for driving a diverse business culture.
What made the top three winners—PepsiCo of Purchase, New York; General Motors of
Detroit, Michigan; Shell International of Houston, Texas—stand out among the many entries
received was that their diversity innovations were clearly articulated with plans for future
expansion. Congratulations to all the winners, whose initiatives are summarized here, and to
all those who participated this year!
s th es
ltur g we our
ake t valu
e th can

e
in
t th nted

Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005 29

in
ri

tm
mp
 The Winners ... at a glance ...

1. PepsiCo 6. Ford Motor Company

Headquarters: Purchase, NY Headquarters: Dearborn, MI
Founded: 1965 Founded: 1903
Chairman & CEO: Steve Reinemund Chairman & CEO: William Clay Ford, Jr.
Employees: 153,000 Employees: (U.S. 131,348/worldwide 324,864)

2. General Motors Corporation 7. DaimlerChrysler

Headquarters: Detroit, MI Corporation
Founded: 1908 Headquarters: Auburn Hills, MI
Chairman & CEO: G. Richard Wagoner, Jr. Chairman: Prof. Jürgen E. Schrempp
Employees: 321,000 (worldwide) Employees: 384,723 (worldwide)

3. Shell International 8. Georgia Power Company

Headquarters: Houston, TX Headquarters: Atlanta, GA
Founded: 1907 President & CEO: Mike Garrett
President & CEO: Jeroen van der Veer Employees: 8,800
Employees: 119,000 (worldwide)
9. Entergy Corporation
4. New York Life Insurance Headquarters: New Orleans, LA
Company Founded: 1913
Headquarters: New York, NY CEO: J. Wayne Leonard
Founded: 1845 Employees: 14,000
Chairman & CEO: Sy Sternberg
Employees: 8,100 10. Credit Suisse First Boston
Headquarters: New York, NY
5. Sodexho Founded: 1856, Subsidiary of
Headquarters: Gaithersburg, MD Credit Suisse Group
President & CEO: Richard Macedonia CEO: Brady W. Dougan
Employees: 110,000 (U.S./Canada) Employees: 9,500

30 Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005

 Awards Innovation in

Sees Things the Same Way

PepsiCo, we value unique perspectives.
1st Place PepsiCo
versityCelebrating
and inclusion
Us! Week are benchmarks of
some way, and nearly 800 employees senses and helped expose them to

I
ntroduced just this March,
ur business. In the 21st century, high
PepsiCo’s Celebrating Us! Week attended the talent show. It was a lot cultures with which they might not be

seems to have hit a nerve with the of fun, and employees really came familiar, Celebrating Us! Week
together to share and experience their seems to have reinforced PepsiCo’s
rformance begins with the ability to see a
Diversity Awards Committee. The
event, which was sponsored by the differences.” comprehensive diversity and inclusion

company’s Corporate Inclusion Volunteers were able to connect strategy; this success has merited for it
with others they had never met consideration as an annual event with
fferent point of view.
Council, dedicated the week to
exploring the uniqueness individuals before. They established new, unfore- the possibilities of expansion.

bring to the workplace; a variety seen relationships and expanded their Shortly after this year’s event,

of activities and experiential learning PepsiCo’s D&I executives uncovered

prompted thoughtful discussion some interesting insights into

of diversity and inclusion. their strategies. They found

In addition to becoming that by engaging

acquainted with a week’s worth of volunteers, they had built excite-

multi-cultural foods, entertainment, ment and ownership into the event

and product samples from around the contacts—ties which can help resolve and enabled employees to role model

world, PepsiCo employees and associ- business issues in the future. In turn, the way in which diversity yielded

ates were able to showcase their own PepsiCo foresees that these new rela- better business results. D&I executives

talents and artwork to reveal some fun tionships will not only lead to greater also learned that allowing employees

and interesting “true colors” that peers productivity, but will also encourage to showcase their unique talents

and co-workers may have been previ- people to learn about other cultures, helped release any doubt of their will-

ously unaware of. be comfortable in expanding their ingness to share and inspire, and

Amy George, Vice President of thinking, and be more willing to encouraged others to understand that

Global Diversity and Inclusion, states establish an environment where diversity is within everyone. The event

that nearly 1,500 PepsiCo employees everyone feels included. apparently captured the hearts and

took part in the event. “Everyone who By providing employees with minds of everyone in attendance.

participated volunteered their time in experiences that touched all of their

Yellow Mag Cyan Black

Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005 31
 2nd Place General Motors Corp.
You Make a Difference Award
sonalized trophy and the opportunity Award is presented by GM’s President

S
ometimes the most appreciated
recognition comes from some- to receive recognition from co-work- of North America as part of an annual

one you work closely with ers and management for a job well event that recognizes, highlights and

each day, and that recognition may be done. celebrates contributions individuals

as simple as a handshake or pat on The YMAD is designed to recog- have made.

the back. More likely than not, that is nize GM employees who have made a The Reaching Farther Award

as far as it goes, and the recognition contribution in support of the “Many allows GM’s entire Diversity Network

that took you so long to obtain can People, One GM, Now” Diversity to become more aware of the work

sometimes drift all away by lunchtime. others are doing and allows senior

Management might never hear leadership to understand and

about your achievement, let value the contributions

alone another co-worker; and being made to the business

the chance of your effort being through diversity. “What we do

recorded in your personnel file is even and how we do it matters,” says

smaller. Initiative and GM’s sixth core value of Roderick Gillum, GM’s Vice President,

Well, at General Motors, the You Individual Respect and Responsibility. Diversity and Corporate Responsibility.

Make a Difference (YMAD) Award is To date, the YMAD has been awarded “You reach farther with a personal

designed to recognize and reward to nearly 300 employees. commitment in the spirit of collabora-

individuals who have been observed More recently, the Reaching tion and innovation.... It is your

by other employees making a differ- Farther Award was kicked off in constancy of purpose and persistence

ence and setting a higher standard. January 2005 with a special event at that is driving change at GM.”

That’s right—YMAD, now in its fourth GM’s world headquarters in Detroit. It seems GM really does know

year, is an employee-to-employee Developed to recognize outstanding, how to keep all pistons pumping

award in which the current holder above-and-beyond call of duty actions when dealing with the morale and

determines the winner and presents demonstrated by members of the satisfaction of its entire workforce.

the award to the next recipient with a Diversity Network (3,000 employees

handshake, a pat on the back, a per- companywide), the Reaching Farther

32 Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005

 Awards Innovation in

3rd Place Shell International

D&I Management Framework
tations for every D&I implementa- assesses progress against expectations;

I
n September, 1997, Shell’s
Committee of Managing Directors tion, and is one of only six global and a Talent Review Process, which

set out to integrate diversity and policies in Shell that includes a gauges performances against D&I

inclusiveness (D&I) into every aspect statement of commitment; plans.

of Shell’s operations and culture, and • Strategy and Targets—‘AIM’, intro- In 2004, Shell’s demographic data

create a workplace that is thriving duced and designed to strengthen showed a 135% increase in the

with innovation and contributes to Accountability, deepen Integration, and number of women in senior executive

enhanced business performance. In Mainstream D&I into core processes; positions globally, and a 19% increase

2003 and 2004, a strategic review was of women graduates since 2001.

undertaken to ensure that the In addition, the Assurance

D&I strategy was fit for Process showed that the

purpose and accelerated focus was shifted from

performance, and reflected evolving raising awareness of D&I—

business needs. as had been the case in 2002—

As a result, Shell’s D&I Management • Standard Global D&I Planning more toward the development,

Framework was established to work Template—a tool designed to implementation and monitoring of

concertedly to: 1) provide direction; support business leaders in the D&I plans it uses today.

2) define expectations; 3) support development of aligned D&I plans; The results and successes the

planning; and 4) monitor and improve • Performance Monitoring—a process company achieved in 2004 were

D&I performance across all businesses which gauges performance against tremendous, says Shell’s Downstream

Shell operates. The fully integrated D&I plans and targets linked to CEO, Rob Routs, who accredited

components of their D&I Management gender and national diversity. much of their accomplishment to the

Framework were: The company’s D&I strategies and diversity of their people. “For 2005,

• Shell’s D&I Vision—updated, targets aim to monitor demographic our business challenges will be huge

simplified, with greater manage- changes and workplace climate using but can be leveraged by continuing to

ment commitment; two formal, annual processes: an place diversity and inclusiveness high

• D&I Standard (policy)—sets expec- Assurance (audit) Process, which on our agenda.”

Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005 33

 4th Place New York Life Insurance Co.
Women’s Leadership Project

T he largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and one of the largest insurers in the world, New
York Life developed the Women’s Leadership Project (WLP) to help women grow personally and professionally
while continuing to strengthen its corporate culture. In 2002, focus groups of both men and women were coor-
dinated to obtain input on issues of advancement. It was apparent that there was a need to focus on women’s profes-
sional development, and as a direct result the WLP was launched in 2003. The WLP
is a breakthrough initiative designed to enhance leadership development for
women employees at all levels in the organization.
With the mission of challenging women to maximize their
opportunities, the WLP held a series of workshops for employees. In its
initial year, a group of senior female executives on the Executive
Management Committee (EMC) guided an interactive seminar on four important
topics which were referred to as the EMC Select Series: Navigating Office Politics; Leadership Growth and Development;
Financial Literacy; and Work/Life Balance. Based on the favorable comments from participants in the Select Series dur-
ing the first year, the WLP presented a series of smaller, more intimate workshops in 2004, and brought in guest speak-
ers as well.
Currently, the WLP staff monitors attendance at these events, and conducts annual surveys to track the impact of the
programs. The WLP is successfully meeting its objective to attract women, specifically women who are interested in pro-
fessional development. In fact, 70 percent of the participants have been junior-level staffers, indicating that those with
the most to gain are attending. Furthermore, survey results for both 2003 and 2004 have been favorable, with a 97 per-
cent “very good/excellent” or “good” rating from participants—something worth insuring.

5th Place Sodexho

Action Learning Degree Program

A s the leading food and facilities management services company in North America, Sodexho seems to be leading
in implementing comprehensive diversity strategies across the board as well. Last year, Sodexho developed their
Action Learning Degree Program (ALDP). “[This program] provides the structure, resources and means for all levels
of employees and community partners to earn their associate, bachelor or post-
graduate degrees while creating effective business solutions through out-
of-the-box thinking,” states Dr. Rohini Anand, Sodexho’s Senior Vice
President and Chief Diversity Officer.
ALDP is a powerful program that creates dynamic opportunities for
individuals and teams to successfully adapt, learn and innovate. Sodexho
believes that by developing their employees and teaching them to solve problems using the team approach, common
business challenges such as retaining clients and increasing profit margins will become easier to manage year after year.
In addition, with their diversity and inclusion strategy ranked as one of their strategic imperatives, Sodexho has intro-
duced a redesigned Diversity Scorecard, a Champions of Diversity employee recognition program and the Spirit of
Mentoring program. “Going forward,” says Anand, “we are continuing our efforts to make all Sodexho employees full
partners in our company’s growth and success.”

34 Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005

 Awards Innovation in Diversity

6th Place Ford Motor Company

Diversity and Worklife Health Assessment

L ooking for that new tool to take them to the next level, Ford Motor Company is using the Diversity and Worklife
Health Assessment (DWHA) to help them identify which Ford organizations are consistently doing the right things
to drive diversity. Developed in 2004 as a way to connect key diversity stakeholders, DWHA allows management
to align under the same goals and focus areas, and to recognize strengths or areas for improvement in its organizations.
Designed to assess the preparedness of an organization’s infrastructure, increase communication among manage-
ment, provide greater understanding of diversity elements and identify strengths
or weaknesses, the 2004 roll-out of the DWHA was so successful that man-
agers whoThisparticipated
is not just what said that it it’s
we believe, increased diversity
who we are. It’s what’scommunication,
imprinted in our
provided 100
themyearswith a more
of history. holistic
Like Henry Ford look at their
once said, organizations
“The greatest thing we canand
produce
allowed them to isprioritize
character.”actions
That’s whyforwe2005.
must strive to create a culture that values
and respects diversity. After all, different ways of thinking is what makes the
“The world
DWHA is giving
as beautiful as itus
is. solid feedback on where we stand in terms of
diversity and worklife at Ford,” states Rosalind Cox, Director, Diversity, Worklife and Peer
Review Office. “This gives us the power to move the needle on diversity and to make sustainable improvements within
our company.”

7th Place DaimlerChrysler

Behavior-Based Structured Interviewing

A ccording to DaimlerChrysler’s Viewpoint Survey, some employees felt they were unable to secure jobs they might
be interested in due to lack of awareness regarding open positions, and that individuals were selected based on
“who they knew, not what they knew.” Therefore, in June 2003, DaimlerChrysler created a Talent Acquisition
organization to recruit the best talent for its jobs. As part of the new organization, a Behavior-Based Structured
Interviewing (BBSI) course was implemented and all managers responsible for interviewing and employee selection
were required to complete this training to ensure the process was done with competency and equity.
In less than two years, the new interview process showed positive feedback from employees up by five percent,
and responses to the question, “Are career opportunities available to employees in the Chrysler Group?” increased favor-
ably by eight percent. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the per-
centage of women and minority hires compared to 2003, and the record of
promotions demonstrated that BBSI had leveled the playing field there as
well.
“The broad-scale implementation of Behavior-Based Structured
Interviewing within DaimlerChrysler reinforces our commitment to an inclusive
work environment,” says Monica Embrace your differences
Emerson, Executive and make your
Director own mark.
of DaimlerChrysler
Corporation’s Corporate Diversity Office. “BBSI not only supports the business objectives of the company by assuring
placement of well-qualified candidates, but also contributes to enhancing employee morale by providing equal access
to career opportunities across the organization. It’s a win-win.”

Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005 35

 8th Place Georgia Power Leadership Survey

I n late 2000, five groups of Georgia Power employees recommended diversity initiatives to improve the company’s
performance in compensation, training, work environment, and the job selection process. During the past four years,
the company’s Diversity Action Department has worked to implement 33 initiatives, and in early 2004, Georgia Power
felt it was important to assess how effective the initiatives were at driving the
company’s goal of creating a work environment where all employees are
welcomed and valued. “The intent of our project was to bring a more
strategic focus to our diversity efforts,” says Frank McCloskey, Georgia
Power’s Vice President of Diversity and Corporate Relations.
Using a third party to evaluate their effectiveness, Georgia Power manage-
ment used a Leadership Survey which was sent to all 8,800 Georgia Power employees. With a 50 percent survey
response rate, the assessment proved favorable by confirming that the company had made significant progress with
its commitment to diversity excellence by improving the representation of minorities and women in the workforce.
“This project helped us realize the necessity of continuing to work on trust within the organization,” says McCloskey,
“and it helped us better link our diversity initiatives to overall organizational effectiveness.”

9th Place Entergy Diversity Scorecard

T o further the successful attainment of its diversity mission, Entergy created the first companywide Diversity
Scorecard to measure each business unit’s adoption of its inclusion strategy and provide guidelines and activities
to demonstrate leadership in diversity and inclusion initiatives. To facilitate aligned and well-rounded plans,
Entergy’s Scorecard helps business units target certain focus areas such as
Leadership Initiatives; Communication and Education; D&I Training;
Recruiting and Retention; Employee Satisfaction; and Demographics.
Since the implementation of the Diversity Scorecard, Entergy garnered two
major awards for diversity in 2004 (the Exemplary Voluntary Efforts Award;
and the Diversity Leadership Award presented to CEO J. Wayne Leonard), and
has revamped its employee orientation to integrate diversity training into it.

10th Place Credit Suisse Creating One Firm

Through Inclusion

O perating in 69 locations in 33 countries across five continents, CSFB is a leading global investment bank serv-
ing institutional, corporate, government and individual clients. In 2003, to address
the need for diversity and inclusion issues in the workplace, CEO
Brady Dougan introduced a new program and philosophy of inclusion:
Creating One Firm Through Inclusion—Managing All Employees to Full
Potential. Since then, CSFB has partnered with a D&I training specialist,
developed training programs and focus groups, and factored diversity
initiatives into year-end performance reviews. As a result of the positive feedback
it received, CSFB pushed to implement these initiatives globally and has offered its training programs to a broader
employee population. CSFB management recognize that this training has been beneficial to them, their employees and

PDJ
their business. It has provided a learning tool that allows them to be introspective with regard to their contribution to
diversity and inclusion within the organization.

36 Profiles in Diversity Journal May/June 2005