When Separate, But Equal Works
Companies that establish employee networking groups as a benefit to employees are also reaping some rewards — an in-house focus group to help tackle new markets.
Some Hartford-area companies, such as Aetna and ING, have established and developed employee networks that capitalize on the differences employees have historically tried to downplay.
Employee diversity has come a long way from the days when it was politically correct for employers to downplay ethnic and gender employee differences. Workers wanted to be equal, not separate.
The desire for equality has remained the same. But today’s work force — spanning the spectrum of race and gender, religion and sexual orientation — recognizes that separate and equal is a good thing, for both employees and employers.
There are Asian-American networks, African-American networks, Hispanic networks and gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender networks, to name a few, and each operates in a symbiotic relationship with its parent company. Member employees take advantage of networking and developmental opportunities, while companies tap into ready-made, in-house focus groups.
Although the inspiration for the groups’ mission and projects generally comes from the employees, the employee networks are financially supported by the company.
Take Aetna, where, employees are required to create and present a business plan and have it approved prior to forming an official network. Group budgets are then determined by the company’s diversity office based on events and activities planned for the year.
Cultural Expertise
“The networks are designed to provide an opportunity for everyone at Aetna to experience these cultures,” said Aetna senior diversity consultant Glenn Winfree. “We tap into the organizations as needed … to help us drive business value.”
With the formation of employee networks, something that has occurred over the past decade or so, participating Aetna employees have been divvied up into eight race-, gender- and interest-centric piles.
Voilá . Cheap and convenient focus groups.
Aetna has already sought the cultural expertise of its groups to enhance its marketing efforts.
When the company realized it needed to refine its strategies for reaching “targeted markets,” it decided to partner with several of its networks to compile cultural facts and information into company “fact books.” That information is now used to enhance marketing strategies and to improve the “cultural competency” of employees.
ING sponsors similar networks under its corporate umbrella. Since the company is only about seven years old in America, its networks have been a resource for only the past few years.
“There is a mutual benefit to both the employee and ING,” said Debbie Holcombe, head of the company’s U.S. workforce diversity, “and I think if we get better at utilizing them, it puts us at a competitive advantage.”
Models And Translators
ING’s Asian-American network has been “unbelievably resourceful” recently, Holcombe said, giving the sales and product development teams native insight to help them cross the cultural divide. The network’s members have even helped them translate materials from English to Mandarin Chinese.
ING has also recruited network members to respond to sales team and customer clamor for more minority-based sales materials. To build a repository of photos featuring a cornucopia of genders and ethnicities, ING held five photo shoots last year and asked employees and their families to model.
“We hope that, with a percentage of collateral material reflecting these minority images, that has an impact on the sales process,” Holcombe said.
The employees were thrilled to do it, she added, since they got to show off their children and families nationwide. And ING beefed up its marketing efforts without hiring hordes of models.
Such symbiosis seems like a positive collaboration, and experts agree.
“I see it as a win-win situation,” said Gary N. Powell, professor of management and Ackerman Scholar at the University of Connecticut School of Business. He is also the author of Gender and Diversity in the Workplace: Learning Activities and Exercises.
“I think the company can learn something as well as give the employees the opportunity to have their own needs met,” he said.
Companies differ widely in their perception of diversity needs within their organizations, and employee networks are not standard across corporate America. But particularly in large organizations, Powell said there have been a number of positive effects in addition to the emergence of in-house focus groups.
Employee networks can give companies a stronger community presence, Powell said, as well as help them tap into reserves of diverse talent. Also, current employees are able to meet people with similar interests, fostering a sense of belonging and support.
Of course, such benefits aren’t automatic, Powell cautions. There is a potential for companies to abuse such groups without delivering on what they’ve promised. Also, group exclusivity could foster resentment or insecurity.
“I think the key is having groups that are open, inclusive,” Powell said.
“The members determine what they make of the group,” he added, but “when people are informing others about their culture, I don’t know how anyone can lose.”
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