White guy? Don't apply
Bump encourages workplace diversity
Suzanne M. Bump, Massachusetts secretary of labor and workforce development, said she could staff her entire operation with solely white lawyers.
Doing so, however, would rob her office of the diversity of perspective, culture and experience necessary to solve the critical workforce challenges the state faces, she said.
"I could fill my office with white lawyers," Bump said. "We're choked with applications from them. But they're not going to get the job done. A diversity of skills, perspective and cultural background is necessary for success in creating more and better jobs in this state."
Bump offered her remarks last week at a forum on diversity in the workplace held in Natick, co-sponsored by the MetroWest Alliance for Workforce Diversity and the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce.
The goal of the forum was to discuss the barriers to better workforce diversity and explore solutions to the growing problems of workforce homogeneity and a population decline in Massachusetts.
Bump was joined by Carole Berotte Joseph, president of Massachusetts Bay Community College, and Lauren Stiller Rikleen of the Bowditch Institute for Women's Success and former president of the Boston Bar.
Solutions presented by the panel included better collaboration between high schools and community colleges in making sure students secure advanced degrees, allowing for greater workplace flexibility to better accommodate families and work, and exploring better ways to use technology to allow for that flexibility, instead of merely "tethering" workers to the office, Rikleen said.
Rikleen also stressed the importance of mentoring in the workplace, and encouraged executives and upper-management personnel to branch out when taking young employees under their wing.
"We mentor people that remind us of who we are or what we were like," Rikleen said. In a typical office environment with all white, male executives, then it naturally follows that young, white men often get the best mentoring experiences, she warned.
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