Dive Brief:
- The Hispanic Alliance for Career Enhancement (HACE) has launched a five-month program “for professionals of color” to develop into high-performing leaders, the nonprofit announced Dec. 2.
- The first cohort is composed of "39% African American, 33% Latinx, and 28% Asian" professionals with varying education, experience and geography. The curriculum will include: how to drive awareness for cultural issues at work; how to lead diverse teams; and how to build a support network.
- Corporate partners Edelman and Barilla combined to sponsor 18 employees for the program. According to HACE, "The majority of participants reside in Chicago with approximately one third residing on the East and West coasts including New Jersey, Washington DC, Florida, and Los Angeles, CA."
Dive Insight:
Employers are seeing diverse representation and an inclusive culture as increasingly important. Current and prospective employees are demanding more inclusive work environments and research affirms the business value of diversity as well.
While 68% of leaders in an Accenture survey said they create empowering environments where people feel they belong, just one third (36%) of employees said their employers succeed in this arena. Many industries, including a lot of the most desirable, highest-paying fields, along with some of the most influential ones, are known to have culture problems, lack of representation and public leaks related to negative experiences of underrepresented employees.
In light of the employment conditions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, researchers and public advocates called for greater attention to diversity, equity and inclusion from employers and lawmakers alike. Gartner said HR leaders should ‘reset’ their efforts in this area, offering a set of recommendations as well.
Employers are also increasingly hiring new diversity leaders or creating a new executive role over this set of responsibilities. For many of these new leaders, improving diverse representation among leadership is a key objective.
