Second in a two-part series on diversity in network IS. Part 1, which ran last week, examined the factors that caused the diversity problem. This installment focuses on how to remedy the situation.

Allstate Insurance Co. puts a premium on diversity. Literally.

Besides setting apart a generous portion of available internships for women and minorities and establishing internal minority interest groups, the company ties a portion of managerial bonuses to a diversity index, which is measured as part of a companywide employee survey. The objective is to obtain measurable improvements in the index annually.

"If you don't make it, you don't get the money," says Yvonne Sharpe, systems director of Information Management & Strategy at the Northbrook, Ill., insurer who is herself an African-American. "People are more open to suggestions when money is on the line."

While Allstate declines to part with specific numbers, Sharpe says the result has been an influx of minorities and women in entry-level IT jobs and internships.

Allstate is only one of dozens of Fortune 500 and other companies that have begun to make strides in diversifying their work forces. Companies are investing in diversity training for all employees in IT and other departments, not just managers. They're reaching out to groups such as African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, women and others by establishing mentoring programs and feeding ideas and concerns to senior executives. Some companies are breaking old recruitment tactics by dipping into talent pools at universities with largely black student bodies.

But the responsibility isn't solely on management's shoulders. Minority interest groups are also playing a role, trying to ensure that African-Americans, Hispanics, women and others show up at the door when there's a job to be filled. Once in the door, experts say there are strategic steps minorities and women can take to develop their own career skills and position themselves for advancement to managerial positions.

Why is it so important that these various groups strive for diversity in the work force? One reason is sheer numbers.

A report by the Indianapolis-based public policy think tank Hudson Institute says 51% of new workers entering the job market by 2005 will be from diverse ethnic backgrounds. And, according to ``Workforce 2020," a follow-on report to Hudson Institute's widely acclaimed ``Workforce 2000" study, 62% of all new workers will be women. Given the chronic staffing shortages in network IS, it's clear that it will pay to actively recruit women and minorities, and to prepare them for leadership roles.

Allstate's ethnic efforts

In preparing for such a future, Allstate isn't relying solely on its managerial bonuses. The company has put in place a number of other initiatives to court minorities into IT and other departments.

Sharpe helped Allstate found its own Black Data Processing Associates (BDPA) Team, an affiliate of the national minority interest group for African-Americans. Allstate's BDPA Team helps members gain access to senior level managers and provides support for new hires.

For instance, the group occasionally has met with Chief Information Officer Frank Pollard, who Sharpe says was instrumental in helping the internal BDPA effort early on. "The idea is for our members to present project updates to him or other senior staff that they never otherwise would get close to," she says. That exposes minorities to "thinking at the top and what information is critical at that level."

The Allstate Internship Program also is a vital part of the company's minority outreach efforts. The program targets colleges, particularly those with large black or Hispanic enrollment. Between 1988 and 1990, Allstate placed 502 interns companywide - 19.6% were black, 13% Hispanic and 4.3% Asian.

Sharpe credits Pollard for helping woo minorities into IT. Pollard asked Sharpe to take over the minority recruiting aspect of IT internships; in return, he promised to set aside a percentage of all available IT internships for minorities.

"I guaranteed him 80% of [minority interns] would stay with the company in jobs," Sharpe says. She kept her word - 83% of the interns from her program opted to stay at Allstate last year, and 100% either returned for another stint or accepted full-time staff positions this past year.

Allstate's diversity initiatives seem to be working. Although company policy would not allow Sharpe to share staffing data, author Lawrence Otis Graham offered a broad view in his book, "The Best Companies for Minorities. " Minorities account for 22.8% of Allstate's 54,444 employees, according to Graham. Of those, 14% are African-American, and 5.5% are Hispanic.

In contrast, in Network World's own survey of 200 net executives with hiring responsibility, 66% said blacks account for less than 5% of their staffs and 78% said Hispanics make up less than 5%.

Sharpe says the diversity efforts have "opened doors for minorities and we're seeing greater numbers in entry level [IS] jobs and in applications development versus just the operations end."

Boeing reaches out

Seattle-based Boeing Co. likewise is making an extra effort to get the word out to minorities that it's hiring. Lori Jensen, the company's diversity manager, says Boeing's prestige as an aerospace company overshadows its IT activities, making it necessary to try grass-roots efforts such as recruiting at minority conferences. Therefore, she was on hand at the BDPA national conference in August.

"We've had a presence in African- American and Hispanic groups for years," Jensen says. "It's important to make sure these folks know we have jobs for them."

Members of Boeing's Employee Hispanic Network and Black Achievers group also assist the company in recruiting minorities, she says. Both groups act as advocates for their members, providing an opportunity for mentoring and support. Moreover, the groups can answer questions from prospective employees about how minorities are treated at Boeing.

What they hear is ``a realistic preview of what to expect if they come to work for us," Jensen says. Boeing differentiates itself from other employers by its proactive recruitment of minorities and women, she says, noting the company actively recruits job candidates from 80 schools, including colleges and universities with traditionally black student bodies, as well as institutions with a high percentage of Hispanics enrolled.

"You can judge a company by where it's recruiting, how it's recruiting and who it has doing the recruiting," Jensen says. While some IT shops may claim the pace of work leaves them too harried to seek out minorities for net jobs, Jensen says human resources should have checks and balances to catch such omissions and make corrections in hiring processes.

An IT council for women

Another way to foster diversity is to tailor internal programs specifically for minorities or women. One company that takes this approach is insurance provider Chubb & Son Co., Inc.

In 1995, 18 women in senior IT positions formed the IT Women's Council (ITWC), along with the support of Chubb's CIO. The group now supports more than 40 women, according to Assistant Vice President Patty Whitehouse.

The ITWC's mission is to "foster an environment of inclusion regardless of gender to ensure the proper focus and direction provided for women in IT," says Kathy Marvel, an assistant vice president in Chubb's IT department. The directive for a diverse work force comes all the way from Chairman Dean O'Hare's office. An ITWC steering committee now regularly updates senior IT management on important issues.

The ITWC spends a good deal of time assisting members with mentoring and personal career development, and in helping members understand gender-related workplace issues. The ITWC also coordinates its activities with Chubb's Multicultural Alliance, a companywide support group for minorites.

Women often find it difficult to advance in IT because of "style differences in communications, leadership and management," Whitehouse says. The group held a workshop to discuss these differences, with male and female employees participating. It was so popular, the company offered it a second time. "Obviously people are struggling with this," Whitehouse says.

The ITWC has taken its agenda to all of IT in occasional "town meetings," Marvel says. Consequently, she says some male managers are now recommending female employees join the group to raise skill levels and find mentors.

The ITWC also is reaching out to local schools. The group has worked with Future Business Leaders of America at a local high school to show students that "women and minorities have a place in IT," Marvel says.

FedEx focuses on training

Shipping magnate Federal Express Co. has delivered on a slightly different diversity initiative aimed at reshaping its diversity training, according to Antonio Andrews, manager of systems development in the Information and Telecommunications Division.

Whereas previous diversity programs zeroed in on managers, peppering them with seminars, Andrews helped spread the word companywide. Now diversity training is integrated into all of the company's activities. In fact, all IT employees are exposed to a core curriculum of business and interpersonal skills courses, with diversity training threaded throughout each one.

FedEx also has founded a diversity advisory council, which is staffed with representatives from each organization in every company division. Monthly meetings are open to all who wish to attend. The council addresses issues of age, gender and cultural differences.

If discrimination is raised as an issue, Andrews says employees can invoke a guaranteed grievance policy; they first file a grievance, which kicks off an investigation headed by their local director and escalates to vice presidents and senior executives, "even to the chairman if you need to go to that level," Andrews says.

Minority recruitment also ranks high on the list of priorities at FedEx. FedEx attends conventions sponsored by the BPDA, the National Society of Black Engineers, Black MBA Association and the Hispanic MBA Association, among others.

Role of minority groups

Private companies can foster an open environment for minorities and women to pursue network IS careers, but they can't guarantee minorities will vie for open positions. That's where minority interest groups are stepping in to fill the void.

You'll find groups such as the BDPA, the NAACP and others subsidizing programs with elementary, middle and high schools. The groups also partner with colleges to guarantee internships with private companies, and even pair students with senior executives in shadowing programs, where students learn firsthand the decisions that must be made on a daily basis.

"If we can show them at an early age that IT is an exciting industry, that's an incentive to attract them to the field," says BDPA National President George Williams. BDPA even sees its role as a conduit between the black student community and potential employers.

Case in point: Compuware Corp., a Farmington Hills, Mich., supplier of client/server development tools. The BDPA's Detroit chapter has partnered with the company for almost six years on a program designed to expose school kids to computer technology and Compuware. The high achievers within the program then get internships at Compuware.

"We need to plant the seeds that will produce thought leaders for our profession," Williams says. "Many companies find it difficult to reach out, and that's where we can be a bridge to the community."

With the BDPA's help, Compuware has indeed reached out, arranging for minority employees to install a computer network at the African American History Museum in Detroit to build rapport and trust with the black community.

The BDPA also is working with Allstate on the insurer's Compass community outreach program. Allstate employees adopt a class in a local school and every two weeks meet with students to talk about issues such as behavior, truth and honesty.

"Just to see other minorities that are successful in IT is terribly important to these kids," says Johnnie Hannah, director of IS at the United Way of Greater Toledo in Ohio.

Tracey Minor, president of The Multicultural Advantage, a Philadelphia recruitment firm specializing in the placement of minorities, says these student programs would ``go a long way in increasing the representation of minorities in the IT field if they could get better funding and sponsorship from corporations."

Building bridges

Increasing representation in IT is a start, but helping women and minorities climb the management ladder is another part of the issue. This is where relationship-building skills, mentoring, and leadership development come into play - the same things that white males need to get ahead.

But while Caucasian workers casually build bridges to their white managers, minorities tend to have more trouble. "It's a numbers game," says BDPA's Williams. For every black IT worker there may be 10 white workers. "It makes it more difficult for the minority to reach out to the right people."

In the end, climbing the corporate ladder in network IS depends on gaining access to the right managers, and developing strong relationships that will pay off later.

"Access begins with you," says Willie Fields, director of IT at Kraft Foods, Inc. and an African- American. Minorities must assess their strengths and weaknesses and plot a course to gain the skills they need, he says. "You have to extend your energies beyond your normal activities. If you work 40 hours a week, you're not ready for senior-level access," Fields says.

Joe Thompson, CIO of the U.S. General Services Administration and an African- American, echoes that theme. In order to move up the chain of command, "you have to expand your skills beyond technology and understand the business issues and the only way to do that is through relationships," he says.

Another idea is to take on projects no one else wants. "Senior execs mentor people they can help - and who can help them," says Deborah Spate, an African-American who is CIO of Harvard Community Healthcare in Boston.

Fields notes that relationships also are built outside office walls. For example, a side benefit of the work he does with various charitable organizations is meeting people who turn out to be valuable contacts. "Doing things that have an impact on your community creates a common ground, a bond between you and other managers," he says.

The recurring theme is to get involved.

"You don't have to play 18 holes of golf, but go to the outing anyway and have lunch with people," says Sheila McCaskill, a director with the Chicago Academy of Sciences. "Make the rounds, obtain the information you need and meet the right people." McCaskill should know, as former IT professional who moved up the ranks.

You've also got to take some risks to build relationships, says Curvie Burton, an account manager with Electronic Data Systems Corp. "Take the chance to meet your CIO or a director - people who can open doors for you," he says.

Among those you should get to know are the employees who land the choice assignments, says Eurael Bell Jr., vice president of network implementation at Advantis. "Understand how they do it, and who they know and emulate that activity," he says.

Color blind

All these relationship-building tactics and the combined efforts of minority groups may not be enough to guarantee minorities fair representation within network and other IT units.

Many companies are so busy trying to find scarce network IS professionals that they are blind to the vast talent pools going untapped and to the resulting lack of diversity among those minding their nets. When that network upgrade is two months behind, the need to bring bodies in the door supersedes any talk of ethnic or gender diversity.

That's unfortunate, because the two goals - diversity and talent - are far from mutually exclusive. Rather, addressing the diversity question will go a long way toward filling your talent pool.

Part 1 of the series
Includes hyperlinks for more info.

Where have all the women gone?
A look at the declining numbers of women in computing. Network World, 10/13/97.