Organisations that recruit from diverse cultures and backgrounds stand to gain a critical advantage in the global economy. Recruiting a diverse workforce helps an organisation in two key ways: serving its global audience more effectively, and expanding the pool of potential employees it can recruit.
This pro-diversity message was pressed home during the 2007 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting at an event organised by BT and the business TV channel, CNBC. Hosted by CNBC presenter Maria Bartiromo, the event took the form of an open discussion between invited guests and five panellists, chosen for their unique experience and perspective on the subject of diversity.
The panellists were: Carlos Ghosn chief executive of Nissan and Renault; Narayana Murthy, chairman & chief mentor of Infosys Technologies; Barbara Beck, Manpower president for EMEA; Tom Glocer, chief executive of Reuters and Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of BT. The session was attended by about 100 other business leaders, and covered a wide range of issues.
Globalisation and diversity
Globalisation is a much-used word these days, but useful shorthand for describing a major trend in the world economy. Over the last decade, workers in populous countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China (collectively known as the BRIC nations) have joined the world economy as their countries have developed and traded extensively with the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and other nations and regions.
The rise of these developing economies means companies are no longer promoting their products and services to “people like us” – British, European or “western” – but to a global audience with diverse cultures and backgrounds. The same goes for large companies with global aspirations in emerging countries.
Consequently, if a company has a global customer base, to be successful it requires a global workforce who can relate easily to their customers’ cultural background. Setting up a new overseas office purely with ex-pats from company HQ is “the best recipe for failure or, at least, it will take much longer to achieve success,” said Carlos Ghosn chief executive of Nissan and Renault. Furthermore, relinquishing the mono-cultural mindset of the HQ also means delegating decision-making power to overseas offices.
“Previously a company developed a business and exported it along with the HQ’s culture,” said Ben Verwaayen, chief executive of BT. “But you have to decentralise the power structure so that people feel they can achieve their objectives locally.”
Talent seeking
Business analysts agree that the organisations that will be most successful in the future are those which harness the greatest human talent. But ‘talent’ - educated people with technical or commercial skills, sound work ethic, broadband web access and a grasp of at least one language other than their mother-tongue – is in short supply in developed nations with ageing populations.
The ageing of the population will be most dramatic in Europe and Japan, according to the Economist (October 2006). By 2025 the number of people aged 15-64 is projected to fall by 7 per cent in Germany, 9 per cent in Italy and 14 per cent in Japan. But business leaders in the developed world continue to recruit what they see in the mirror, ignoring millions of potential recruits in developing nations.
Diversity from the top
Creating a diverse organisation takes commitment from the top. “We have to embrace diversity. We are running out of workers because of rapid globalisation and ageing demographics,” says Barbara Beck, Manpower president for EMEA. She urges business leaders to practice diversity of recruitment themselves and also demand it of their senior managers. “There is a tyranny of ignorance and a tyranny of bigotry which we have to overcome,” says Narayana Murthy, chairman & chief mentor of Infosys Technologies.
Diversity is not just an optional extra. It will define the success stories of the global economy. Ben Verwaayen puts it succinctly: “Diversity means a better company, better serving a global audience with better results,” he says.
