Tom Kadala on the Hispanic Consumer

Opinion: Client Support is Crucial to the Success of any Diversity Program

For the past two decades, efforts to increase minority recruits and multi-cultural awareness at the workplace seems to be gaining traction. At a top Fortune 1000 company, where regulatory commissioners in charge of monitoring minority hires had already delivered five warnings, the newly installed diversity officer took great pride in her ability to show serious improvements by directly involving the firm’s 700+ workforce. Recently placed among the list of top business women to watch for, she runs her one-person operation with the tenacity of a large department. To her credit she has single-handedly founded various career growth-oriented events for young minority prospects.

One of these events, the company’s Annual International Fair, caught my attention. At this event all company employees were invited to share their personal heritage with their colleagues. According to her, the response was overwhelming. Not only were the Hispanic, African American and Asian cultures present, but other cultures as well such as the Irish, Slavic and British. To her surprise, many employees had lost touch with their heritage and were intrigued to learn of each other’s backgrounds. As though on cue, they gravitated with genuine interest to their next of kin. The event was so successful that this year’s Annual International Fair will require more space and the help of interns.

Despite the extraordinary success of this one Fortune 1000 company, some questions remain unanswered. Such as, “Just how much of a competitive advantage can a ‘change in attitude’ towards heritage commonality offer a corporation?” Or, “Why was the diversity department of this Fortune 1000 company run by only one individual?” “If management sees value from having a diverse workforce, why then are they so reluctant to make a serious financial commitment; for example, a full-fledged Diversity department with supporting staff members and a meaningful budget.

Perhaps, an explanation can be found outside the workplace. In the case of this Fortune 1000 company, some of their minority staff members admitted that despite their efforts to contribute their diverse talents, the ultimate mandate came from their corporate clients. Many of their corporate clients lacked multi-cultural appreciation and would unwittingly set unrealistic expectations for projects involving minority-based markets. They were unaware that today, these complex and diverse markets require more patience and larger budgets than may be deemed acceptable.

Without their corporate client’s direct support any company’s efforts to invest in diversity-awareness initiatives will always remain compromised. On occasion a company might hire a superstar employee who may make a few inroads, but as long as their corporate client’s refuse to financially recognize diversity solutions, the true value of having diversity in the workplace will never reach its full potential. To connect the wires, management must seek ways to enlighten and educate their corporate clients as well as their vendors of the potential value of fostering diverse talent in the workplace.

Tom Kadala is the president of ResearchPAYS, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm dedicated to the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets. - (www.researchpays.net). Mr. Kadala can be reached at tom@researchpays.net.

Opinion: To Survive Companies must Learn to Leverage Hispanic ’Raw’ Talent

The personal hardships recently brought about by the economic recession in the US are not unfamiliar to most Hispanics. In fact, the main reason that Hispanics emigrated to the U.S. was to escape from far worse economic conditions caused by steep unemployment, rampant political corruption, and runaway inflation in their respective countries. For them, losing their homes in the US to a sub-prime loan debacle or their jobs as a result of an economic downturn was probably more bearable than not coming to the US at all!

Much can be said about individuals who can withstand unexpected changes in their lives by relying on their own initiative and intuition to get by. Corporations in search of qualified candidates not adverse to taking calculated risks or ‘thinking-out-of-the-box’ should consider hiring Hispanics to manage a team, a department, or a business unit - especially during this recession. The innate abilities of Hispanics to cope with a wide range of business and real-life situations far exceeds even what the best business schools can deliver.

If Hispanics are such ideal candidates, why then do so many corporations fail to attract or retain them? On the flip side of this statement, one might also add, why do so many hired Hispanics disappoint employers by underperforming or leaving their position to return home?

After listening to managers repeatedly complain about their Hispanic hires and hearing Hispanic employees griping about their inexplicable frustration at the workplace, one can begin to sense the seemingly invisible gap that is keeping one side from winning over the other. How then can these managers and their Hispanic employees arrive to a better understanding?

Ironically, what may actually help to close the gap between employers and Hispanic employees may be the economic recession itself. The final outcome, however, may look far different from what one would expect. Rather than provide a better environment to employ Hispanics, the recession may encourage corporations to outsource their services. Here’s why.

Historically, in a recession, large corporations shed jobs; hence, allowing the number of small businesses to surge. These small businesses will grow quickly by tapping on a more affordable talent pool. As the economic pendulum moves back towards job creation and prosperity, the increasing number of small businesses will mostly be Hispanic-owned. Perhaps corporations could capitalize on this trend early by offering a culturally-balanced entrepreneurial business environment that resembles a small business.

Tom Kadala is the president of ResearchPAYS, Inc., a strategic business consulting firm dedicated to the development and expansion of Hispanic consumer markets. - (www.researchpays.net). Mr. Kadala can be reached at tom@researchpays.net.