Consumers are pulling out of the stock market and saving, rather than purchasing goods, and companies are responding with cutbacks, sometimes mass layoffs. While most diversity departments have withstood job cuts better than those in other sectors, diversity directors still can be at risk, particularly in companies where the value of diversity really isn't understood.

So how does a diversity director ensure that the position -- and the person -- remains relevant during a down economy?

· Make sure diversity programs are integrated into the company's business goals

Experts interviewed agreed that the diversity director must be involved in every aspect of a company's business and relate the business benefit of diversity constantly. The diversity department at Xerox, for example, facilitates relationships between employee caucus groups and senior executives, who are assigned to work with the groups. The relationships are an attempt to keep senior executives aware of the issues that affect employees, said Ernest Hicks, manager, Xerox corporate diversity office.

"You need to stay in touch with employees because they'll keep you in touch with reality," Hicks said. "The diversity director should be the conduit between CEO, executives and employees."

Diversity directors need to constantly conduct research through diversity publications and connect that research specifically to the mission of their organizations, said Howard Ross, president of Cook Ross, a consulting firm based in Silver Spring, Md. An example would be revealing the market share held by people of color for the company's product line. It's important that the diversity director understand the goals of his or her company's business sectors to have ideas on how diversity can contribute to the bottom line.

"Connect all the relevant data and make sure the conversation makes plain that there is an investment here among diverse people that is linked to the bottom line of the organization," Ross said.

· Be in touch with and part of the company's senior management

Diversity directors should be an integral part of the senior-management team, said Virginia Clark, co-head of the diversity practice at Chicago-based Spencer Stuart, an executive-search firm.

If access to the senior-management team is being denied, that's a sign that the diversity director position is considered expendable.

The diversity director should use that access to be vigilant about diversity issues, such as providing a diversity headcount during a downsizing, Clark said.

"This doesn’t mean just being the diversity police, but offering meaningful, thoughtful alternatives to the situation," Clark said.

For example, airlines have been laying off employees by the thousands. They often use a tenure track to identify employees who are expendable. The problem, however, is that since employees of color throughout corporate America usually are the last hired, they also have the least seniority so they are the first let go. The diversity director could suggest methods for keeping the high performers who are diverse employees on part-time, flex-time or other arrangements to retain their loyalty.

"Part of the issue is to retain morale," Clark said. "You don't want former employees bad-mouthing the company in marketplace."

· The diversity director should be involved with recruitment and retention initiatives

Sew diversity programs into the fabric of the human-resources department, particularly within organizational development and effectiveness, said Kenneth Arroyo Roldan, CEO of Wesley, Brown & Bartle, a New York City-based search firm that specializes in diversity and military-recruiting assignments.

Roldan estimated that less than 1 percent of line and operations roles are filled with employees of color.

"There are good citizens who give entry-level positions to people of color, but look at recruiting and staffing where people will be respected, there diversity hasn't moved an inch," Roldan said. "There are very few chief diversity officers or diversity managers who have attempted to tap into the talent pool of people of color by implementing a strategic plan."

The diversity director must be involved with the executive-selection process and the relationship between the corporation and the search firm, Roldan said.

In that vein, the diversity director must understand the cost of ignoring an opportunity to place a diverse executive and must be able to explain why the opportunity to place a diverse executive can't be ignored, , said David Tulin, president of Philadelphia-based diversity consultants Tulin DiversiTeam Associates.

"Clearly, outline the 'price' the company may pay if strategic diversity action recommendations are not implemented," Tulin said.

The price for not having a diverse senior executive team could be the inability to attract diverse recruits because they perceive a glass ceiling. The price of not having a succession program or formal mentoring program that seeks to identify top diverse performers could be the inability to identify diverse executive candidates. In the end, the lack of diversity could result with the company being disconnected from diverse consumers.

"Now more than ever the diversity director should ensure diverse slates of recruits," Ross said. "It is a time for boldness rather than saying this is an issue that can be put on the back burner. Challenging senior executives is scary at this time, but it is most important for the diversity director. Stand firmly for what you are there for."

· Broaden Diversity's Reach Beyond Race and Gender

When the economy, companies and people are economically pressed you see issues revolving around race crop up since people of color suffer the brunt of layoffs. Too often a focus on diversity makes white employees feel they are expendable because they don’t understand their contribution to diversity.

Ross suggested that diversity directors be mindful not to get stuck in a teaching role where they forget to listen to the needs of all employees including those who are white men. Understanding and relating the role that white men play in the diversity equation also could build allegiances with the senior team since most companies feature a senior team that is predominantly white and male.

"Keep relationships alive throughout the organization by listening to people's needs," Ross said. "A white male should be able to talk to the diversity director about the issues."

He recommended maintaining a cross-race network of managers through lunch dates and sending out e-mails with pertinent diversity information. The information doesn't have to be directly related to job duties, but can be interesting information with a diversity theme. For example, the revelation in February that a three-year HIV-vaccine trial dramatically reduced the infection rates of blacks and Asians participating in the trial while it failed to significantly decrease infection rates among the general white population. ( See Also: Should Race Be a Factor? AIDS Vaccine Promising for Blacks, Asians but Overall Failure).

"It's important that diversity directors see themselves as advocates for everyone in the organizations," Ross said.
Broadening diversity's reach also can involve examining how thought processes and needs vary among genders and generations of employees. Xerox has conducted training in the area of neurolinguistics, in which the company offered programs that sought to create an awareness of people's different forms of learning. It was an attempt to show how people vary beyond color and are similar in spite of color.

"You must make employees aware of various aspects of diversity beyond ethnic, gender and race diversity," said Hicks. "If that's all you ever talk about, you'll find that that is what's prominent among employees for defining diversity. Diversity goes beyond the visible."

· Diversity directors should influence a company's benefits package

"You can assess a company's diversity through benefits offered, such as flex-time and domestic-partner benefits," said Hicks. "You've got several generations working in the office and many baby boomers find they're responsible for taking care of their parents now after they've finished with their kids."

Xerox has a "Life Cycle Program" that provides a $10,000 benefit to employees who can withdraw from it to pay medical expenses for an elderly family member. Also, providing benefits for the varying healthcare needs of diverse baby boomers would be an entrepreneurial way for a diversity director to demonstrate relevance.

Generation X employees can use the benefit to subsidize a down payment on a home, Hicks said.

· Be Entrepreneurial

It's worth repeating: An effective diversity director must be aware of the needs of other business units. In knowing these needs the diversity director can provide managers and executives resources and information they would want or need, but can’t or won’t get, except for the diversity director's expertise, said Tulin.

"Alert 'them' to current and potential problems, risks, and business diversity opportunities that, if not strategically dealt with, could hurt the organization’s competitive position," Tulin said.

Attempts to be more entrepreneurial also could involve a recruitment focus that takes advantage of people in the 45-and-older crowd who are looking for job opportunities, said Joe Cipolla of Wilmington, Del., certified career counselor for ThirdAgeCareer.com and a consultant for Delaware County Community College (DCCC).

"The 45-plus workforce will benefit diversity," Cipolla said. "Today's organization needs to move and penetrate markets in a facile way. So your workers must be flexible."

One of the most potent workforces in the next five to 10 years will be people who are 45 years and older because the group has life and job experience, said Cipolla. In addition the group has savings, 401k and retirement benefits, that allow its members to work part-time and flex-time hours, which can save a company on salary expense, he said.

"People [who are diversity directors] have to take a tremendous amount of initiative," said Clark. "This [position] is going to be political and one of those thankless jobs where you're expected to perform a nebulous role. You probably have a budget but no revenues coming in. Leverage relationships."

Ross advised diversity directors to remain flexible with training methods. He said they should imbed pieces of diversity training into orientation programs, leadership programs, customer-service training and any educational training programs that are ongoing, he said.

It’s a way to keep the discussion alive and your accomplishments in the face of the senior executives, Ross said.
"The real important bottom line is to be creative," Ross said. "Don't think that diversity has to be done this way or that way. Look for little ways to get in and keep the conversation in the forefront of people's minds."