Leaders in Global Diversity
GLOBAL DIVERSITY 31
Leaders in Global Diversity
‘ Innovators of global finance’, Lehman Brothers have a clear diversity and inclusion strategy in place and have been included in the top 50 Best Workplaces in the UK for the third consecutive year. With over 37 offices globally, more than 14,000 employees in the USA, Europe and Asia have attended their‘ Encore’ training programme, which received the Opportunity Now Global Award in 2007. Lehman also started up the Lehman Brothers’ Centre for Women in Business at the London Business School and in 2006 received the award for Disability Excellence.
Diversity is critical to Credit Suisse’ s success in the global marketplace. Credit Suisse strives to achieve an inclusive workplace where everyone is treated with dignity and respect and where each individual has the opportunity to advance and succeed. Individuals of different genders, races, ages, religions, nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations and disabilities are thus brought together to create a world-class team of financial services professionals. This diverse workforce enables Credit Suisse to serve the broadest spectrum of clients locally, regionally and globally and effectively meet their diverse needs.
Merrill Lynch has offices in over 40 countries and it too possesses a strong diversity and inclusion strategy stating,‘ each business will identify its own unique issues but take advantage of the global span of the firm to share ideas and learn from each other. Think global- act local!’
L’ Oreal remains firm on its commitment to global diversity and states that‘ diversity is a priority’. Global Diversity director Jean-Claude le Grand says“ the diversity of our human resources, our balance of male / female employees and all our mix of talents is one of the keys to L’ Oreal’ s success.”
At BP, the aim is to create a truly inclusive meritocracy in which the diversity of BP’ s workforce reflects BP’ s global reach and maximizes available talent while respecting individual differences.
IBM’ s global commitment to diversity is managed locally in each of the countries where IBM does business. Each of their country general managers is held accountable for results on the following Global Workforce Diversity Imperatives:
• Global Marketplace
• Commitment to Equal Opportunity
• Advancement of Women
• Diversity of Leadership Team
• Cultural Awareness / Acceptance
• Ethnic Minorities • Multilingualism
• Individual Differences
• Integrating the Workplace and the Marketplace
• People with Disabilities
• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender
• Work / Life Balance
• Culture • Flexibility • Dependent Care The common mon theme among the seven imperatives is removing barriers so that IBM can be a great place to
work and do business with.
Diversity is becoming an increasingly important part of business s strategy throughout the world. In this issue we flag up a few of those organisation’ s who are ….. Leaders in Global Diversity By Nikki Costa
ISSUE SIX 2008 engage | uk