Companies Find EAPs Can Foster Diversity

s the workplace becomes increasingly global, management and employees are faced with complex cultural issues that are not easily resolved. A multi-ethnic workforce creates surprising and often unforeseen problems that require delicate handling to keep valuable employees happy. In the past, human resources professionals have dealt with these issues on their own. Today, however, employee-assistance programs offer a wealth of work/life and diversity services such as helping to find child and elder care, or providing tips on working with foreign customers, says Mary-Ellen Rogers, CEO of Family Care and Workforce Diversity Consultants, an international life-span resource and referral provider in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

    Twenty years ago, EAPs provided only services for personal crises such as substance abuse or marriage counseling, Rogers says. The programs were designed to handle big problems, but gave little attention to the daily issues that employees face both in the workplace and at home. Management is beginning to realize that diversity issues, such as discrimination and cultural alienation, affect productivity, she says. "Thats why it needs to be an issue for human resources."

    Diversity and work/life programs help employees discuss and resolve harassment or discrimination problems. Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, Rogers says, her company has helped several people handle difficult personal problems, including a woman whose child was repeatedly attacked at school because he is Afghani. "She was considering quitting her job because she didnt know how to protect him," Rogers says. "A diversity rep helped the woman find an after-school program that would pick up her son and care for him until she got off work."

    But dealing with harassment is only part of the focus of diversity programs. "Diversity is not just about race and religion," Rogers says. "Its about global etiquette, understanding other cultures, and helping people feel comfortable in foreign surroundings."

    Diversity services can be as simple as offering a newly transplanted worker help in finding an ethnic grocery store, or as critical as providing education and seminars to help management create an atmosphere that is hospitable in a culturally rich environment.

    "You need to offer programs that reflect the culture, language, and racial makeup of your population," she says. Rogers recently worked with a steel mill in Youngstown, Ohio, for example, where 80 percent of the employees were African-American. "Their blood pressure rates were off the charts, and 40 percent of them were diabetic," she says, adding that both conditions are common among African-American men. The company had no educational or preventive plan to deal with the problem. So it put together a panel composed largely of African-American doctors, dieticians, and educators to help address these issues. "To deal with the sensitivity of consumers, you have to have a structure that the consumers can relate to."

Workforce, February 2002, pp. 66-69 -- Subscribe Now!