Why can’t NYC companies retain employees of color?
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
New York City is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, yet many companies here are still doing a poor job when it comes to diversity.
In this week’s issue, Crain’s New York Business has a special section on diversity in the workplace, and the statistics it cites are depressing:
- “In a city that is 25% black, only 2.5% of employees making over $100,000 at the 16 [advertising] agencies examined are black”
- “In the securities industry, minorities make up about 22% of the workforce but are clustered in the lower ranks”
- “A third of law firms in New York don’t have any black or Hispanic partners”
There’s a clear theme emerging: Organizations have become better at recruiting people of color, but many are doing a terrible job of retaining and promoting them.
As I told the reporter at Crain’s, many professionals of color are fed up with doors closing in their faces, and are choosing to leave corporate America altogether. From the article:
At many local companies, minority retention rates are low, and management ranks remain pale. Local experts point to two major problems: uninspired diversity training, and policies that neglect promotion and retention….
An even bigger obstacle to a diverse workforce may be a failure to nurture and promote minority hires.
“A lot of black and Latino professionals end up leaving to start their own businesses in part because they don’t see they have a shot at rising,” says Carmen Van Kerckhove, co-founder and president of New Demographic, a diversity consultancy in Manhattan.
Click here to download a PDF of the article.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Elizabeth wrote:
Can we admit to a third major obstacle that also frequently comes into play with diversity hires of all sorts (not just persons of color)? Sometimes these employees are less prepared/qualified than their peers to begin with, and while the minority professional may indeed get “affirmative action” treatment when initially recruited and hired, that affirmative action frequently disappears when it’s time to compete with other employees for promotions, incentive pay, etc.
To give preferential treatment at first and to later withdraw it can (and does) ruin the careers of diversity hires; however, to withdraw preferential treatment may be the only way to remain competitive and to be fair to the other employees.
This is a very complicated problem, and I’d hate for us to be so “politically correct” that we don’t look at ALL the possible pitfalls and solutions.
As a woman, this matters very much to me, too.
Posted 26 Aug 2008 at 6:04 pm ¶