Articles Discussing Workplace Diversity.

On September 22, the president issued an Executive Order on Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping, which prohibits certain types of diversity trainings for federal employees and federal contractors. The Order prohibits federal contractors from using “any workplace training that inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or any form of race or sex scapegoating.” The prohibition on these types of training applies to any training that would ascribe “character traits, values, moral and ethical codes, privileges, status, or beliefs to a race or sex.”

Littler’s David Goldstein and James Paretti join Alyesha Asghar Dotson to talk about President Trump’s Executive Order, “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping,” which curbs the discussion of certain topics from diversity and inclusion training provided by federal contractors and grantees.  

A workplace where employees believe they can speak up candidly with ideas, questions, and concerns, and even make mistakes without fear of reprisal or adverse repercussions, contributes to inclusivity and can improve performance. In such a work environment, employees feel comfortable asking questions, admitting what they do not know, or expressing their work-relevant thoughts and feelings. This construct is called psychological safety.

A workplace where employees believe they can speak up candidly with ideas, questions, and concerns, and even make mistakes without fear of reprisal or adverse repercussions, contributes to inclusivity and can improve performance.

On September 4, 2020, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), issued an agency-wide memo regarding diversity and inclusion training in the federal workforce.

Despite best intentions, employers may be unknowingly setting themselves up for future lawsuits by improperly broadening diversity and inclusion initiatives.  Many employers are dedicating more resources than ever to improving their corporate culture by focusing on diversity and inclusion, particularly in light of recent events.  The intent for many

Ever since California enacted legislation in 2018 requiring a certain number of female board directors for publicly-held corporations with principal executive offices in California, board diversity continues to be a significant topic.  Maryland, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Washington, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania have introduced or passed legislation

As if you don’t have enough on your plate already. You just heard in the lunchroom that your Chief Diversity Officer is making a presentation to a trade group on the company’s workforce demographics. Should you care?

An often-overlooked area of data analytics is in a company’s diversity office. I

Construction has long been a difficult industry for women, minorities, and LGBTQ+ workers as old ideas are slow to fade. The situation is starting to change. Both employers and labor unions increasingly recognize the value of diversity and inclusion and implement programs and practices to encourage members of underrepresented groups to join the building trades.

Ever since California enacted legislation in 2018 requiring a certain number of female board directors for publicly-held corporations with principal executive offices in California, board diversity continues to be a significant topic. Maryland, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Washington, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania have introduced or passed legislation or resolutions related to board diversity. Likewise, in November 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the “Improving Corporate Governance Through Diversity Act of 2019” (H.R. 5084) related to, among other things, board diversity.

Asha Santos, Shareholder in Littler’s Boston office, explains the purpose of bystander intervention training and the value of diversity and inclusion sessions in today’s workplace.

Shifting demographics threaten the ability of construction companies to staff projects. Many industry leaders identify worker shortages as a major problem and expect this issue to continue for the next several years. The share of employees in the industry aged 55 and older continues to increase. The next generation of workers, Generation Z, is significantly smaller than the generation of Baby Boomers that they will replace.

New board of directors appointments such as Indra Nooyi joining Amazon, Nikki Haley nominated by Boeing, and Michelle J. Howard as IBM’s latest director illustrate the accelerating trend of gender and minority diversity on corporate boards – an apt topic for Women’s History Month. And there are plentiful reasons for promoting board diversity.

Dear Littler: Our boss is really pushing for us to increase our number of diverse employees. I see his point—we are a predominantly white and male workforce, though we have more than 150 workers. My managers had a meeting to set some hiring targets and now we are evaluating some recruiting ideas. We are considering: (1) giving bonuses to managers who hire diverse candidates; (2) asking recruiters to send us only women and racial minorities; and (3) rolling out a Refer-A-Friend program with a small payment to employees who bring in diverse coworkers. What do you think? We want to choose options that will bring results.