DiversityInc - November/December 2008

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HERE’S WHAT THEY SAID: Barry: At a time like this, when we want to hold on to our very best talent, this is the very time at which they are being pushed by the competition and are likely to make life decisions about whether the stress is worth staying on in the industry or not. The ability for us to create the right environment,

them to bring solutions to our clients and then not be able to retain them, so retention is top of the charts for us. Our ability to create those solutions consistently across the board is tantamount to our business, so it’s a must-have.

We have to encourage women
and ethnically diverse minorities
in leadership positions. We have
a women’s leadership
forum, where our more
senior women are
meeting with women
who are clients or
potential clients that
are as senior in their
companies. We’re
doing the same thing
with African-American
women, Hispanics, and
soon with the Asian community.

We try to understand the historical performance of that individual. We look back four to seven years to really try and understand where this person is and what their real potential is. We try to understand their historical experiences: what are the skills they have, what type of roles have they played, what experiences have they embodied in their total career. Probably most important is what their aspirations are.

“People are willing to hang with you in
tough times.”Jimmie Paschall, Marriott

especially for our diverse talent, easily spills over to the broader population. This is an indication that efforts in the diversity space have a much broader ripple effect within the organization.

One specific program is our initiative for the growth and retention of women, called IGROW. That makes sure that our senior-most women act as a support structure for each other during these times.

won’t be the last one. So one of the benefits I see for a company like ours is that you have people that have been through a rough time and they have confidence in the leadership’s ability to look at the horizons and make adjustments early on. So people are willing to hang with you during the tough times, even if it causes pain on some level. As we sit in meetings now and we look at what’s happening with travel, there is concern.

We’re focused on trying to keep the best of the talent that we have and to make sure that Marriott continues to be seen as an employer of choice for the work force of the future, which brings with it some challenges based on the demands of our business and the customer interaction, hours required, the perception around the services industry.

Andre Hughes: It’s very difficult to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our people to develop

Jimmie Paschall: This is not the first economic downturn and it

Hamilton: It costs us $30,000 to $40,000 per person if we lose a person. We’ve recruited them, hired and trained them, on-boarded them, oriented them. We will have a sunken crop if we lose those people. It is in our financial interest to create a bond between that person and the company and do that from the first day they are on the property and keep creating opportunities for them.

No. 4 Subha V. Barry, Managing Director, Head of Global Diversity & Inclusion, Merrill Lynch & Co., No. 7 Ron Glover, Vice President, Diversity and Workforce