DiversityInc - July/August 2009

Charlotte Demographic Estimates

includes conveniently located bus routes, drivers who undergo sensitivity training and talking buses. Moreover, Charlotte has built a reputation of hiring people with sensory disabilities. Among residents age 16 to 64 with a sensory disability, 56 percent were employed when AFB conducted its survey.

One county administrator who is helping to promote diversity awareness throughout Mecklenburg is Diversity Manager Phin Xaypangna. In 2006, she helped roll out its Diversity Management Plan, which includes mandatory cultural-competency workshops for all 5,000 county employees and a $200-per-week pay raise, regardless of the position, to employees who speak a second language on the job. “It helps

54% White

34% Black

11% Latino

1% Other

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey

us serve the community,” explains Xaypangna. The result: Between 2006 and 2008, the number of Latinos employed within Mecklenburg County increased 44 percent, from 98 to 142.

AT NOVANT HEALTH,
CULTURAL COMPETENCY AND
DIVERSITY IMPROVE CARE

Maintaining an inclusive workplace and marketplace has helped Novant Health Inc. and Presbyterian Healthcare—a system of hospitals, nursing homes and clinics serving 3. 5 million residents in the Carolinas—stay competitive.

Five years ago, Benefits Manager Barry Sams introduced a culturally competent, money-generating idea to Novant Health CEO Paul Wiles during a mentoring session. The plan: to launch a “bloodless surgery” program, which would help the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based provider better serve Jehovah’s Witnesses and patients of other religious faiths by eliminating the use of donor blood (prohibited by some religious doctrines). In 2007, Novant Health debuted its program, using medicine to boost a patient’s platelets and blood cells prior to surgery to reduce bleeding and devices to limit blood loss during an operation. This program served patients with religious concerns as well as those who prefer not to undergo blood transfusions. “We look to include new customers in ways that allow us to uplift them on their turf,” says Janet Smith-Hill, senior vice president of human resources. “Many people take faith very seriously. In health and healing, that’s huge.”

Inclusion is part of Novant Health’s workplace culture as well. All of the organization’s 22,000 employees undergo mandatory diversity training, led by internal employee facilitators. The Corporate Diversity Council and two Diversity Action Committees lead changes in the workplace, such as a successful proposal to include “sexual orientation” in Novant’s EEO statement and adding domestic-partner benefits. In addition, Novant Health published Cultural and Religious Competency Manual for Healthcare Professionals, helping its caregivers best serve patients of all cultural backgrounds. When a Hindu patient recently passed away and the family asked to immediately take the body home for a religious ritual, the staff moved quickly to honor the request before the day’s end, while adhering to state healthcare laws. “From that came a learning opportunity for us,” says Smith-Hill.“We asked one of our employees from the Hindu faith how we could help [other Hindu patients] in the future.”

Economic Inclusion,
Education

Charlotte’s Chief Diversity Officers Roundtable—a think-tank of about 15 to 20 Charlotte Chamber members created by the chamber in 2006 with a goal of sharing best practices—is one example of the region’s public/ private diversity-management efforts. Quarterly, members meet to brainstorm ways to improve the local economy. In 2008, the roundtable initiated the Business Opportunity Summit, a quarterly event that pairs MWBEs with corporate procurement officers to spur contracting opportunities.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 13 percent of Charlotte businesses are owned by Blacks (versus 8 percent statewide), 4. 7 percent are Asian-owned, 3 percent Latino-owned and 26 percent owned by women.

“The intent is to facilitate relationship-building between diverse business owners and corporations to ultimately lead to … [local] business growth,” says Felicia Watlington, chair of the chamber’s Diversity Business Council. “The people who live in Charlotte really want it to be the best place for women and minorities to do business.”