82.1 F
San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Union Bank Initiative Moves from Diversity to Inclusion

With a history that includes both a samurai and a German immigrant dry goods merchant, you could argue that Union Bank of California has diversity in its blood. And indeed, since its beginnings in the mid-1980s, the bank’s demographics have reflected those roots and then some. Today in its Southern California region, Union’s workforce is 27.1 percent Asian, 26.5 percent Hispanic, 7.9 percent African American and 0.3 percent Native American. Bank-wide, ethnic minorities make up nearly 60 percent of the workforce and 40 percent of officials and managers, and women account for 70 percent of its employees. Hispanic managers account for 17.6 percent of the bank’s managers, Asians account for 17.5 percent, African Americans account for 6.8 percent and Native Americans account for 0.5 percent. Union Bank, which boasts that it has ranked above all other banks in Fortune magazine’s annual “America’s 50 Best Companies for Diversity,” for six consecutive years, has employed a formal program to foster its diverse workforce culture since 1998. Its diversity council, which includes about a dozen Southern California region managers, works in areas including employment, training and development, minority loans and vendor programs. But Union Bank’s next initiative will have an even bigger goal, to move from diversity to inclusion, looking not just at ethnic groups, but also at creating a culture that includes all the individual variations and the social and family constellations that make up today’s society. “We’re going beyond the protected groups and making sure everyone is at the table,” said Randy Lowe, senior vice president, diversity officer and executive recruitment at Union Bank. “So it covers marital status, sexual orientation, immigrant or long term resident status, and the whole concept is that you’re looking at individuals rather than groups and insuring that every individual feels they are part of the process and feels comfortable in the culture, which I think is the issue for the 21st century.” Union Bank’s Leadership Council for Inclusion, set to have its first meeting in July, will also seek to reflect what Lowe and others say is a multicultural view that is more suited to today’s workforce. In much the same way that European immigrants eventually blended into the larger American culture, a whole range of bi-racial and multicultural citizens have become part of the American fabric. “The other half is recognizing people are individuals, and just because you are any one thing doesn’t mean all African Americans are alike or all Hispanics are alike,” Lowe said. ‘So it’s stressing the individual, which I think is really important for the future.” Bank officials note that, while affinity groups helped to increase the representation of women and minorities in corporate cultures and advocate for promotion and pay opportunities, the new focus will help bring all these individuals into the decision-making process. One of the first jobs of the new council will be to develop an accountability system that will become part of evaluations and performance standards for all managers and will play a role in determining compensation. Union Bank has also appointed a director of talent management who will focus on development and succession planning that embraces diversity. “You’ll see some pretty significant activity in that by 2008,” Lowe said.

Featured Articles

Related Articles