Diversity is touted for the work force

Utah is joining the rest of the country in becoming "grayer and browner," and several business executives were told Tuesday that represents new opportunities rather than new challenges.

In fact, businesses can improve their bottom lines if they think of diversity as a business strategy, speakers at a business-diversity panel discussion said.

"Part of our job on this panel, what we want to do, is be sure that you as business leaders understand what's going to occur and how you can really take advantage of those opportunities in the work force, in demographics, and how to position your companies to really lead out in the future and in the years to come," said Ross I. Romero, a shareholder at the law firm Jones Waldo Holbrook & McDonough.

Trystan B. Smith, a shareholder at Snow, Christensen and Martineau, suggested that diversity be seen not as a "melting pot" of people but instead as a "mosaic."

"We want to think about diversity as not people trying to be all like each other, but respecting each others' values," he said.

While diversity can be based on age, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, physical qualities, gender and other primary characteristics, secondary ones can include income, work background, parental status, education and religion. And while it is difficult to ignore differences between people, a proper approach would be to value those differences, he said.

Romero said diversity is not a fad but a business imperative that should be an across-the-board endeavor rather than one with a top-down or bottom-up approach. Employees need to buy into the concept, be reminded that the labor pool is diversifying and understand that businesses can tap into everyone's individual creative potential, he said.

"I would suggest that you need to measure so you can improve. You need to know how many people of color you have in your work force. You need to know how many women you have in your work force so you can keep it in mind as you look to diversify your work force," he said.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong with having and looking for diversity candidates. Obviously, you want those candidates to be able to perform the job, ... but I would suggest the days of suggesting that you can't find good diversity and minority talent in this state are over and certainly are over in this country."

Leticia Knowles of American Express explained how her company has stressed diversity and inclusion through its more than 65,000 employees in 140 countries and territories. Employee networks and a diversity curriculum are important elements as the company tries to move from simply valuing diversity to leveraging it, she said.