Carole Young
General Manager, Global Offices of Diversity & Ombuds, Chevron
Corporate Headquarters: Houston, Texas
Website: www.chevron.com
Primary Business: Energy
2009 Revenues: $167.4 Billion
Employees: > 58,000
As globalization continues to shrink boundaries, workforce diversity and the strength it brings to organizations is increasingly recognized as a powerful force shaping long-term business growth and sustainability.
At Chevron, we have long recognized the importance of diversity and have officially established it as a company core value. The Chevron Way is a formal statement of our organizational principles—an ethical compass that governs the way we work.
With operations around the globe, we are a far stronger, far more capable organization when we are able to tap into the unique skills, talents and perspectives of all our employees. However, there are still continuing challenges facing the diversity and inclusion industry. Some of these areas are listed below:
- Cultural differences can frustrate the need to create an environment in which diversity and inclusion flourish.
- Managing a multigenerational workforce where there are different perspectives and expectations.
- Young managers who don’t fully understand and embrace the business case for diversity and inclusion.
- The lack of quantifiable measurements and accountability to track diversity progress.
- Managing diversity globally where there is a different legislative framework locally.
At Chevron, we see employees as our greatest resource and to that end, one of the company’s enterprise strategies is to “invest in people”. This effort is designed to strengthen our organizational capability and develop a talented global workforce that gets results.
To reach that goal, diversity and inclusion are integrated and aligned into our business objectives and processes, and we are driving and delivering a global diversity and inclusion strategy with measurable results and accountability.
Some of these initiatives include engagement with senior management to provide resources and insights as well as regular reviews with senior leaders to discuss diversity initiatives and progress.
We support and sustain workforce diversity and inclusion through training and cultural orientations and by leveraging our employee resource groups and diversity councils.
The role of a new diversity officer is to help the organization navigate through the complexity of globalization. To be effective, the diversity officer must assess the effectiveness of their infrastructure, develop a collaborative diversity vision, and communicate a compelling business case. They must be able to build consensus and create partnerships as well as balance competing interests.
That longstanding respect for diversity and inclusion puts Chevron in an excellent position to deliver a future of high performance. Understanding is the root of success. Organizations reach their potential when everyone, individually and collectively, shares the best chance to succeed.
PDJ
