Lack of diversity in the workplace

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paydawg

paydawg

Active member
As a non-Caucasian, I find it very difficult to move up the ranks in a organization led almost exclusively by Caucasians.  I work for a very large Fortune 500 company and there is definitely a glass ceiling for me despite my accomplishments, knowledge level, rapport with associates (both up and down the corporate ladder) and education. 

As far as Sr. Management goes, I know they like me.  They're always giving me great reviews and I'm getting decent raises year after year, but I can't seem to get promoted, while other with significantly less accomplishments are passing me by.  BTW, I talk and act just like the rest of my peers....I just don't look like them.

I wanted to hear other's thoughts on the subject. 

FYI - My sr. management looks a lot like the leadership at RSM (http://rsmus.com/who-we-are/leadership.html).  I'd like to switch firms, but that's not an easy task. 

Thanks for letting me vent.
 
The same could be said about the company my hubby left a few months ago except Caucasians couldn't move up the ranks due to the management favoring those from India (large outsourcing company that used off shore engineers from India). It wasn't a language issue it was just a cultural thing of having Indian management here in the U.S.
 
You should consider moving.  There are a lot of large companies (mine included) who are actually very conscious (perhaps even overly conscious) of making sure they have minorities in management positions including executive ranks. 

I also highly doubt (unless I'm being naive) that somewhere, somehow there was a discussion with your management where they said "hey we should promote paydawg, he's always proven himself to be a hard worker, he's creative, he has good solutions, blah blah blah", then someone else in that meeting goes "no let's consider Joey instead, he may not be as talented or deserving but he's white".  Any good business leaders want the best and the brightest leading the team.  I suppose this still happens at some places inevitably, but in a melting pot like SoCal at a Fortune 500 company, I dunno.
 
Corporate America, unlike sports, is not a true meritocracy.

Paydawg - have you done anything to put pressure on your bosses to get promoted? Have you put together a career/promotion plan with your boss?
 
What should I say instead of Caucasian? Non Indian, Non Asian, Non African American, Non Hispanic?

Who says Caucasian? Every time I fill out a survey I'm asked my race and it's noted Caucasian of Hispanic or non Hispanic origin. Every time I fill out a form for the doctor's info it asks my race as well and yes there is a reason. Some diseases are more prevalent in Caucasians or other races.
 
Ready2Downsize said:
What should I say instead of Caucasian? Non Indian, Non Asian, Non African American, Non Hispanic?

Who says Caucasian? Every time I fill out a survey I'm asked my race and it's noted Caucasian of Hispanic or non Hispanic origin. Every time I fill out a form for the doctor's info it asks my race as well and yes there is a reason. Some diseases are more prevalent in Caucasians or other races.
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White doesn't offend anyone, and doesn't sound silly. The HMDA data uses the term:

The choices for race are:
American Indian or Alaskan Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Phillipine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups or Africa. Terms such as ?Haitian? or ?Negro? can be used in addition to ?Black or African American.?
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

White. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
 
qwerty said:
Corporate America, unlike sports, is not a true meritocracy.

Paydawg - have you done anything to put pressure on your bosses to get promoted? Have you put together a career/promotion plan with your boss?
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I have put together a promotion plan and worked with my boss on this for 2 straight years.  Each year, during my meeting with them, they claim they are receptive to it.  When it comes to officially submitting the promotion request, they conveniently "forget" while other people get promoted.  Then when my annual review comes around, it's basically stellar.  I ask why I didn't get in the last round of promotions and my boss essentially beats around the bush and indicates there were "circumstances beyond his control".  It's BS.  It's racism disguised as apathy and nothing else. 
 
You may need to put more pressure on your bosses.

How are your communication skills?  Do you have a strong accent?  How charismatic are you?  Do you get along with everyone?  Do you share interests?  Are you in sales or something where image matters?  Sometimes what appears to be racism isn't.  It may be cultural-ism, however. 

In my experience, most of the time when someone cries "racism" or "sexism", it isn't.  Rarely it is.
 
My husband is at a Fortune 50 company and they actually have some regulations on meeting the "minority" quota in leadership. BUT most of the leadership VPs are men! I think it's because they are more aggressive at asking for that promotion while the women are not so forward. And honestly when I observe my husband and his VP friends it's like a college fraternity, so very difficult to penetrate into that "clique" esp for women.
Most of the VPs and directors are white and my husband is non-white. paydawg I remember when he was at the lower levels and "non-white" and pretty young. He was like you, just not seeing the promotions coming. You know how he got going up the leadership ranks? He almost quit (conveniently during a time when they needed him most). He found another job and basically said unless they promote him and give him a salary increase he's gone. And they promoted him, the rest is history because again once you're even at the lowest part of the leadership track, it's much easier to move up.
I've also seen some of his colleagues leave the company (in good terms because you never want to burn bridges) and then come back to a promoted position.
Not sure what your field is, this is corporate america I'm referring to. But I think most companies work this way, esp fortune 500 ones.
I think you should find another job and threaten to leave. If not they have no incentive to move you up. esp if you work hard and don't ask questions.
BTW that RSM leadership photos are pretty eye opening...wow, not a coincidence there.
 
Paris said:
My husband is at a Fortune 50 company and they actually have some regulations on meeting the "minority" quota in leadership. BUT most of the leadership VPs are men! I think it's because they are more aggressive at asking for that promotion while the women are not so forward. And honestly when I observe my husband and his VP friends it's like a college fraternity, so very difficult to penetrate into that "clique" esp for women.
Most of the VPs and directors are white and my husband is non-white. paydawg I remember when he was at the lower levels and "non-white" and pretty young. He was like you, just not seeing the promotions coming. You know how he got going up the leadership ranks? He almost quit (conveniently during a time when they needed him most). He found another job and basically said unless they promote him and give him a salary increase he's gone. And they promoted him, the rest is history because again once you're even at the lowest part of the leadership track, it's much easier to move up.
I've also seen some of his colleagues leave the company (in good terms because you never want to burn bridges) and then come back to a promoted position.
Not sure what your field is, this is corporate america I'm referring to. But I think most companies work this way, esp fortune 500 ones.
I think you should find another job and threaten to leave. If not they have no incentive to move you up. esp if you work hard and don't ask questions.
BTW that RSM leadership photos are pretty eye opening...wow, not a coincidence there.
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Thanks for the feedback. 

I'm in middle-management in a finance role, so unfortunately finance positions at my level or higher aren't in abundance like they were 10 years ago.  3 years ago, I actually did have another job offer that paid about 40% more than I currently make.  I tried to leverage off of that and was quickly denied.  Their reason?  "Our hands are tied, HR doesn't provide counter-offers".    I was in no position to actually that that offer, because it was at an unstable company in a more unstable job environment, and my kid was just born.  It was hard to walk away from ridiculous benefits (3 months paternity leave, 4-5 weeks vacation, 5% match on 401k, and a healthy base/bonus structure).  If I were single with no responsibilities, I would've left in a heartbeat. 

As far as the question about my communication skills.  Let's just say that I'm in a 'strategy consulting role' working with finance/risk cohorts and constantly teaming up with attorneys to direct negotiations on very large settlements with counterparties on Wall Street.  Communication and persuasiveness is at the crux of what I do at my job. 
 
Racism is alive and well. Most of it is unconscious bias, not deliberate disparate treatment of "different" folks. However, Trump's success with blatant repeated racist comments resonating with a wide section of the electorate suggests racism is more blatant than I'd hoped in 2016.
 
Perspective said:
Racism is alive and well. Most of it is unconscious bias, not deliberate disparate treatment of "different" folks. However, Trump's success with blatant repeated racist comments resonating with a wide section of the electorate suggests racism is more blatant than I'd hoped in 2016.
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Trump has made comments that some people incorrectly perceive as racist.  He's made comments that people fallaciously repeat as racist.  He certainly may be baiting the racists to get their votes by his word choices, but it would be dishonest to call his comments racist.
 
qwerty said:
Paydawg - I'm with Paris man, time to roll out
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Fully agree.  I'm already on the hunt....just having a hard time finding an equivalent job/comp. due to my very specialized experience. 
 
spootieho said:
Perspective said:
Racism is alive and well. Most of it is unconscious bias, not deliberate disparate treatment of "different" folks. However, Trump's success with blatant repeated racist comments resonating with a wide section of the electorate suggests racism is more blatant than I'd hoped in 2016.
Click to expand...
Trump has made comments that some people incorrectly perceive as racist.  He's made comments that people fallaciously repeat as racist.  He certainly may be baiting the racists to get their votes by his word choices, but it would be dishonest to call his comments racist.
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Um, no. He makes comments, minimally every week, that are patently bigoted. No perception is required. No interpretation is required.
 
spootieho said:
Perspective said:
Racism is alive and well. Most of it is unconscious bias, not deliberate disparate treatment of "different" folks. However, Trump's success with blatant repeated racist comments resonating with a wide section of the electorate suggests racism is more blatant than I'd hoped in 2016.
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Trump has made comments that some people incorrectly perceive as racist.  He's made comments that people fallaciously repeat as racist.  He certainly may be baiting the racists to get their votes by his word choices, but it would be dishonest to call his comments racist.
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Trump's success is in the $3 billion worth of "free" media coverage that someone else paid for, and taking up positions where the more you bash him, the more popular he gets from his support base.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-has-gotten-nearly-3-billion-in-free-advertising-2016-05-06

 
Perspective said:
Um, no. He makes comments, minimally every week, that are patently bigoted. No perception is required. No interpretation is required.
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Sure, but not as bigoted as advertised.  The bigotry advertised by those against him is misleading and dishonest.  Those who oppose him are also bigots, but that takes an understanding of what bigotry is.  We can discuss this further in a new thread if you like and I can break things down and explain.  You use the words "patently" and "no perception required" and "no interpretation required".  I question that.

And don't get me wrong, I'm no fan of Trump.  I just don't like seeing all the dishonesty and hate and violence due to the dishonesty.  I also have a peeve against wrongful racism or sexism or any "ism" charges that people like to throw at people they disagree with these days.

My candidate is Gary Johnson.  You might find you like him too. http://www.isidewith.com.  In California does our vote make a difference?  Might as well vote for the candidate we like the most since we aren't forced to vote for someone we don't like.
 
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