Diversity Effort Pays Rewards
A Drive to find the Best Talent Leads to A Diverse Workforce At TWC
by K.C. Neel -- Multichannel News, 9/28/2008 8:00:00 PM
In this story:
BROAD BACKGROUND
BONUS PROGRAM
AT REGIONAL LEVELS
For Time Warner Cable, diversity in the workplace is more than a feel-good strategy — it is a business imperative.
As CEO Glenn Britt puts it on the company’s Web site, the MSO “values true diversity, with an open environment that allows us to blend the experiences, culture, influences, languages and perspectives of our employees and our customers.”
“We didn’t have the talent in-house to handle all the new lines of business we were getting into,” said Tom Mathews, Time Warner Cable executive vice president of human resources. “We had some, but not deep enough to adequately launch those services. We needed to search for talent in places we’d never had to go before and tap into diverse and far-reaching places.”
When the MSO was preparing to launch telephone service in 2003-04, it was determined that every division have a vice president of telephony. That meant hiring 40 new executives at the time, Mathews said. It was quite a feat, but it also presented the company with chance to build a more balanced and varied workforce.
“We took it as an opportunity to focus on our ethnic, geographic, gender and industry diversity,” Mathews said. “We needed to think and act differently. We did and it has worked well for us.”
BROAD BACKGROUND
The effort to consciously look for new employees with diverse backgrounds paid off in several ways, Mathews said. About 60% of those new hires came from ethnically diverse backgrounds. Some of those executives have since moved into other areas of the company’s departments and businesses, bringing with them a broad background of knowledge and experience not necessarily evident before. And the number of people of color and women at every level has been growing ever since.
Still, executives know they have to do a better job of diversifying at the highest levels to truly be competitive and effective. The MSO had always done a pretty good job of hiring a diverse workforce at the middle and bottom of the corporate ladder, said Terri Moore, senior manager of diversity and inclusion for Time Warner. But clearly, diversity closer to the top of the ranks was lacking.
“We knew it wouldn’t be easy but we knew we could do it,” Moore said. “But it wasn’t going to be a one-trick pony or a whim either. Diversity is so much more than hiring women and people of color. It’s changing the culture and environment to one of inclusion for everyone, regardless of personal or professional background.”
To be sure, defining diversity is not easy, Moore said, noting that it goes beyond ethnicity or gender. Everyone has an aspect of their life that they can bring to the table that can help the company think and act differently, she said.
Professional background and experience plays an important role in how inclusive a company is, just as gender and race impacts how a company operates and relates to its employees and customers.
“We align our business strategy with our diversity strategy,” chief operating officer Landel Hobbs told Multichannel News last year. “They work hand in hand. We work closely with our diversity council on every aspect of our business. It’s just good business sense.”
BONUS PROGRAM
Indeed, top managers have long been rewarded with annual bonuses when they’ve successfully created diverse departments, Mathews said. And the strategy is working. “It puts some strength behind the directives,” he said. “People will follow the money and realize that diversity isn’t a fad du jour for our company. We take it very seriously and will reward our people for taking it seriously, too. Bonuses for diversity efforts have been part of our bonus structures for five or six years now.”
The laser focus has not only resulted in the majority of its telephony vice president hires having multicultural backgrounds, it has also helped propel several women into high-profile jobs at the company. Today, five out of 21 executive vice president posts at Time Warner Cable are held by women.
“Time Warner Cable’s sheer will and determination has resulted in their success,” said Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, president and CEO of Women In Cable & Telecommunications. “Landel Hobbs and his team really talk the talk and more importantly, they walk the walk. Five years ago, Glenn Britt talked about the explosion in new technology being a great opportunity to diversify the industry’s employee base. Time Warner Cable has made a concerted effort [to diversify its workforce] and it shows.”
The company stepped up its involvement and support of organizations such as the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in Communications, WICT, the Emma Bowen Foundation and the Walter Kaitz Foundation. And that wouldn’t happen if they weren’t supported by top management.
“Time Warner executives are very involved in our chapters in areas where they operate,” Mosley said. “But they have also done a lot internally to focus on their diversity efforts. They just decided to make a conscious effort to do something and from a gender perspective, particularly, they have been very successful.”
To wit: former OpenTV president Joan Gillman now serves as TWC’s corporate vice president and president of media sales; Melinda Witmer is senior vice president and chief programming officer; Ellen East moved over from Cox Communications earlier this year to serve as executive vice president and chief communications officer; Gail MacKinnon is executive vice president and chief government relations officer; and Carol Hevey is executive vice president of operations in the MSO’s Carolinas region.
Time Warner Cable revived its Women Leadership Council from obscurity a few years ago. The group is designed to help mentor and train women as they climb the corporate ladder.
The council’s objectives are framed by measurable business growth goals and the operator now has the most balanced roster of mid- and upper-level women leaders in the industry, according to Joanne Cleaver, a researcher with Working Mother Media, which with WICT, produces an annual study on women in the workplace.
The Diversity Council has the same goals, Mathews said. The council determined that every employee in the company needed diversity training.
Today, several outside training firms, as well as 13 internal certified trainers travel the country every year conducting diversity training at every division, according to Moore. The one-day training sessions are designed to be very interactive, Mathews said.
“People come away from those one-day sessions with completely different perspectives,” he said.
AT REGIONAL LEVELS
This year, Time Warner Cable created diversity councils at the regional level. In addition, a mentoring program that encompasses corporate, regional and divisional offices is launching. The councils will be able to focus on issues specific to those areas of the country, Mathews said. But the overall goal is to create a companywide environment that is inclusive from top to bottom.
“Ten years ago, we didn’t have feeder pools to choose from,” Mathews said. “Now we do, and it’s invaluable. We want to hire the best people and keep them and that means making sure we have an environment that is attractive and meaningful.”
As managers grasp the tactical advantages of drawing on the strengths of women and minorities, they’re leveraging that for better customer service and rolling out new products and services. As that happens, new career paths are opening up for women and minorities throughout the company.
“Our diversity strategy has morphed as the industry has morphed,” Mathews said. “We’re focused on key programs and initiatives. We have a number of good role models, and women inside and outside the industry look at that and say, 'I can do well there.’ ”
To be sure, there are areas for improvement. The entire industry is struggling to hire women in technological positions. WICT has undertaken an industrywide initiative to lure women to tech jobs.
Mathews and Moore admit there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the MSO’s own diversity efforts.
“This isn’t a short-term or quick-hit program or initiative,” Mathews said. “It’s always something we’re going to give a lot of attention to. We look forward to the day when we don’t need special councils to help us make the right decisions.”
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