More on Race Issue

It isn’t going away.  During the past couple of days, there have been two interesting articles out of Ohio on this subject, one from the Columbus Dispatch and the other from the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Dispatch article deals in part with something mentioned in a few posts on this blog: it’s difficult to talk about the issue of race, and the talk can be kind of rough.  So be it.  I still believe this election gives human resources professionals and all kinds of employers the opportunity to begin a conversation that will ultimately benefit your employees and your organizations.  You can’t just haul off and do it.  It will require planning, buy-in at the top, employee input, maybe diversity consultants, and probably legal advice.  If we can pull this off, however, our workplaces will be more open to difficult discussions, and our employees are likely to gain more respect for each other.

The Plain Dealer article not only deals with the issue of race but addresses the remarkable number of issues that this election puts before us: race, gender, age, and religion.  All of those issues are also employment issues.  Let’s not miss the opportunity the next nine months give us to turn this election into a teaching and learning event for our employees.  Again, this must be done carefully, but it can be done.  If it is, I don’t know who will be elected President, but I’m convinced our offices and plants and businesses and organizations will become better places to work.