Diversity Training Expert Says –

On The Ledger Of Corporate Assets, People Count The Most

By Kaaren Valenta

She really wanted the job. It was a high profile executive position – and she knew she had the skills to do it. But she lost out to a male applicant. Not that she wasn’t qualified, her boss admitted, but she would have to make presentations to audiences of male executives, and a man would be more credible in the job.

She sued for sexual discrimination. And won.

While the issues in many job discrimination cases are subtler, the need for “diversity” training in the workplace has increased significantly in recent years and created a new career for Newtown resident Nancy Haas. Ms Haas, who spent more than 20 years working for such large corporations as IBM, General Electric, and Merck, launched her own business, Haas Consulting Services, LLC, two years ago. Since that time she has criss-crossed the country, providing training in diversity, sexual harassment, sales, human behavior, managed care, and other aspects of human resources.

“People are the most important asset of any corporation, no matter how large or small,” Ms Haas said. “And from a business standpoint, when employees are happier, they are more productive and it helps the bottom line.”

The need for diversity training has been reflected in lawsuits filed during the past few years against large companies by customers and employees who feel they have been discriminated against, Ms Haas said.

“There is both good and bad in this,” she said. “The bad is that a lawsuit had to be filed. But the good thing is that companies are now addressing the issues.”

Denny’s, for example, was hit by a lawsuit alleging discrimination against black customers at the restaurant chain. “Denny’s has responded by making such efforts to make its employees sensitive to diversity that it is now written up as a model company – one of the most admired and best to work for,” Ms Haas said.

As the population ages and people tend to retire later, the issues of age discrimination in employment are increasing. Four separate generational groups have been identified by sociologists: veterans (1920-1940), baby-boomers (1940-1960), nexers (1960-1980), and X-ers (1980-2000).

“A company might have a ‘kid’ who just graduated from college assigned to work with someone who has been with the company for 20 or 30 years –  ‘upstarts and old farts’ as it is sometimes described,” Ms Haas said, smiling. “But a college kid can teach new skills to an older employee while the older employee has a lot of experience to share. They can both learn and gain a respect for each other. It does not have to be an adversarial situation. I often suggest that the new employee do a job shadow with the experienced employee, to get to know each other and the job.”

Stereotyping – related to age, sex, race, religious, cultural, or handicap – creates adversarial situations, and leads to discrimination, she said. “People tend to make a judgment immediately based on their own biases. [For example] there was a sales representative who just couldn’t get along with a customer who was Arabic. He couldn’t build a good relationship and finally went to his manager and asked to be taken off the account. Instead, the manager told the sales rep to volunteer to work for the retailer at no charge for a day to better understand his problems. The retailer was so taken aback by the offer, so impressed that his needs were being addressed, that there was a much better relationship from that day forward – even though he didn’t accept the offer.”

Nancy Haas calls this “listening to focus” and it is at the heart of diversity training. “Focusing on each other’s needs will give you a partnership that will lead you to a solution,” she said.

Using role-playing, videotapes, and other educational tools, she conducts 21/2-day diversity training sessions for companies. Then she follows up six months later to ascertain how effective her presentations have been.

“I love what I do,” she said. “And companies have to believe it is important enough to take sales people off the road for those 2½ days.”

Ms Haas is a member of the American Society for Training and Development, and is certified by the Society for Human Resource management in diversity training and its successful management.

Because her diverse corporate experience also involved managing health care benefits and issues, she now serves as a consultant for companies that want to make better health care decisions for their employees and retirees. Ms Haas has been a member of the Health Care Financing Administration’s Coordinating Committee for the National Medicare Education Program and has been chairman of several committees for the US Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Mental Health Services, and the Washington Business Group of Health.

She currently is chairman of the Family Counseling Center, Inc., a mental health agency located in Newtown. Ms Haas and her husband, Bob Haas, who works for IBM, have lived in Newtown for 11 years.

Nancy Haas grew up in southeastern Pennsylvania and went to work immediately after graduating from a community college with an associate’s degree. She spent many years afterwards working during the day and going to school evenings and weekends to earn a bachelor’s degree and then an MBA.

“When I grew up there wasn’t as much emphasis on careers [for women],” she said. “That certainly has changed. To get an MBA, I spent every Saturday for 12 weeks at a time in class, but it was a valuable experience. I’ve found that all the experiences I’ve had, all the positions I’ve had, have been valuable. There’s never been a wasted experience.”

Nancy Haas will be the guest speaker at the Newtown Business & Professional Women’s Club’s first meeting of the 2000-2001 season, scheduled for 6 pm Monday, September 11, at the Inn at Newtown. Dinner reservations, $18, are required by calling Shelly Kappauf at 426-6362 by September 8.

Haas Consulting Services can be reached at 426-0298 or at haasconsultsvcs@aol.com.