Diversity In Action

Prudential Financial seeks IT talent in every generation

“Our CIO and our technology organization are looking at how to attract the right talent,” says an HR VP. The affinity groups help, too

Prudential Financial’s approach to diversity has three key drivers, explains Emilio Egea, VP of HR and chief diversity officer.

The first is the marketplace. “We want to expand our market share while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

The second is talent: “tracking and retaining the talent we need for success in our chosen markets.”

The third focus is organizational effectiveness. “We must create an environment where people feel safe to say what’s on their minds and to be who they are. We want to create a workplace where people feel supported and can contribute to their fullest potential,” Egea declares.

Each year, each division and corporate center in Prudential must reestablish its high-impact diversity objectives. “The key to our approach is that we integrate diversity requirements into business and HR processes,” Egea says.

Leadership of the IT division recognizes the changing demographics in the workforce. “Our newer folks have grown up with technology,” explains Michele Alcazar, HR VP for corporate technology. “They tend to use it entirely differently from our more mature workers.”

Longtime employees are used to working with handbooks and filing cabinets, for example, while the new generation uses blogs and wikis. “Our interesting challenge is making sure our knowledge resources are available in many forms, especially considering the large share of our employee population that will be retiring over the next decade.”

Transferring knowledge is vital, and so is the continuing ability to mine existing sources. “The experts told us mainframes would soon be virtually nonexistent, but now we realize they’re probably never going away,” says Alcazar. “But where are people getting trained on mainframes any more? The colleges aren’t doing it!”

Prudential is spearheading a program to develop a young workforce that’s savvy in older technologies, and at the same time extend its diversity outreach. It’s a partnership with Columbia University (New York, NY) to recruit qualified high school students from urban empowerment zones into a two-year IT-track program credited toward a four-year degree.

Participants spend time both in the classroom and at Prudential. “It gets them interested in all sorts of technologies, including mainframe, and in pursuing a career in technology,” says Alcazar.

IT pros at Prudential are involved in mentoring and diversity outreach programs outside the company. “It’s a way to recruit IT talent, and it gets employees involved in the communities in which they live and work,” Alcazar explains.

Within the organization, Prudential supports five affinity/business resource groups. They are Abled and Disabled Associates Partnering Together; the Asian/Pacific Islander American Association; the Black Leadership Forum; the Employee Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered; and the Hispanic Heritage Network. These company-wide networks are involved in career development, outreach and even recruiting.

“We encourage all our employees to participate in business resource groups,” says Egea. “They serve as networks for employees to further their professional development, and at the same time they help the company achieve its business objectives.”

D/C