Diversity: Corporate America and Higher Education
Diversity leaders at some of corporate America’s most prominent organizations share their stories and hopes in the related areas of cultural diversity and inclusiveness.
By Saira Moini
Recipe for Recruitment
Dr. Rohini Anand
Senior Vice President and Global Chief Diversity Officer, Sodexho USA
When Dr. Rohini Anand speaks about diversity and inclusiveness, Sodexho USA’s CEO and executive leadership stop and listen. So do senior leaders at other companies, including some of Sodexho’s own clients.
Under the leadership of Anand, Sodexho’s senior vice president and global chief diversity officer, the nation’s largest food and facilities-management services company has won a reputation — and multiple accolades — as an innovator.
The recipe for Sodexho’s success in recruiting and retaining a diverse staff, says Anand, includes the following ingredients: employee network groups for each minority population, as well as diversity councils across service lines; mentoring initiatives to develop upcoming groups of managers and retain talent at all levels; and accountability for 16,000 managers via a diversity scorecard directly linked to performance bonuses.
In conversation, Anand frequently mentions the “importance of developing the pipeline” of future employees. “As the nation’s labor pool shrinks, diversity-elite companies will win the talent,” she says. “For Sodexho, diversity and inclusiveness are key to our growth — they’re a competitive advantage.”
Anand brings a global perspective to her position, having first completed college in India and then gone on to earn her master’s degree at Ohio University and her doctorate at the University of Michigan.
While the U.S. food service and hospitality industry has at some levels traditionally been multicultural, she notes, members of minority groups have not had ready access to professional or managerial career paths. As part of its goal of inclusiveness, Sodexho reaches out to groups such as the National Association of Black MBAs and Minorities in Hospitality, bringing in interns and often recruiting directly through the groups.
