At Ocean Spray, enhancing diversity takes on many forms

Banner Staff

The problem, as Martin Mitchell sees it, is that too many businesses look at encouraging workplace diversity as a chore, something they have to do lest public perception of their brands suffer.

“Diversity is not a punitive thing,” said Mitchell, senior specialist in talent acquisition at Massachusetts-based Ocean Spray. “You can’t look at it as, ‘People will think we’re bad if we’re not diverse enough.’ It’s about more than that.”

Mitchell’s employers share that sentiment. Ocean Spray’s official definition of diversity goes beyond mere ethnic or cultural variety, emphasizing “all of the ways that we are similar and different from each other” — including the way we think.

“If everybody in the [decision-making process] has similar backgrounds and similar thought processes, then nobody’s ever going to look to branch out,” said Mitchell. “You’re never going to come up with new ideas or concepts, or something kind of crazy, if you’re just following somebody else.

“We want independent thinkers that are going to challenge the norm. That’s the only way [the company is] going to stay a leader.”

And being a leader is something that Ocean Spray — the world’s largest supplier of cranberries and cranberry products, and the best-selling brand in its category for over 40 years — knows a lot about.

The company’s expansive definition of diversity is reflected in the work of its Diversity Action Committee (DAC), now in its second year.

The committee, which meets on a monthly basis, is open to any employee that wants to join and currently has about 20 members. The DAC is comprised of six subcommittees that operate on a number of fronts, focusing on business initiatives, communications, multicultural events, recruitment, strategic planning and women’s empowerment.

While the subcommittees’ goals and responsibilities vary, they all approach their work from the perspective that diversity can positively impact every aspect of Ocean Spray’s business operation — from increasing productivity by making employees feel more comfortable at work to boosting revenue by helping the company tap into growing ethnic and cultural communities.

Initially developed to help make sure that Ocean Spray’s employee population more closely reflected the demographics of the customers purchasing its products, the DAC puts a premium on recruiting workers from diverse backgrounds to join their organization.

Toward that end, Mitchell said the committee plans in its second year to develop partnerships with select ethnic professional organizations, enabling Ocean Spray to make contact with a broader spectrum of skilled, motivated workers.

“In year one, we were kind of testing the waters with a lot of different things, and this year we’re identifying organizations that we want to have closer relationships with,” said Mitchell, who chairs the DAC’s recruitment committee. “[One such group] is the Boston chapter of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs (NSHMBA). This year, we’re getting together to launch a paper competition where MBA students will do a case study on a marketing issue or challenge that we have here at Ocean Spray, and then we’ll invite them down here to present their potential solutions to some of our leadership teams.”

By linking up with groups like NSHMBA for projects like the paper competition, Ocean Spray gets the chance to see potential job candidates showcase their skills in simulated work scenarios, an opportunity Mitchell believes works best for all parties.

“A lot of times, situations arise where you can just give [an organization] money and be considered their ‘partner,’ but we’re looking to go deeper than that,” he said. “We’re trying to come up with different ways to really get to know these organizations and their members, other than just sitting at a career fair behind a booth and collecting resumes.”

That active approach to enhancing workplace diversity also exists within the company. The DAC’s business initiatives subcommittee, Mitchell noted, looks at potential organizational changes — for example, discussing whether or not the writing on company shipping materials should be bilingual to aid those employees in the company’s warehouses for whom English is not their first language. This type of change could help Ocean Spray retain its minority employees once they’re already onboard.

“Part of the focus is on making sure that we are aware of different backgrounds and making sure our people feel comfortable,” said Mitchell. “We want to make sure that everyone can perform to the best of their abilities within the organization.”

And that, more than dollars and cents, is the real bottom line: If you’ve got the best product, the best people, and everyone performs to the best of their abilities, the company can’t help but be the best.

“Whether you’re making a social case or a financial case, when you really look at it, you realize that encouraging diversity is just good business,” said Mitchell.