Firms Urged to Be Diverse

Ventura County employers to comply with anti-discrimination laws “have to realize that it’s no longer acceptable for them to be led primarily by white males,” said Dawn Hodson, president of J.D. Hodson & Associates, a Ventura business consulting firm.

Because of dramatic changes in Ventura County’s ethnic makeup, employers must make special efforts to avoid continually duplicating the “look” of their work force and executive ranks, Hodson said.

She added, “Unless we’re careful to be fair in hiring and promoting, it’s conceivable that some of our companies will start to look like many of those in South Africa, where small groups of white men often are in charge of work forces that are mainly black and female.”

Hodson’s firm has advised the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department, the Navy’s NEMESIS program and numerous private concerns in the county and throughout the United States on hiring practices and other matters.

In addition to bolstering efficiency, non-discriminatory hiring can increase sales, Hodson maintained. “Companies whose employees have a variety of ethnic backgrounds tend to broaden their markets, often adding products aimed at consumer groups represented by their own workers.”

The most notable changes in Ventura County’s ethnic mix involve a declining percentage of whites and an increasing percentage of Latinos, Hodson noted.

She said whites accounted for 72% of the county’s population in 1980. This fell to 66% in 1990 and will probably decrease to 58% by 2000, she said. In contrast, Latinos climbed from 21% of the population in 1980 to 26% in 1990 and probably will reach 32% by 2000, she estimated.

Blacks and people of Asian origin account for less than 10% of the population, she said. “But by 2000, nearly half the residents of the county will be minorities of one kind or another.”

The increased presence of women in the work force makes gender bias a key issue, Hodson note. She said about 50% of all U.S. workers are female, and that 69% of all white-collar jobs are now held by women.

Hodson will speak on “Managing a Culturally Diverse Workforce” at a Western Ventura County Employer Advisory Council meeting Wednesday at the Hilton Inn in Oxnard. For information, call Annette Sparks, manager of the Ventura office of the state Employment Development Department, at (805) 654-6900.