The American workforce is changing, and the scrap industry must keep up, or miss out, according to Victor Cardwell, a management attorney for Woods Rodgers PLC, Roanoke, Va.
Cardwell presented a session on managing a multicultural scrap yard at the ISRI National Convention, which was April 13-16 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. “You can look at the idea of a multicultural scrap yard as a limiting factor, but I suggest to you that it is not,” he said.
Cardwell told listeners that the American workforce is expanding to include a more diverse population. Cardwell said a diverse workforce offers a number of advantages to modern employers, including fresh perspectives in all aspects of a business, increased creativity on the job and having a workforce that represents the client base.
Additionally, managers who warm to a diverse work population can reap a very practical benefit—avoiding costly litigation in the form of discrimination lawsuits, Cardwell said.
For practical protection against discrimination suits, Cardwell recommended that all companies identify themselves as equal opportunity employers. He also suggested that managers familiarize themselves with diversity-related regulations like the Americans with Disabilities Act and family leave laws.
Cardwell said incorporating diversity can be particularly challenging for the scrap industry, where so many companies are passed down between generations in individual families. “That can have an impact on how you view employees who aren’t family members,” Cardwell said.
Cardwell added that scrap yard managers should make sure they are aware that diversity comes in more forms than race, gender and ethnicity—discrimination against older workers is becoming increasingly common.
In addition, Cardwell said managers should challenge themselves to move beyond simply tolerating the cultural differences among their diverse staff and try to actually accept them. “In an enlightened time like 2005, ‘tolerance’ is not enough,” he said.