Home Depot looks to improve diversity

Alana Roberts

Tuesday, March 1, 2005 | 10:42 a.m.

Carlos Rodriguez, a boss at the Home Depot store on East Serene Avenue in Las Vegas, said the company's commitment to diversity has allowed him to become a supervisor.

Rodriguez took his first position with the company 14 years ago as a receiver at a Home Depot store in San Fernando Valley, Calif. He is now an assistant manager.

He said advancement isn't always easy at every company.

"They gave me the opportunity and trained me to become a manager," Rodriguez said. "I used to work for another company where I tried to move up and that never propelled."

The company has launched a partnership with four Hispanic organizations to increase its Hispanic workforce: the ASPIRA Association, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, the National Council of La Raza and SER-Jobs for Progress National Inc.

Home Depot will work with the organizations to recruit Hispanic candidates for both full- and part-time positions at all of the company's locations. The company plans to create 20,000 new jobs in 2005.

The company cites statistics that an estimated 25 percent of the national workforce will be made up of Hispanics by 2050. Hispanics made up 27 percent of the Las Vegas population in 2003, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. A study by the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada found Hispanic immigrants make up 16.5 percent of Nevada's workforce.

"What it is we've seen explosive growth (in) the Hispanic community," Kathryn Gallagher, a Home Depot spokeswoman, said. "We see it as reshaping America, including the face of business."

Gallagher said the company has an ongoing initiative in place in order to make Home Depot's workforce and supplier network more diverse, noting that the effort to increase the number of Hispanics is a part of the company's larger diversity initiative.

"In order to better serve our customers -- that's why we launched this partnership," Gallagher said. "Basically, the greater the diversity of our people, the better (our) ability to service our customers and communities."

The company has other workforce initiatives, including one to increase the number of older employees at the company through a partnership with AARP and another to increase the number of employees with military backgrounds through a partnership with the U.S. Defense Department.

James Parsons, director of strategic initiatives for SER-Jobs for Progress National Inc., echoed Gallagher's statements that if the company has more Hispanic employees it can better serve customers. SER-Jobs for Progress National Inc. is an Irving, Texas-based nonprofit organization that works to address employment and economic concerns among Hispanics.

"All of these large companies that are hiring, they're hiring thousands of people a year," Parsons said. "Given the fact that Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing group in the U.S., they (should) want to at least fill a portion of those jobs with Hispanics. They have a lot of Hispanic customers, both residential and contractors, and they're looking to work with someone who understands their needs and understands their language."

Priscilla Rocha, president of the Hispanic Association for Bilingual Literacy and Education, a Las Vegas-based affiliate of SER-Jobs for Progress, said the Las Vegas Valley's Hispanic community is in need of more initiatives such as the Home Depot program.

However, she said many Hispanic workers need English speaking skills before entering the workforce. That's where her organization comes in, she said.

"The Home Depot partnership is a great idea," Rocha said. "We have over 2,000 students in our program. We want to prepare them for the job market."