Todd Corley, senior vice president and global chief diversity officer at Abercrombie and Fitch, spoke Thursday about the company’s challenges and success in establishing a diverse culture.
Corley said that in 2004, Abercrombie and Fitch was barely diverse, as 90 percent of the employees were white, but by 2010, less than 50 percent of the company’s employees were white.
The company began putting in place various projects to encourage diversity, such as a diversity secret shopping program, a culture and sensitivity committee, a diversity council and an employee engagement Facebook page. Corley said these programs created a workplace where — both on the executive level and store management level — people were on board with the diversity initiatives.
These programs have allowed the company to flourish as more people feel comfortable shopping at Abercrombie and applying for positions. The company has also been able to expand stores in locations around the world, Corley said.
“If we hadn’t done that, we would not have been ready for international expansion, I assure you,” Corley said.
Corley also said the main goal is to make all people, no matter what their background is, feel comfortable in the store. He said minorities were barely applying in the stores before they set up these initiatives.
He said he cannot change the brand style and appearance of the target market, but he can try to make all people feel welcome by employees — no matter what they look like or what their body type is.
“What we have to do better that we haven’t been doing is making sure that if it doesn’t look like you, then you still feel like, ‘I can be there,’ ” Corley said.
Tom Mclean, a second year master’s student in business administration, said he was impressed by Corley’s work at Abercrombie and has always wondered about going into a company with big ideas and constantly making changes, while still being sensitive to people’s beliefs.
“To be able to bring in that attitude and enthusiasm every day and in every year — that’s impressive,” Mclean said.
Dylan Harnsberger, a first year master’s student in business administration, said soon diversity will not be an issue or something to work on, but rather an expectation.
“Not being diverse or not being tolerable just isn’t acceptable,” Harnsberger said. “We’re moving quickly to a stage in society that diversity isn’t going to be a point — it’s going to be a given.”
The room in the C. Roland Christensen Center was packed, even with students standing in the back or sitting on the floor.
The lecture was sponsored by the Out for Business student club and the Society for Human Resource Management student group.