Corporate diversity departments have taken center stage during the past 15 years, but as relatively new kids on the block, what happens to these diversity programs during an economic downturn?

The answer differs depending upon the size of a company, but for most established corporations, diversity initiatives have proven too effective to slash.

"Diversity is a bottom-line issue and it's here to stay," said Terry Howard, director of diversity initiatives at the Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TI). "This is key to having people fully engaged in the work of Texas Instruments."

Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, Calif., shares TI's commitment to diversity, according to Brigida Bergkamp, a Hewlett-Packard (HP) spokesperson.

"To invent and to win, an organization must integrate different abilities, ideas, experiences, perspectives and races," she said. "This makes good business sense because in such an environment people rise to their best potential and create new and better solutions."

"Economic downturns have no impact on HP's commitment to diversity," she continued.

Top executives across the country are echoing Bergkamp's and Howard's statements, said Gregg Ward, co-founder of Orlando-Ward and Associates, a San Diego-based diversity trainer. "Most companies are committed to diversity as a core value," he said. "If there are cuts in core initiatives, employees will become anxious and less likely to stay committed."

Measuring success

Beliefs are valuable, but any program that doesn't explicitly show its worth will not survive, so corporate America needs to measure how diversity affects the bottom line.

"Without metrics, big spending on traditionally soft practices like diversity cannot be justified easily," Ward says.

This is especially true during a recession, when diversity is not the first thing on the minds of most CEOs. So how do they justify paying for diversity initiatives?

The answer, says Ward, lies in realizing that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

"When a company is committed to diversity as a bottom-line issue, you see the results immediately in the people. They are happier, they work harder, they find more incentive to stay at the company," Wards said.

Some executives shrug off diversity, saying that they're too busy trying to keep their company afloat to create a diversity department.

Wards response? "If you don't have a commitment and don't take action, you're going to have more retention problems. You're going to have more complaints, higher absenteeism, more lawsuits and a culture where people feel devalued," he said.

The sluggish economy is an obvious reason many CEOs cite when struggling to determine whether diversity is a worthwhile endeavor. But Ward stresses that a diversity program doesn't need a big budget to succeed - just a commitment from company leadership.

In fact, a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey of 121 Fortune 1000 companies found that the average diversity budget is less than $1 million. The range for diversity department budgets was $30,000 to $5.1 million.

The bottom line, Ward said, is that completely stopping all diversity initiatives will have wide-ranging negative consequences in almost every area of business. "Businesses are about people. If they feel invisible and aren't happy, the company won't succeed," he said.

The SHRM study, released in 2001, found that 91 percent of respondents think diversity initiatives helped their organizations maintain a competitive advantage.

According to the study, 79 percent of the companies believe their diversity programs improved corporate culture, 77 percent think they helped in recruitment and 52 percent said they fostered better client relations.

Studies like these are part of measuring how important diversity programs are to employees, but there is more to metrics than surveys.

TI employs the standard quantitative metrics: tracking the diversity of its employees, going after minorities for student programs and creating employee networks. Howard also utilizes more qualitative measurements, such as small focus group interviews and mentoring programs.

Mentoring, both formal and informal, helps employees find much needed support as well as role models. "If you've never had the chance to interact with a high-level employee who looks like you, you may not think you can achieve your goals," Ward says.

Mentoring programs and employee networks are so commonplace because they're relatively inexpensive. "Even in the worst of times, companies can still have mentoring programs," Ward said. "The core design is to bring new people in and support them while they're there. That takes a little bit of time, but not much funding."