Salome Jones is a financial analyst at a medium-sized financial services firm, LLGW Finance, in the Pacific Northwest. Jones joined LLGW after graduating from the University of Oregon with honors in Finance and Business Analytics. A 24-year-old bi-racial woman, Jones is also finishing her MBA and studying for the Certified Financial Planner exam on nights and weekends, which keeps her busy and enthusiastic about her future career, In her first six months of working at LLGW, Jones was asked to sit on multiple committees and go on recruiting trips to University of Oregon and other schools in the Pacific Northwest. Originally excited, Jones began to wonder why she was recruiting for engineering and human resources positions, which were not her field of study and where she does not currently work or have an interest in. Jones was also uncomfortable about being asked to sit on various diversity committees because of the risk of offending the wrong person or being labeled as not a team player. She also feared offending the wrong person and being labeled as not a team player should she decline to sit on those committees or to go on recruiting trips, although both are affecting her ability to do her formally assigned work well and succeed in her studies. Jones is contemplating leaving LLGW and has kept in touch with two other firms that recruited her out of college, which would make leaving LLGW fairly easy to do. She also thinks she would be happier in a larger, warmer city. Before pursuing opportunities at the other firms, Jones schedules a meeting to discuss her concerns with her mentor, who has considered the extra committees and recruiting trips opportunities and has encouraged Jones to take them.

Questions

1. You are Salomes mentor, what would you suggest she do about the situation? (4 marks)

2. You are Salomes manager, what would you say to her about these opportunities after becoming aware of her perspective on them? (4 marks)

3. As the manager, how would you help other leaders address the need to have diverse voices represented on committees, recruiting trip and elsewhere without overburdening the few minorities at LLGW? (8 marks)