S. Shariq Yosufzai, a speaker at the marcus evans Petrochemical & Refining Summit 2014, on how workforce diversity and inclusion leads to better performing organizations. Interview with: S. Shariq Yosufzai, Vice President, Global Diversity, Chevron Corporation

1. Interview with: S. Shariq Yosufzai,
Vice President, Global Diversity,
Chevron Corporation
―Companies with a diverse workforce
perform better, both in revenue and
return on capital employed. However,
diversity in itself is not sufficient without
inclusion, especially in the petrochemi-
cal and refining industry. There must
also be an effort to develop, retain and
promote individuals so they contribute
all their talents to the growth and
profitability of the enterprise,‖ advises
S. Shariq Yosufzai, Vice President,
Global Diversity, Chevron Corporation.
Yosufzai is a keynote speaker at the
marcus evans Petrochemical &
Refining Summit 2014, taking place
in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 20-22.
Why is this industry facing difficul-
ties in attracting diverse talent?
The number of women entering and
graduating engineering schools is
continuing to decline. In the US, only 16
percent of those enrolled are women,
yet they make up 56 percent of all
college graduates. It is not a question of
women not going into the fields of
science, technology or mathematics.
They are just not going into engineer-
ing. This is a huge problem for the
industry. The number of Hispanics in
Texas is over 50 percent, but only four
percent of engineering graduates are
Hispanic. The same is true of African
Americans.
In the case of Asian Americans, there
are a large number of them entering the
field but not many reach senior
positions. We need to understand why
this is.
It is important for the industry to reflect
the communities it operates in, to look
like its customers and be relevant to
them. This all comes back to perform-
ance. Heterogeneous teams perform
better than homogeneous teams.
Is diversity in itself sufficient?
There are some perceptions about the
industry that we must first change.
Diversity by itself is not sufficient. We
can certainly attract diverse people into
our workforce, but unless we develop,
retain and promote them, they will not
contribute at the maximum level. This is
just as much about inclusion as
diversity.
Every single metric that a business is
judged by, safety, operational excel-
lence, financial performance, return on
capital employed, return on shareholder
equity and innovation, they are all
promoted by diversity and inclusion.
Many companies may believe they
are diverse and inclusive, when
they are not. In your opinion, what
areas do they overlook?
They need to look at data over time.
Many organizations say, ―Fifty-percent
of our staff is women‖.
This is not enough. They must also
understand and measure what the C-
suite feeder pool looks like, and not just
count the number of women in the
board or senior management. Are
women de-selecting themselves from
power positions that lead to the corner
suite? What is happening to minorities?
There must be targeted leadership
development programs and formal
mentorship programs to address these
gaps.
Diversity is not about counting heads —
it’s about making sure every head
counts.
Sometimes the cultural aspects of
diversity are very well articulated in a
vision statement. The question is: Are
companies applying the same set of
rigorous analyses and statistics to
diversity and inclusion, as they do to the
rest of the business?
Unless they do, it will just be a nice
thing to have on a mission statement,
rather than an approach that can
actually result in tangible improvement.
Diversity is
not about
counting
heads –
it’s about
making
sure every
head counts
Workforce Diversity and Inclusion
Why Chevron is Focused on Achieving

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About the Petrochemical & Refining Summit 2014
The Summit is the premium forum bringing solution providers and executives from
the leading petrochemical and refining companies together, in an intimate
environment for a focused discussion of key new drivers shaping the future of the
petrochemical and refining industry. Taking place at The Roosevelt New Orleans,
New Orleans, Louisiana, July 20-22, 2014, the Summit includes presentations on
risk management, workforce development, asset management and maintenance,
environmental regulation and optimal use of shale gas.
www.petrochemicalrefiningsummit.com
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