MERRILLVILLE — NIPSCO Executive Vice President Violet Sistovaris told hiring managers and human resource professionals on Wednesday there is a strong business case to be made for inclusion and diversity and its significant impact on the workplace.
“NIPSCO believes in customers and community,” she told attendees at the 9th Annual Diversity Career Fair and Business Symposium at the Radisson Hotel. “In order to relate to our customers and their special needs, we have to be able to relate to them. What better way than to have a team made up of employees who share their background?”
The utility company she leads has a firm belief in serving customers and community, and that starts right in the workplace, she said.
Sistovaris said that the country has entered the age of “ultra diversity”.
Her enthusiastic talk was followed by a roundtable discussion of several questions supplied by the audience. Moderator Christopher Smith, NIPSCO’s human resources vice president, led the panel through topics that included the social responsibility and the bottom line impact of inclusion and diversity in today's international business climate.
Panel member Beth Wrobel, CEO of HealthLinc, said for health providers there is a very diverse patient base in Northwest Indiana and in order to improve the overall health of the region inclusion and diversity is essential.
Maureen Zakutansky, human resources director at Restaurant Management Corporation, said businesses have both a moral and social responsibility to promote inclusion and diversity because it’s the right thing to do.
The symposium will continue today with a career fair from noon to 4 p.m. at the Radisson. Job seekers can meet with representatives of over twenty local companies. For additional details visit http://www.nwi.com/diversity.
Wednesday's symposium and today's job fair are hosted by IN Business magazine, Monster.com, and the Times Media Co. Major sponsors of the event include BP, NIPSCO, Work One, The Center of Workforce Innovations, HealthLinc, Tradewinds and NWI SHRM.
Sistovaris in her talk reminded listeners diversity in the workforce takes many forms.
“We no longer define diversity by race, age, and gender,” she said. “Each of us has multiple pieces of diverse cultures that define us. Second-generation immigrants, women who have returned to the workforce after raising children, men setting out on a new career after downsizing."
