Fay Chapman
General Counsel
Washington Mutual, Inc. one of the nation’s leading financial services companies, believes that a diverse workforce delivers value to everyone – customers, co-workers, communities, and capital markets.
Washington Mutual is committed to employing a workforce that mirrors the communities it serves. Diversity helps the company better understand the needs of the community, which helps it better serve its customers and gives it a competitive advantage.
Minorities currently comprise 38 percent of its employee base and women comprise 68 percent.
The company’s commitment to diversity is also demonstrated in its $375 billion Community Commitment, which helps more minority borrowers become homeowners.
Washington Mutual employs a number of programs that help it achieve its diversity goals. It offers diversity recruitment training to help human resource executives expand their recruitment outreach to include employment web sites, job fairs, and professional organizations for people of color and people with disabilities. The company also works with professional placement agencies that specialize in diversity recruiting at the executive level and holds these agencies accountable for producing qualified and diverse candidates. Additionally, the company hosts a leadership development program that identifies high-performance employees and helps develop them into senior managers.
Washington Mutual’s legal division, which is led by Senior Executive Vice President and General Counsel Fay Chapman, actively supports and participates in the company’s diversity plan. The division utilizes diverse recruiting sources to reach potential employees, including minority bar associations and job fairs, and partners with the company’s Supplier Diversity division to identify and utilize minority law firms and partners.
Washington Mutual’s supplier diversity program’s long-term goal is to award contracts representing 15 percent of supplier-related expenses to companies that are owned and controlled by ethnic minorities, disadvantaged women, or people with disabilities.
The company has been recognized by numerous publications for its efforts, including Fortune magazine as one of the “Best Companies for Minorities,” Family Digest as one of the “Best Companies for African Americans,” Executive Female magazine as one of the “Top 25 Companies for Executive Women,” Hispanic magazine for “100 Best Places to Work for Latinos,” and Latina Style magazines as on the “50 Best Companies for Latinas.”
From the November/December 2003 issue of Diversity & The Bar®