Diverisified Holdings News
Achieving Diversity at Detroit-based MPS Group
August 2, 2007, Detroit, MI – Reaching out into the local community, Detroit-based MPS Group has recently undertaken new initiatives to recruit and retain top-flight minority employees. The company, a registered Minority Business Enterprise located in one of the city's Enterprise Zones, has achieved significant diversity over the past 12 months as a direct result of these innovative programs.
MPS Group's total minority employment now stands at 39% for 2007, up from 28% for 2006. Its employment of both minority and female staff members combined is 51%, an increase from 46% last year.
“We are proud of our ongoing efforts and recent successes in attracting minority employees,” explains Angie Sherrill, MPS Group's Director of Human Resources. “Among our core corporate values is a commitment to broaden participation of minorities in the business community.”
Among its most successful programs is an internship program in cooperation with Detroit Public Schools. Ten students from Randolph Career and Technical Center participated in MPS Group's summer workforce program. Teen workers who graduated the previous May were retained as permanent employees at summer's end. A similar program was also implemented with high school students near the company's Sharonville, Ohio facilities.
Targeting of minority employees extends to college graduates as well. “We are building relationships with local universities to attract more environmental engineers from within the minority community,” details Sherrill. “Currently, I'm working with Wayne State University and have plans to soon expand recruitment efforts to Oakland University, then possibly University of Michigan and Michigan State.”
“Most importantly, MPS Group seeks out the most qualified applicants – period,” states Sherrill. “However, as a minority-owned, inner city enterprise, we have embraced workforce diversity as a goal and extend opportunities to minority applicants when possible.”
MPS Group is an affiliate of Soave Enterprises, L.L.C., www.soave.com. Soave Enterprises is a diversified management and investment company founded by Detroit businessman Anthony L. Soave that provides strategic planning, financial and other management resources to its affiliated business ventures in the real estate, automotive retailing, beer distribution, scrap metal, industrial services and transportation industries, among others. Recently, Forbes Magazine ranked Soave Enterprises as the 251st largest privately held company in the United States.
