As an employer, SAIF believes that a diverse workforce is a strong one. While SAIF continues to attract and hire an ethnically diverse workforce, we know that true diversity is more than skin-deep.
We believe that to reflect full diversity and inclusion, we must embrace obvious diversity characteristics (ethnicity, gender, and age) while also addressing the more subtle characteristics of diversity (religion, sexual orientation, physical challenges, and other sometimes hard-to-distinguish attributes).
SAIF's corporate strategic plan includes a focus on cultural literacy, recruitment, service delivery to all Oregonians, and training. In late 2009, SAIF contracted with a diversity and inclusion adviser to help us assess the most effective ways we can enhance the company. What we learn will inform our continued work in this area in 2010.
As an insurer, SAIF's job is to serve all Oregonians. Our state's Latino population has risen dramatically during the previous 20 years, and for a significant number of these Oregonians, Spanish is their first language. Recovering from workplace injury is difficult for everybody, but can be much more daunting when there is a language barrier.
To serve these workers, SAIF assembled a bilingual claims team. In 2009 SAIF processed claims for more than 2,400 Spanish-speaking injured workers, approximately 10 percent of our overall claims. In addition, SAIF translated its Worker Guide pages on saif.com to better serve the growing number of Spanish-speaking internet users.
We will continue to monitor our own progress during 2010 and remain responsive to the needs of our workforce, our policyholders, and injured workers.