Collector - March 2018 - 17
COVER T he lack of workplace diversity is a big concern in many industries today, most notably the tech world, as giants like Adobe, Microsoft and Google publicly struggle to move the needle on hiring and retaining employees of different ethnicities and genders. However, recent research shows that the collection industry has emerged as one of the more diverse industries in the U.S. To start, women play a significant role in the collection industry. While they constitute roughly 47 percent of the overall U.S. workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an ACA International survey found that the collection industry is overwhelmingly female, with women making up 70 percent of the total workforce. Similarly, an International Association of Commercial Collectors survey released last year showed that the collection industry is a top choice for women, with a significant number of respondents reporting that they have advanced in their careers since they started. Jennifer Whipple, vice president and co-owner of Collection Bureau Services Inc., told ACA Daily last year that as a woman coming into the industry at a young age in a small Montana community, she initially faced several challenges and felt she had to "show that I was committed, knowledgeable and here to stay." But in a recent conversation with Collector magazine, Whipple said that in the last few years she has seen a more female- COLLECTOR 03.18 17