By celebrating its employees’ diverse backgrounds, Principal Financial Group Inc. is not only building inclusiveness within the company, but also improving its business practices in other parts of the world.

Last month, the Greater Des Moines Partnership presented Principal with a 2006 Diversity Award at its annual dinner. During the awards presentation, last year’s re-launch of Principal’s Employee Resource Groups were named among the company’s successes to promote diversity. The resource groups meet one a month to discuss business issues that affect them and host presentations and cultural events.

Ram Kalavala, a senior systems analyst for Principal, is the chairman of the Asian Diversity Resource Group. The group is one of six the company sponsors to bring together employees with similar interests who have been culturally underrepresented in the workforce or have faced societal adversity. Kalavala said his resource group is valuable for employees, the company and the community.

“We have about 180 Asian employees in the Des Moines area,” Kalavala said. “The group gives us a chance to get to know each other, and it creates an avenue for us to teach others more about our cultures.”

In an international company like Principal, understanding co-workers’ cultures is not only good for the employees, but for business, Kalavala said.

“Businesses are no more limited to Des Moines or Iowa; businesses are going global,” he said. “If you want to be successful in global business, you should know the cultures of other parts of the world.”

In addition to the Asian Resource Group, Principal sponsors an African- American/Black Diversity Resource Group, a Disability Diversity Resource Group, a Gay/Straight Employee Alliance Diversity Resource Group, a Hispanic/Latino Diversity Resource Group and a Muslim Diversity Resource Group. In 2005, the company re-launched its three largest groups: the Asian, Hispanic/Latino and African-American groups. Each now has a sponsor from senior management who helps provide strategic direction and support for the group and makes sure its issues are heard, according to Jennifer Gribble, Principal’s assistant director of affirmative action and diversity.

About 8 percent of Principal’s 12,800 employees in the United States belong to a minority group, Gribble said.

“We’re always trying to increase our representation of females and minorities at all levels of the organization,” Gribble said. “What we do with all our diversity efforts, including the Employee Resource Groups, is to create a culture of inclusion, so that all employees can thrive.”

The Employee Resource Groups serve as forums in which members can discuss business-related issues, and they also provide opportunities for networking, leadership and education. The groups are also designed to support business objectives. Members of the resource groups often help Principal recruit employees or welcome new employees by pairing up with them to help them learn more about Des Moines, such as where to shop for certain ethnic foods.

The Asian Diversity Resource Group, Gribble said, has been “an invaluable” resource for the company during its current expansion in India.

“We have many Indian employees in the company that we can bounce ideas off of about cultural differences between the United States and India,” Gribble said. “For example, if we’re talking about training employees over there, we have a better understanding of how they might perceive authority.”

“We would like to help Principal as much as possible from a business standpoint,” Kalavala said. “We educate other employees who will be traveling to India about the cultural differences, and when employees from India come here, we help them adjust. As a group, it makes us feel like we are becoming an integral part of the company.”

Kalavala said a meeting for the Asian Diversity Resource Group might include a presentation from one of the company’s leaders about globalization or a celebration to mark the Chinese New Year, such as one held at the end of January. One of the big advantages, he says, is the chance to interact with company leaders, both on serious issues and strictly for fun.

“I have worked in many companies, and I have never seen senior management play Ping Pong with the employees,” he said. “We have several Asian employees who play really good Ping Pong, so we had a tournament, and part of the prize was a chance to play with Barry Griswell (Principal’s president and CEO). Things like that really increase morale and make you feel a part of the Principal family.”