Want True Workforce Diversity? Start with How You Hire

Want True Workforce Diversity?  Start with How You Hire

This is part of a blog series from Benson Executive Search on how to address corporate racial inequity.  In this piece we start with the beginning of the employee life cycle, hiring.

Business leaders now realize that it’s time to actually do something about corporate racial inequity. Not only are employees demanding it, but it’s good for business.  A recent McKinsey study of 1000 companies showed that organizations with strong ethnic and cultural diversity in the employee base achieved 33% above average profitability.  Organizations with board diversity achieved 43% above average profitability.

Recent protests incited by racial inequity have sparked new discussions amongst C-Suite executives and across the employee base about diversity in the workplace. Alexis Oharian was one of the first C-Suite executives to take a bold stand against the lack of racial diversity in corporate America. His decision to resign from Reddit’s board in favor of an appropriately qualified black tech executive taking his place sent shockwaves through the tech industry. 

There is so much to think about when trying to make workplace diversity a priority in your organization.

This is why it’s so important to get workplace diversity correct at the root - the hiring process. Here are four ways to transform your hiring culture to make diversity a priority in your organization.

1. Find Diversity Where It Thrives 

Hiring managers and internal recruiters tend to make a common, but significant, mistake that greatly reduces their ability to hire diverse candidates.  They take a reactive or “post and pray” recruiting approach, posting openings on various job boards and then cross their fingers hoping that a diverse enough set of candidates will apply. 

Instead, talent acquisition teams and internal recruiters need to proactively identify and source diverse candidates.  The demand for diverse candidates has been steadily increasing and will only continue to increase. Seek out diverse talent from specific associations, meet-ups and professional organizations.  Develop strong relationships with the organizers of these groups so they think of your employer when a member is starting to consider a career change.

2. Provide Enough Resources 

Staff the Talent Acquisition team so internal recruiters have the bandwidth to actively source and engage diverse talent. It’s unrealistic for an internal recruiter to have 20-50+ requisitions and expect they can also proactively source candidates, particularly ones that are in high demand.  Hire a strong staff to meet the demands of effective talent acquisition. 

3. Rule In vs. Rule Out

The hiring culture of companies and their talent acquisition teams too often has an attitude and approach of ruling people out rather than ruling them in. Taking this elimination approach means that very good candidates are often rejected.  

Here’s a pro-tip that is particularly important for early career roles. Go beyond the resumé and dive deeper into the candidate’s soft skills including learning agility and adaptability, problem solving, creativity, teamwork/collaboration, and resilience--all the elements that paint a more holistic picture of how this person can add value to your team. 

4. Two in the Pool

Numbers have an impact.  Embed in your organization the expectation that at least two diverse candidates should be shortlisted for every role.  A 2016 study conducted by Stefanie K. Johnson, David R. Hekman and Elsa T. Chan published in the Harvard Business Review revealed that the odds of women and minorities getting hired change dramatically when there is more than one person from this group in the final slate. 

Companies were 79 times more likely to hire a woman and 194 times more likely to hire a person of color when the finalist pool included more than one woman or minority. This held true regardless of the number of finalists. (The researchers looked at pools ranging from three to 11 candidates, with an average size of four).

Final Words

The demand for diverse talent will continue to increase. The old way of finding and hiring talent needs to change in order for true workplace diversity to take precedence. It’s time for the recruitment process to put diversity at the center.

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