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Managing Diverse Talent: Best Practices in Sourcing, Attracting, and Retaining Diverse Employees
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Mastrocola, Joseph |
| Copyright Year | 2019 |
| Abstract | This paper explores the importance of diversity in the workplace and how to create a more diverse workforce. It explores the competitive advantages associated with employing diverse talent and how that can translate to greater profits. It also looks at best practices in recruiting diverse employees, specifically where to find diverse talent and how to attract it. It also focuses on what efforts should be made to ensure the retention of diverse talent and how to foster an organizational culture that supports diversity and inclusion. Introduction Many organizations are finally realizing the benefits associated with a diverse workforce. Diverse employees are often able to contribute added value through their varying perspectives outside of those held by the typical straight white male employee. Given that organizations are just starting to realize the value of diversity, recruitment efforts of diverse candidates are not standard practice. Diversity includes people of different genders, ethnicities, abilities, ideologies, religions, orientations, and any number of other characteristics. It’s also important to note that a homogenous workplace that only employs a typically underrepresented population is still lacking in diversity. A truly diverse team consists of people of all backgrounds, including those who are typically in the majority. For the purposes of this paper, diverse candidates will refer to candidates that are often underrepresented in the typical American workplace, specifically people of color and women, however, many of the practices referenced in this paper can be applied to other demographics. One of the roadblocks involved with recruiting diverse candidates is that it is not readily apparent if recruitment efforts are helping or hindering an organization’s ability to recruit diverse candidates. For example, a recruiter often won’t know how diverse their talent pool may be, because they often don’t know a candidates race or possibly even their gender unless they meet with them, in person, for an interview. This can make it difficult for organizations to realize that their sourcing efforts aren’t attracting diverse talent. The author hopes to better understand best practices as they relate to sourcing, attracting, and retaining diverse employees. It’s important for recruiters to understand these best practices so they can improve the diversity of their workforce to benefit their organization. The Importance of Diversity Before an organization can start effectively recruiting diverse talent, organizations need to understand why it’s important to recruit diverse talent. Many organizations see diversity as legally mandated. They think of anti-discrimination lawsuits and see diversity through a lens of following the law. Organizations that view diversity as utilizing quotas or developing strategies to avoid violating Title VII, fail to recognize the true value of a diverse workplace. While there are laws to promote tolerance and diversity, organizations would be wise to strive for a diverse workplace, regardless of the existence of these laws. To truly value diversity and adopt it in the workplace, organizations need to change their mindset. They need to recognize the inherent value of a diverse workforce, as opposed to viewing it as something that is mandated by the government. A diverse workplace offers a lot of advantages to organizations. According to Lee Biggins (2018), a contributing author to realbusiness.co.uk, a diverse workforce can lead to increased creativity and new ways of thinking (p. 1). In our current society, employers value employees who are able to problem solve and think critically. While an individual employee may not be strong in these areas, a diverse team is more likely to be able to approach situations with different ways of thinking. A diverse team of employees have all had different experiences that shaped who they are, which allows them to approach situations from a variety of perspectives. If a workforce is homogenous, it can lead to them having a limited scope when addressing situations. The added value that diverse talent can bring can also create higher profits for an organization. According to a report conducted by McKinsey & Company, “the top racially diverse tech companies are 35% more likely to have financial returns higher than the tech sector’s national median” (Webb, 2017, p. 1). These profits show that companies that recognize the importance of diversity are benefitting from it. Aside from the variety of perspectives diverse talent can bring with them, an organization that emphasizes diversity may also be able to better support their customers and will find it easier to attract top talent. According to Biggins (2018), supporting diversity opens organizations up to a bigger pool of talent (p. 1). Many employees want to work for organizations that support diversity, so doing so could attract better talent. As for customers, many of them are socially conscious and want to support organizations that value diversity. To be clear, there are a number of different characteristics a team can possess to make it diverse. Diversity is not limited to just one type of representation, but many. The same report from McKinsey & Company states, “[tech] companies that are more gender diverse are 15% more likely to outperform others, and those that are ethnically diverse are 35% more likely to do better than others. (Webb, 2017, p. 1). Organizations that are successful in hiring diverse talent that represents their customer base, will be able to better serve their customers, leading to higher profits. Sourcing Diverse Candidates Once a company understands the importance of having a diverse workforce and the competitive advantages it can give an organization, the next step is hiring diverse talent. One of the most important steps in hiring is determining where to source candidates from. If a company is lacking in diversity, there is a good chance that there typical sourcing methods are not producing diverse candidates. According to SHRM contributor Anna Peters (2018), the “post and pray” method is not going to result in high quality diverse candidates (p. 1). To find top talent, especially top talent that’s diverse, organizations need to take an active approach. It’s important for employers to explore new sourcing methods to seek out the type of employee they are looking for, but organizations should not abandon their more traditional methods. According to Dr. Caren Golderg (n.d.), an Associate Professor at Bowie State University, “focusing on recruitment sources that target nontraditional applicant groups at the expense of sources that target traditional applicant pools could result in claims of reverse discrimination” (p. 4). Organizations should not abandon their previous methods if they resulted in finding great talent, even if that talent was homogenous. Instead, they need to focus on casting a wider net, which should result in finding more great talent that is also diverse. One of the most effective ways to source diverse talent is to create a recruitment network that includes people from the demographic recruiters are searching for. According to SHRM contributor Paul Wolfe (2018), partnering with the right academic institutions and organizations can create a diverse pipeline of talent (p. 1). Academic institutions can be a great way to find entry-level candidates. For example, if an organization is looking to attract more black candidates, focusing recruiting efforts at historically black schools is a great way to find those candidates (Golderg, n.d., p. 3). Focusing efforts at schools that don’t charge tuition can also be a great way to find candidates that break the mold from the typical privileged white male often seen at businesses. There are a number of ways organizations can partner with academic institutions. Most colleges and universities have a career office dedicated to setting up these partnerships and helping their students find jobs. Contacting a college career office is a great place to start. These career offices will often host career fairs on campus, where organizations can attend and get access to hundreds of potential candidates. Another way to partner with academic institutions is to build relationships with professors who teach material related to the organization’s industry. Professors can recommend students that perform well in their classes. Another avenue would be to contact student organizations on campus. For example, an organization looking for engineers may want to contact the women in engineering club at the college. All of these possibilities can be a great starting point for any organization looking for diverse talent. Even though there are so many options available, organizations should determine which options are most successful for them and strengthen their relationship with that option. Developing relationships with different groups on a college campus can be mutually beneficial (Peters, 2018, p. 1). As candidates are hired from these groups, the relationship should strengthen. Diverse employees are also one of the greatest assets an organization has in recruiting diverse talent. According to Joanna Coles, chief content officer of Hearst magazine, hiring a senior marketing editor, who was African-American, helped increase the staff’s diversity by finding new networks to recruit from (Feloni, 2018, p. 1). People often build personal recruitment networks that are similar to their own demographics. Utilizing the diverse talent an organization already has can be a great way to tap into diverse networks. If employees are reluctant to tap into their personal networks, Coles suggests tying successful recruiting tips to bonuses for employees (Feloni, 2018, p. 1). The monetary bonus can provide motivation to employees. It also recognizes employees who are dedicated to improving the diversity of the workforce. Building a recruitment network and visit |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=hr_pr |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
