By now, few people are left unenlightened on the benefits of diversity in the workplace, ranging from increased engagement and productivity, to more effective innovation, talent acquisition and increased profits when compared to organizations that are less diverse. Each new year seems to introduce a handful of new studies and research that further solidify this ideal and stress for more focused inclusion efforts.
While these benefits are supported by legitimate research and are widely known, organizations actively engaged in diversity efforts still may struggle with actually creating a diverse workplace.
In this blog, we’ll share some impactful steps your organization can take to create a more accessible environment and more diverse leadership team.
1. Assess your current hiring process
The first step in any initiative is to assess what you’re currently doing. It doesn’t have to mean you’re doing anything wrong by default, but you may be unaware of certain characteristics of your processes that may be inhibiting your diversity efforts.
Evaluate your hiring process thoroughly and identify areas that need to be strengthened, improved upon, or redesigned entirely. Form a diversity and inclusion committee rostered with as many differing voices as possible to craft initiatives to improve each process and make them more accessible to diverse candidates. Once you’re able to accurately reveal possible barriers to entry, you are then able to take the next right steps to ensure diversity candidates are part of the pipeline for new hire considerations.
2. Set an internal goal
Completely redesigning a process as expansive as your hiring practices can quickly become overwhelming. Settling on a specific goal or metric to achieve can help unify teams and establish a clear benchmark for everyone to achieve.
That metric can be entirely up to your teams and what you think is feasible to achieve in the next year. Complete parity, while ideal, maybe an untenable bar to reach and can discourage initial efforts.
3. Increase awareness
One of the more interesting correlations in modern hiring is that diversity attracts more diversity. It’s more difficult (but by no means impossible) for less diverse workplaces to attract diverse candidates than organizations that are moreso. A study from Glassdoor showed that 67% of jobseekers use diversity as a key deciding factor when evaluating potential employers.
Increasing the awareness of your existing diversity within your organization, or even your desire to become more diverse than you are is a critical step to take. Leverage your employer brand and all social media platforms to promote your inclusion efforts and opportunities. The wording of your job postings are surprisingly consequential as well; audit your current posts for inclusive or discriminatory language. For example, some studies have shown that women are less likely to apply for a job if the posting overuses gendered language.
This awareness isn’t just for the external world, either. Within your own walls, promote and educate employees on your diversity efforts. Encourage referrals from your minority employees. All successful diversity initiatives are backed by a workforce that is united in a common goal and eager to spread the word abroad.
4. Diversify your talent pipeline
All the effort you’ve dedicated to overhauling your hiring practices, deciding on diversity metrics, and increasing awareness of diversity opportunities won’t matter much if you aren’t also diversifying your talent pipeline.
Look beyond your typical watering hole. Consider recruiting from within women’s colleges, historically black colleges and other universities with traditionally diverse student bodies. Explore media outlets that service different demographics for opportunities to advertise about your openings. Partner with a recruiting firm that has a strong reputation in diversity hiring. All of these are impactful routes to take to begin generating momentum in your inclusion strategies.
Creating a diverse and inclusive organization takes a holistic approach and a unified team taking intentional steps each and every day. But with a clear goal, and informed team, and a commitment to the process, your organizatino can establish the foundation that will encourage and sustain a healthy, diverse workforce.
Quick Leonard Kieffer (QLK)
Is your business looking to diversify its workforce with talented healthcare leadership professionals?
At QLK, we’ve developed an unparalleled level of experience and expertise over the past two decades by consistently finding diverse leaders for hospitals, health systems, health care associations, and more. Our team of veteran executive recruiters has the industry savvy and curated network of top talent necessary to make the ideal match for candidate and client time and time again.
Call us today to learn more.
