What You Should Know About Diversity…And Why You Should Care

“Diverse” seems to be right up there on the list with “green” these days: it’s a hot buzzword used to attract both consumers and job-seekers.  While the word looks great on paper,  however, it’s become a bit of a cliché, making it easy for companies to brand themselves as such, when in actuality, they do very little to create, promote or implement diversity initiatives in the workplace. 

Take for example, last year’s study on workplace discrimination released by CareerBuilder.com and Harris Interactive, which found that nearly a quarter of employees have experienced discrimination in their careers. 

Apparently, there are still some walls to break down, and if employers don’t make the effort to recognize and address these problem, frankly, they’re missing out. Businesses benefit from promoting a diverse work environment because they’re exposed to new ideas and can reach a broader consumer base. 

A few years ago, Cedric Herring, a University of Illinois – Chicago professor of sociology, published “Does Diversity Pay?: Racial Composition of Firms and the Business Case for Diversity,” which illustrates that organizations that fully embrace diversity have a larger market share, higher revenue from sales and more customers than those with a more homogeneous workforce.

And by embracing diversity, I’m not only referring to being an “equal opportunity employer” and hiring diverse workers (even though you should do that, too), but also understanding that “diversity” encompasses more than just gender and race, and having training programs in place to encourage teamwork, understanding and appreciation (oh, and actually putting that training to use…that’s kind of a big one). 

Of course, before you implement a diversity program, it might help to define exactly what you want your business to accomplish with its diversity initiative.  According to the 2007 State of Workplace Diversity Management Report, while organizations believe in diversity programs only 30 percent of organizations have an agreed definition of “diversity”.  

In order to find candidates who are looking for inclusive, diverse company cultures, you need to speak to them in your daily conversations and in your job postings.  How can you do that unless you clearly define and understand the goals of your diversity initiatives?

Recruiting for a diverse workforce is not difficult, but it does take a conscious effort. In a survey of passive job seekers, CareerBuilder.com found that culture and camaraderie was one of the top five things job seekers looked for in a new opportunity. Think about it from their perspective: if you’re spending 40-plus hours a week in one place, wouldn’t you want that place to be one where your values are shared and you are part of a community. Two ways to effectively communicate your diversity initiatives – and sell your company – are through your Web site and your job postings.  The following tactics build the value proposition of your company in candidates’ minds:

1. Diversity mission statements: Include your diversity mission or a quote from senior leadership on diversity or culture. These items help showcase the organization’s commitment from the top down.

2. Employee quotes: Quotes from current employees shows other potential employees that your company has a positive environment and is a good place to work. In addition, retention is a huge issue in diversity. By showcasing long-term diverse employees, it helps candidates understand this is not just a sales pitch to come work for them, but something that is in practice every day.

By including diversity into your recruiting efforts now, you improve your chances of becoming a desired place to work among the increasingly diverse workforce, in an increasingly competitive market - and that goes a long way towards securing your company’s future success.

One major caveat: today’s candidates want to see a commitment from their potential employer to diversity. They want to understand what programs they have in place or what they can expect.  If you advertise your company  as “diverse”, you’d better be sure you can deliver.  The promises made today in recruiting are the retention issues of tomorrow, so the last thing you want to do is sell an experience they will never receive.

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• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on October 7, 2008
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• Categories: Employee Attraction