Does your workplace reflect the community in which it is based? It’s more important than ever to look around and really look at whether there are gaps in your team.
It’s not just a trendy thing: Hiring a diverse team of employees has been shown to create an overall more productive, vibrant, and effective workplace — earning 2.3 times more cash flow per employee, 1.4 times more revenue, and are 120% more capable of meeting financial targets.
Here’s how to improve and increase diversity efforts within your company:
1. Make a diverse workforce a priority.
The executive board needs to understand and buy into the importance of a diverse team of employees, making it clear that companies with a lack of uniformity in hiring are 35% more likely to outperform companies without diversity initiatives. And it’s not just ethnic diversity that can help a company’s bottom line: Companies that hire women and nonbinary people are 15% more likely to have financial returns above their industry medians. When companies make a concerted effort not just to hire one type of employee, it benefits everyone, from the most entry-level position all the way up to senior managers and ownership. Establishing a diversity goal and sticking to it by identifying it as a priority is the best way to make sure it happens.
2. Utilize tools for finding diverse candidates.
Did you know there are job boards and services that specifically serve and represent various populations? Diversity Working is dedicated to, as the name suggests, promoting and enabling diverse employees to find good jobs; Hire Autism is for workers on the autism spectrum; Hire Purpose is for retired and former military personnel looking to transition to the civilian workforce, etc. Other recruiting firms can also help select and suggest a more diverse group of applicants if they know this is a priority for your company.
3. Re-examine your company culture — is it welcoming?
It’s very easy for a company’s culture to be something alluded to in a handbook but not ever discussed or put into practice. It’s easy for things to get lax and fall by the wayside, resulting in people feeling left out or unwanted. A company with diversity, inclusion, and acceptance at the core will be a more attractive one for a broader array of candidates and can reinvigorate the existing workforce.
4. Review job ads — do they include exclusionary language?
Being that humans are, by default, imperfect, posted positions may be written so that they turn off diverse candidates. Look for wording that might suggest only certain types of backgrounds or experiences and modify them to be more open to new people with various training opportunities. Are there phrases that might suggest only older or younger people apply? Does it exclude people with mobility issues? Diversity isn’t just skin deep.
5. Listen to your employees and make changes based on feedback.
Create an anonymous system that allows people to give their real feelings and opinions on the company and encourage commentary on particular diversity. Do your employees feel like enough is being done to encourage a wide array of candidates? Are people who look different from others or have different backgrounds seen as valuable members of the team? Do they think there’s room for improvement or change? Make it a truly blind process, so there’s no way anyone in management could find out who made which comment. Be sure to follow up with discussions about how to improve areas that need it while making the company more open and welcoming to everyone.
Diversity isn’t an issue or opportunity that can be faced and embraced in a day; it’s a process, and there might be some bumps along the road, but it’s a journey well worth taking. It’s one that will provide benefits for everyone within the company too!
Increase and Prioritize Diversity
If you’d like a little more advice on how to increase and prioritize diversity, contact Debbie’s Staffing. We’re ready to help you draft a new language for your mission statement and revise job postings to draw in more diverse candidates. We also have a wide variety of potential employees available today that might make a great fit for your company! Contact Debbie’s Staffing, and let’s get started.
