Tough dialogue yields dividends.
By the year 2040, people of color will make up the majority of this country. If companies want to stay competitive in attracting top talent, only leveraging Jopwell or any other solution for diverse hiring won’t be enough. They need to start thinking more holistically, right now, about diversity and inclusion. For example, in what ways are you physically engaging with the communities you’re hiring from? In what places in your recruiting pipeline are these hires falling off, and how are you stopping that leak?
What doesn’t work well is when employees feel like they’re just going through a funnel. There’s no personalization; no one’s engaging them along the way to make them feel like part of the fabric of the organization. Consider, for example, the current national discourse around race, politics, and identity, which is charged like never before. It’s crazy for leaders to expect employees to leave that at home from 9 to 6 every day.
The power of diversity is that people can bring their experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds to the table and drive innovation. If you’re trying to overlook or stifle that, then it’s all for naught. You’ve got to embrace those uncomfortable conversations and be proactive when you think an issue — whether it’s office-related or news-related — might be overly affecting someone. That seems like basic human empathy, but it shows that you’ve built a cohesive workforce of employees who want to work for one another and for the good of the company.
Brand equity in recruiting matters, and will only continue to increase in value over the next year. We’re going to start seeing more midlevel hiring in bulk, where, instead of one-off diversity hiring — a VP here, a director there — companies will start recruiting from networks and classes of individuals. These more-experienced candidates are going to rely heavily on what others say about interviewing or working at your company. You want them to say, “They care about you.” — Porter Braswell, cofounder and CEO, Jopwell
This article is from Entrepreneur.com
