Talent Acquisition COVID-19 Recording 7-15-20 - Recruiting for Diversity

In response to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak and its unprecedented impact to business and employers, i4cp holds a weekly series of standing calls to help Talent Acquisition leaders navigate this unpredictable time.

The recent social unrest sown by racial inequities in the U. S. and abroad is driving many organizations to make a greater commitment to diversity and inclusion. On this week’s Talent Acquisition Leader COVID-19 Response Series call, talent acquisition leaders from companies such as Axogen, Chubb, Delta, and many others shared some of the talent practices they’ve put in place to help ensure greater diversity at all levels of the organization. Some highlights: 

• Organizations and talent acquisition teams are adjusting their sourcing strategies to surface more diverse candidates. In today’s first instant poll, 55% of call participants said they are adjusting their sourcing strategy to focus on surfacing more diverse candidates for roles at all levels of experience. Another 18% said their companies are doing the same, but are focusing more on roles at higher experience levels. And, as many participants noted recruiting is but one piece of the pie, and diversity and inclusion efforts have to be accepted and communicated throughout the organization, from the top down. Another key factor in increasing diversity of thought and of employee population is not just diversifying the candidate pool, but hiring diverse talent.
• In light of recent social unrest, organizations are committing or re-committing to D&I, and are emphasizing practices designed to ensure greater diversity at leadership levels. Some i4cp data shared on today’s call underscores this reality, with 46% of organizations with more than 1,000 employees saying they are reviewing job requirements and qualifications for bias, such as “like-me traits,” schools/universities sourced, and gender-biased leadership traits. Another 44% said their companies are incorporating diverse talent development and succession requirements to all people managers’ performance goals, and 37% indicated that their organizations are broadening the sourcing of talent for succession, e.g., eliminating requirements that limit applicants and potential talent pools.
• Beyond hiring and talent decisions, organizations are expanding racial equity efforts in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death. Recent i4cp data, for example, finds 72% of companies taking steps to address racial inequities and social injustice by focusing internally on biases within the organization, e.g., representation, compensation, advancement and culture. Participants on today’s calls offered some recommendations for developing a workforce that better reflects their external stakeholder communities. For example, identify “standard” organizations that are representative of different segments, such as NCLR, NAACP, the Asian-Pacific Islander Association, HBCUs, to name a few. Or, obtain information from the organization’s employee resource groups, and collect information on community-based organizations in company locations as a way to expand the company’s reach. Other organizations are preparing a series of internal articles on bias and how they impact people in decisions in hiring, development and performance, with a focus on acknowledging biases and developing strategies to mitigate and overcome them.
• Despite acknowledging that biases and imbalances, however unconscious, inevitably exist in the hiring process, the clear majority of organizations don’t feel that they are missing out on talented, diverse applicants based on inequities in advancement and pay. Today’s second instant poll addressed this question, with 69% of respondents disagreeing with the statement that their organizations are losing quality, diverse candidates as a result of advancement and pay inequities.
• Organizations are targeting these unconscious biases in the hiring process, however. Today’s final poll asked participants on today’s call to describe the extent to which their companies training hiring managers on unconscious bias. Close to half (47%) said their organizations are working on putting this type of training in place, with another 35% indicating that their companies “have been doing this for a while.” The remainder (18%) said this is not currently a priority for their organization.

In addition to this recording, please see these resources: