Underrepresentation: How it Happens + What to Do About It [Infographic Included]
💥This is #IncreaseDiversity, a weekly newsletter + monthly workshop series sharing best practices for employers who want to implement effective diversity recruitment programs. To see previous editions, visit JenniferTardy.com. | IG: @IncreaseDiversity 💥
News From #TeamJTC:
👉🏾 Free Checklist. We have a FREE, downloadable CHECKLIST for leaders called The Platinum Checklist for Hiring Professionals: 10 Immediate Actions Leaders Must STOP Doing in Order to Increase Diversity. Click to download your free copy.
The solution to increasing diversity is not a silver bullet like many leaders had hoped. It is not just about what your organization must START doing (e.g., sourcing). Increasing diversity is also about what your organization must STOP doing as these actions are creating an obstacle course for individuals from historically underrepresented groups to get in your organization and to get ahead.
The below infographic includes four frequent actions that I observe within organizations that preserve underrepresentation and inequity in the hiring process. If you find your organization in any one of the action categories below, consider trying something different. Check the infographic below.
By the way, please download and share this infographic created by yours truly, #TeamJTC.
Want more detail, check out the actions and mitigations? See below:
Action #1: The organization has historically relied on network referrals to fill open positions, creating homogeneity. According to a PayScale Survey, referral programs benefit white men more than any other demographic group. Women of any race and men of color are much less likely to receive referrals than their white male counterparts: white women are 12 percent less likely; men of color are 26 percent less likely and women of color are 35 percent less likely to receive a referral. So, it is no surprise if I hear an employer say that their top recruiting method is a referral program, and the outcome is that they are an organization that is predominantly white and male.
Try this. If you plan to continue using a referral program, talk with your employees about the network gap and the importance of taking inventory of the diversity within their own professional (and personal) networks. Empower your employees to consider taking LinkedIn’s Plus One Pledge. In addition, use multiple methods to advertise open positions. Consider the groups that are underrepresented in your organization and begin to advertise your job openings on websites that focus on creating opportunity and building careers for these audiences.
Action #2: The organization’s recruiters do not feel comfortable, capable and qualified to engage in topics about diversity, so they do not. As humans, when we do not feel comfortable, it is likely that we do not lean all the way into the work. We tend to engage just enough to check the box while remaining in our comfort zone. Do you know the downstream effect of this? When an organization implements diversity recruiting initiatives, recruiters who want to stay in their comfort zone tend to start with gender diversity because it is most comfortable. And do you know who benefits most from gender diversity recruiting—white women.
Try this. Make sure that your recruiters are properly trained in diversity recruiting. Effective training goes far beyond where and how to source for talent and includes additional important elements like understanding effective language to use, cultural competence, and working through one’s own resistance to people who are unique to them.
Action #3: The organization’s hiring managers believe that being “a good person” is enough to increase diversity, but it is not. Countless times, I have listened to hiring managers say that they respect all people and believe in hiring good people from all backgrounds. This is a great human philosophy, but it is important to understand that “good people” struggle with their own unconscious biases too—just like everyone else. In a statement by Dolly Chugh, a social psychologist and professor at the New York University Stern School of Business, “What we know as social scientists is that the human mind relies on lots of shortcuts—and those shortcuts do lead to mistakes sometimes. No matter how good my intentions are, I am going to show bias. I have internalized bias from the world around me, and the ways my bias is going to show up are not going to be visible to me. I’m going to think that I’m doing fine, when in fact I’m having a negative impact on the world around me.”
Try this. Recognize that bias has nothing to do with whether you are a good or bad person. It shows up in all of us. So, proactively learn about bias and how it shows up in hiring managers, especially when they are interviewing and making selection decisions. Learn about how bias shows up in people who identify similarly and/or differently to you. Look for signs to help you recognize your own bias when it presents itself and make a proactive plan to address it. That's what "good people" do to create social change.
Action #4: The organization condones performative diversity recruiting, so recruiters get let off the hook. CEOs are making bold commitments to increase diversity, but how? What will be done differently to follow through on the commitment? When your recruiters come to you and say, “we’ve tried everything,” “nothing works,” and “these groups just aren’t attracted to our company,” will you continue to accept this rather than auditing the policies, practices, and behaviors of recruiting and suggest new and more effective strategies?
Try this. Make diverse candidate slates mandatory before interviewing. Also, make it mandatory that any exception to interviewing without a diverse candidate slate must be data driven (i.e., there’s data driven evidence of an unavailable workforce supply). According to one Harvard study of 598 finalists for university teaching positions, results suggest that when there was only one woman or minority candidate in a pool of four finalists, their odds of being hired were statistically zero. But when a new status quo among the finalist candidates was created by adding just one more woman or minority candidate, the decision makers actually considered hiring a woman or minority candidate.
What additional actions have you noticed that have historically preserved underrepresentation within your organization? Join me in the comments section and let’s get a conversation started.
👉🏾Check out our Increase Diversity 101 Virtual Workshop Series.
✅We will use the weekly #IncreaseDiversity newsletter platform to do five things:
Challenge organizations to dig more deeply when it comes to diversity recruiting and retention programs
Clarify misconceptions or demystify complex topics related to diversity recruiting
Share best practices in diversity recruiting and retention
Answer frequently asked questions related to diversity recruiting and retention
Build a safe learning community for hiring professionals
✅ Need support implementing an effective diversity recruiting program at your organization? Visit me and learn about our flagship Diversity Magnet Recruiter Bootcamp + Diversity Recruitment Consulting Services.