It’s no secret that competition for quality talent is heating up—by the day.
Based on a Talent Shortage Survey (ManpowerGroup, 2018), 65% of companies with 250+ employees reported talent shortages in 2018. According to the Census Bureau, all baby boomers will be older than the retirement age of 65 by 2030, so this trend won’t be going away any time soon.
There is a silver lining. The changing world demographics have given us a more diverse workforce than ever before—not only diverse in gender, age, culture, ability, lifestyle, or otherwise, but also in thought, opinions, experiences, and backgrounds. It has been well-documented that highly diverse companies perform better than their homogenous competitors (McKinsey & Company, 2018). Research has also shown that today’s talent cares more about diversity and inclusion (D&I) in the workplace. In a study by PwC (2015), 86% of female and 74% of male millennials consider a company’s D&I policy when deciding their employer of choice.
While having a more diverse workforce to attract top talent isn’t a new concept, what tends to be under the radar is the absence of leveraging D&I within one’s employer brand to help accomplish it. Being committed to D&I or even having an inclusive culture isn’t enough if candidates don’t know about it. Employer branding can help tell your D&I story.
While having a D&I landing page is great, incorporating your story throughout your careers site with diverse people images, employee testimonials, graphics, videos, highly-valued benefits by diverse audiences, etc. is even better. Amgen and Shaw Industries are great examples of a diversity-tailored employer brand:
Amgen branded “in my code” to resonate with diverse candidates for their Information Systems roles.
Shaw has a diversity landing page and a Careers site that has specific D&I call-outs, with a robust “Meet Some of Our Associates” page chock full of diverse employee profiles and their stories.
Share an inside look of how your employees are embracing an inclusive culture through relevant community involvement and event and holiday celebrations. Include diversity-specific topics in your posts as part of your content calendar. For Facebook, add a D&I tab.
Check out how companies like Dell, Yelp, and Amgen have incorporated culture and diversity topics into their social content:
Be conscientious and avoid gender and cultural bias terminology. Go beyond the standard “an equal opportunity employer” statement and expand on your D&I commitment. Here is an example from Viacom:
At Viacom, we have a clear vision: to be the place where a diverse mix of talented people want to come, to stay and do their best work. We pride ourselves on bringing the best entertainment to our audiences around the world, and we know our company runs on the hard work and dedication of our passionate and creative employees.
Viacom’s dedication to promoting diversity, multiculturalism, and inclusion is clearly reflected in all of our content and across all of our brands. Diversity is more than a commitment at Viacom—it is the foundation of what we do. We are fully focused on equality and believe deeply in diversity of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, national origin and all the other fascinating characteristics that make us different.
Emphasize the importance of reflecting diversity and an inclusive culture throughout the entire document, with several examples of imagery and messaging. Partnering with the corporate marketing team to ensure D&I consistency in their branding guidelines is ideal.
Have representation of diverse employees at career events and ensure marketing materials reflect that as well (you’d be surprised at how many companies are absent of both—even at diversity-specific job fairs).
It’s not uncommon for organizations to overlook the power their employees can have in helping to shape and communicate their employer brand. Routinely share external D&I communications and efforts with employees, so they can be your ambassadors and have a sense of ownership with bringing in great, diverse talent. They can’t contribute unless you inform them of what the company is doing and how they can help.
Of course, truly meshing D&I with your employer brand won’t happen overnight, but slow and steady can also win the race. When you get to the point where you don’t even need to think about integrating diversity into your employer brand because it’s second nature, then you’ll know you’ve succeeded in doing it.
For more inspiration, check out these websites of companies recognized for their commitment to D&I and how they demonstrate it as a critical component of their employer brand.
How are you showcasing your D&I efforts? Are you already incorporating it throughout your employer brand? If you'd like to brainstorm D&I initiatives, we'd love to connect with you!
