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In our recent webinar, “Women Founders in Talent Acquisition,” we heard from three inspiring female founders making waves in the recruitment tech industry. During the discussion, Mona Tawakali, Chief Strategy Officer at Recruitics, shared her insights on the importance of a comprehensive diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) strategy in the modern workplace.

As companies increasingly recognize the value of a diverse workforce, it’s clear that a one-size-fits-all approach simply doesn’t cut it. To truly create an inclusive environment where all employees can thrive, you must tackle DEI from multiple angles. Tawakali outlined five essential pillars that form the foundation of a successful DEI strategy.

These pillars address every stage of the employee lifecycle, from attracting diverse talent through employer branding to fostering an inclusive culture that supports retention and leadership development. By taking a holistic approach, you can ensure that your DEI efforts are a fundamental part of your DNA. Not just a box to be checked.

These insights from Mona Tawakali and her fellow panelists provide a roadmap for building a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace where every team member feels like they belong.

Pillar 1: Representing Diversity in Employer Branding

The first pillar of a comprehensive DEI strategy focuses on the importance of representing diversity in your employer branding. In today’s competitive job market, candidates are looking for more than just a paycheck. They want to work for companies that align with their values and prioritize diversity and inclusion.

Showcasing diversity in your earned, owned and paid channels is crucial for attracting top talent from all backgrounds. This means highlighting diverse voices and perspectives in your content. Feature employee stories that reflect the diversity of your workforce and ensuring that your visual imagery is inclusive and representative.

However, as Tawakali pointed out, “It’s an inside out approach. We can’t amplify unless we know what’s really authentic to the culture and what that company is all about.” In other words, your employer branding must be a genuine reflection of your company’s culture and values.

How to Genuinely Integrate DEIB into Your Employer Branding

Before you can effectively showcase diversity in your external communications, you need to do the work internally to create a truly inclusive environment. This means having honest conversations about where your organization currently stands when it comes to DEI, setting clear goals for improvement, and taking concrete actions to create a culture of belonging.

Once you have a strong foundation in place, you can then focus on amplifying your diversity efforts through your employer branding. This can include:

• Highlighting employee resource groups (ERGs) and the important work they do
• Sharing stories of employees from diverse backgrounds and their experiences at your company
• Partnering with diversity-focused organizations and events to expand your reach
• Ensuring that your job descriptions use inclusive language and avoid biased terminology

By consistently showcasing diversity in your employer branding, you’ll send a powerful message to potential candidates that your organization values and celebrates differences. This will help you attract a wider pool of qualified candidates and build a more diverse and inclusive workforce.

Pillar 2: Recruiting Practices that Remove Barriers for Diverse Talent

Attracting diverse candidates is just the first step. To truly build a diverse and inclusive workforce, you must also examine your recruiting and hiring practices to identify and remove any barriers that may be preventing diverse talent from joining your ranks.

How to Combat Bias in the Hiring Process

One common barrier is bias in the hiring process. This can take many forms, from gendered language in job descriptions to unconscious bias in resume screening and interviewing. To combat this, you need to implement inclusive hiring practices such as:

• Using blind resume screening to focus on qualifications rather than demographics
• Providing unconscious bias training for all employees involved in the hiring process
• Ensuring that interview panels are diverse and representative of the company’s workforce
• Using structured interviews to ensure that all candidates are evaluated consistently and fairly

Providing Authentic Content and Transparency

Another barrier that can prevent diverse talent from applying or accepting job offers is a lack of transparency around the company culture and employee experience. As Tawakali noted, “Consumers are demanding authentic content right now. They don’t want polished videos. They don’t want polished content. They want user generated content that really gives a true depiction of what it’s like, who you’re going to work with, what their personalities are like, what makes them tick.”

To provide this authentic content, you can:

• Encourage employees to share their experiences through blog posts, social media takeovers and other user-generated content
• Host virtual or in-person events that give candidates a chance to interact with current employees and ask questions about the company culture
• Provide transparent information about salary ranges, benefits and career development opportunities to help candidates make informed decisions

Committing to Ongoing Evaluation and Improvement

By identifying and eliminating barriers in the recruitment funnel and implementing inclusive hiring practices, you can ensure that you are not only attracting diverse candidates but also setting them up for success once they join the team. This requires a commitment to ongoing evaluation and improvement, as well as a willingness to listen to feedback from employees and candidates alike.

Ultimately, creating a truly diverse and inclusive workplace requires a holistic approach that encompasses every stage of the employee lifecycle. By focusing on recruiting and hiring practices as one key pillar of their DEIB strategy, you can take a significant step towards building a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities you serve.

Pillar 3: Internal Inclusion and Equity Practices Year-Round

To truly create an inclusive environment where all employees can thrive, you must focus on fostering a culture of belonging and ensuring equitable opportunities for everyone. This work doesn’t happen overnight or during a single month of the year—it requires a year-round commitment to inclusion and equity.

Summer Delaney, MBA, CEO & Founder of CollabWORK, noted, “This should really be a 12 month conversation. It shouldn’t just happen in March to really position your brand to be successful.”

Creating a Culture of Belonging

Milena Berry, CEO and Co-Founder of PowerToFly explained, “It almost starts with the B first from DEIB. So it first starts with belonging, then with inclusion and equity, and then diversity comes last—and it’s the result of all those initiatives trailing up to it.”

Fostering a sense of belonging means creating a workplace where every employee feels valued, respected and supported. This can involve:

• Providing regular training on topics like unconscious bias, allyship and inclusive communication
• Encouraging open and honest conversations about diversity and inclusion
• Celebrating diverse holidays and observances throughout the year
• Creating employee resource groups (ERGs) where employees can connect with others who share similar backgrounds or experiences

Ensuring Equitable Opportunities

In addition to creating a culture of belonging, you must also ensure that all employees have equal access to opportunities for growth and advancement. This means:

• Regularly reviewing pay and promotion practices to identify and address any disparities
• Providing mentorship and sponsorship programs to help underrepresented employees advance in their careers
• Offering training and development opportunities that are accessible to all employees
• Ensuring that performance evaluations are based on objective criteria and free from bias

Measuring Progress and Holding Leaders Accountable

To ensure that inclusion and equity practices are truly embedded into the company culture, it’s important to regularly measure progress and hold leaders accountable. This can involve:

• Conducting regular employee surveys to gather feedback on inclusion and equity efforts
• Setting clear diversity and inclusion goals and metrics for each department and level of the organization
• Tying executive compensation to progress on diversity and inclusion metrics
• Publicly sharing diversity and inclusion data and progress reports to increase transparency and accountability

By prioritizing inclusion and equity practices year-round, you can create a workplace where all employees feel valued and supported. This not only helps to retain diverse talent but also creates a more innovative and productive workforce overall.

As Berry noted, diversity is the result of ongoing efforts to create a culture of belonging and ensure equitable opportunities for all. By focusing on these foundational elements, you can build a truly inclusive workplace that benefits everyone.

Pillar 4: Retention and Leadership Development

Attracting and hiring diverse talent is a crucial step in building a more inclusive workforce, but it’s equally important to focus on retaining that talent and providing opportunities for growth and advancement. When employees from underrepresented backgrounds don’t see a clear path forward within the organization, they may be more likely to leave for other opportunities.

Strategies for Retaining Diverse Talent

To retain diverse talent, you must create an environment where all employees feel valued, supported and motivated to stay for the long haul. This can involve:

• Regularly checking in with employees to gather feedback on their experience and address any concerns
• Providing competitive compensation and benefits packages that show employees they are valued
• Offering flexible work arrangements and support for work-life balance
• Creating a culture of recognition where employees are acknowledged for their contributions and accomplishments
• Providing ongoing training and development opportunities to help employees grow in their careers

Providing Opportunities for Leadership Development and Advancement

In addition to creating a supportive and engaging work environment, you also need to provide clear pathways for leadership development and advancement. This is especially important for employees from underrepresented backgrounds who may face additional barriers to advancement.

To support leadership development, companies can:

• Identify high-potential employees from diverse backgrounds and provide targeted leadership training and development opportunities
• Create mentorship and sponsorship programs that pair diverse employees with senior leaders who can provide guidance and advocacy
• Ensure that leadership pipelines are diverse and that employees from underrepresented backgrounds are being considered for promotions and leadership roles
• Provide visibility and exposure for diverse leaders within the organization, such as through speaking opportunities or executive sponsorship of key initiatives

Measuring Success in Retention and Leadership Development

To track progress in retention and leadership development, you should regularly measure key metrics such as:

• Overall retention rates and retention rates for employees from underrepresented backgrounds
• Promotion rates and the diversity of employees being promoted into leadership roles
• Employee engagement and satisfaction scores, broken down by demographic groups
• Participation rates in leadership development programs and the career progression of program participants

By tracking these metrics and using the data to inform ongoing retention and leadership development efforts, you can create a virtuous cycle where diverse talent is not only attracted and hired but also developed and retained over the long term.

Ultimately, a focus on retention and leadership development is essential for building a truly diverse and inclusive organization. By prioritizing these efforts as a key pillar of your DEI strategy, you can create a workplace where all employees have the opportunity to thrive and advance in their careers.

Pillar 5: Establishing and Measuring DEIB Goals, Adjusting Strategy as Needed

To ensure that diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) efforts are driving meaningful change, you must set clear goals and regularly measure progress against those goals. This allows you to identify areas of success as well as opportunities for improvement and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Setting Clear, Measurable DEIB Goals

The first step in establishing DEIB goals is to conduct a thorough assessment of the current state of diversity and inclusion within the organization. This can involve analyzing employee demographic data, conducting employee surveys and focus groups, and benchmarking against industry peers.

Based on this assessment, you can then set specific, measurable goals for improving DEIB outcomes. These goals should be aligned with the overall business strategy and should be broken down into specific targets for each department and level of the organization.

Some examples of DEIB goals might include:

• Increasing the representation of underrepresented groups at each level of the organization by a certain percentage within a specific timeframe
• Improving retention rates for employees from underrepresented backgrounds by a certain percentage year over year
• Achieving parity in promotion rates and performance ratings across demographic groups

Regularly Assessing Progress and Adjusting Strategy

Once DEIB goals have been established, it’s important to regularly measure progress against those goals. This can involve tracking key metrics such as:

• Representation of underrepresented groups at each level of the organization
• Retention rates and turnover rates for employees from underrepresented backgrounds
• Promotion rates and performance ratings by demographic group
• Employee engagement and satisfaction scores, broken down by demographic group

By regularly reviewing this data and comparing it to established goals, you can identify areas where progress is being made. You can also find areas where additional focus and effort may be needed.

Based on this assessment, you can then adjust your DEIB strategy as needed. This may involve revising goals, reallocating resources, or implementing new initiatives and programs to address specific challenges or opportunities.

It’s important to approach this process with a spirit of continuous improvement. Recognize that building a truly diverse and inclusive organization is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time destination.

By establishing clear DEIB goals, regularly measuring progress, and adjusting strategy as needed, your DEIB efforts will drive meaningful and sustainable change over time. This not only helps to create a more equitable and inclusive workplace but also drives better business outcomes by fostering a more diverse and engaged workforce.

In conclusion, building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace requires a comprehensive approach that recognizes the interconnectedness of the five key pillars of DEIB strategy. 

Embracing a holistic DEIB strategy is not only a business imperative in an increasingly diverse world but also a moral one. The work of DEIB is an ongoing commitment that requires sustained effort and continuous improvement. By recognizing the interconnectedness of these five pillars and dedicating themselves to lasting change, you can build a workplace that truly works for all.

For DEIB tools to help your recruitment marketing efforts, visit our marketplace now. Happy hiring!