How do you create a more equitable workforce? After publishing pieces about pay transparency, compensation philosophy, and compensation metrics, a common question we’ve been asked is: what else? If companies have taken the time to develop a comprehensive compensation philosophy and communicated their pay clearly, what are the next steps?
We’re excited to be collaborating with Complete to publish a guide on how to create an equitable process for a diverse workforce.
Creating an equitable workforce demands a hard look at all parts of the employee lifecycle. It’s not solely about recruiting; but about thoughtful attention to the hiring funnel and beyond—from sourcing diverse talent to providing an inclusive employee experience.
Diversity in the workplace advances an organization in many ways. It gives you access to a greater range of talent—not just the talent that belongs to a particular world-view or ethnicity or some other restricting definition. It helps provide insight into the needs and motivations of all of your client or customer base, rather than just a segment of it. And, as McKinsey & Co (report) and others have shown, it potentially makes your organization more effective, more successful, and more profitable.
Improving representation requires intentionality, consistency, and support from all executives within a company. Diversity is one of the core values here at Gem and something we’ve been really intentional about since day one. On the recruiting front, here are some strategies we’ve previously deployed or plan to in the coming year:
As an anecdote, someone on my team was working on a hybrid role based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They ran a quick market map on the talent pool and it showed ~700 candidates. They then removed the San Francisco Bay Area filter and the results expanded to ~7,000 candidates. This is a good way to identify some of the limiting factors that can contribute to a narrower pool of candidates and have a conversation with the hiring manager on the “need-to-haves” and “nice-to-haves.”
Create and deliver an inclusive hiring manager training. This helps those involved in the recruiting process better understand the importance of an inclusive interview process. Here at Gem, we have a few different topics that we partner with hiring managers on to fine tune through training:
Track your impact. Set measurable aspirations that you and your team can collectively work towards. These could be aspirations for both you and your hiring manager to work towards as you kick off a search.
Creating an equitable workforce starts with good intentions… but it doesn’t end there. You need to be proactive in the entire employee lifecycle—from developing your target talent pool, to making an offer and communicating compensation, all the way through to developing and retaining that talent. If you’d like to hear more tactical advice on how to create an equitable workforce, drop us a line and we’ll consider writing a piece.
Complete helps high-growth companies create, collaborate on, and explain compensation practices from day zero. We help teams create an equitable workforce and improve their employee retention through proactive communication. Request a demo here.
Gem provides Recruiting teams the tool for better engagement, faster time-to-hire, and to ensure a more diverse workforce. With Gem’s talent engagement platform, you are able to do a multitude of things, including being able to:
Feel free to request a Gem Demo here.