Is Your Company Delivering on Diversity?
We’ve heard for years that to compete in the modern global economy, we must attract, develop, engage, and retain the best people from diverse talent pools. The newly created House Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion held a hearing last week to discuss the impacts of diversity on the bottom line. The hearing focused on the social and economic benefits that can be achieved when organizations implement diversity and inclusion strategies. Dr. Richard Guzzo, co-founder of Mercer’s Workforce Sciences Institute, testified that focusing diversity efforts on hiring isn’t enough – it’s about retaining and promoting individuals into leadership positions. He also noted that it is not only diversity of race and ethnicity that impacts the success of a firm but also diversity of experience. Our 2019 Talent Trends data shows America’s executives agree. This year executives had two top workforce concerns— delivering on diversity (49%) and delivering on a digital work experience (46%).
Human Capital Risks were flagged this year as a serious impediment to change and concerns vary depending on the company’s growth strategy. Those in a high growth environment are concerned about being held back by skills shortages, low employee engagement, and diversity issues. In a transparent world, lack of attention to diversity issues can impact not only attraction but retention as well. Benefit programs are an important part of the equation. You can help your organization “practice what you preach” by designing inclusive benefits programs. Check out this post by Beth Umland for inspiration on what your organization can do to build an inclusive, gender-balanced workplace.