Studies show only 7% of upper-level executive positions in the U.S. are filled by people of color, and just 5% by black women. This lack of diversity has truly profound effects on innovation and company culture. Ironically, businesses actually need more diverse talent to succeed in an increasingly global marketplace. While public companies are recruiting and hiring more diverse talent, the majority of companies are not developing a strategy to retain their diverse talent.
How can an organization retain their diverse talent?
The answer may be simpler than you think; it starts with a company’s culture and clear policies around diversity and inclusion at all levels. Companies need to address unconscious bias, develop an amazing onboarding strategy, support the creation of inclusive communities, train managers how to lead diverse teams, make the growth paths transparent, and create mentorship and sponsorship opportunities for everyone.
Address Unconscious Bias
We all believe we are ethical, unbiased decision makers, but studies into unconscious biases (deeply ingrained stereotypes that influence our behavior), prove otherwise.
“More than two decades of research confirm that, in reality, most of us fall woefully short of our inflated self-perception,” writes Harvard University researcher Mahzarin Banaji in the Harvard Business Review.
Our unconscious biases influence how we hire, onboard, manage, and promote employees. Companies that are committed to retaining diverse talent must, therefore, address unconscious biases to ensure they don’t impact employees. The behaviors created by unconscious biases not only have a significant impact on inclusiveness, but they also create institutional barriers to growth over time.
When bias creeps into hiring processes, it’s often hard to detect. You may think that you’re making decisions based on qualifications and experience, but in reality, you may be overlooking a potential bias. For example, if you’re applying for a technical position, you may have subconsciously overlooked a person with a disability or a female candidate who you assumed didn’t have a traditional work history. Before you’re faced with a problem, identify bias in your hiring process. It’s easier to make the change when you’re aware of the bias, so start by reviewing your processes.
Be Amazing at Onboarding Diverse Employees
An often-overlooked part of the recruitment life cycle is the onboarding process. Onboarding is crucial to employee retention. An employee onboarding survey of over 1000 US workers revealed that 31 percent of people left a job within the first six months, and an astonishing 68 percent departed within three months.
If the first few months of a new hire are unnerving, they are even more so for minority employees. To help them feel like they’ve made a good decision accepting your job offer, you need to develop an amazing onboarding process.
Onboarding should be more than just the paperwork done on your new hire’s first day. Effective onboarding includes properly introducing the new employee to the rest of the team, helping them navigate their surroundings, and training them on the specific tools and processes they’ll need to do their job.
For example, consider the following three onboarding practices that encourage inclusion and are especially effective for diverse employees:
1. Provide diverse role models
Employees want to be inspired by role models who look like them and share their experiences. Don’t assume that diverse employees have the same experiences. Let them see themselves in your role models, and be sure to showcase these role models when you hire new employees.
2. Offer diverse content
Research shows that diverse employees want to see more content that speaks to their experiences. Help them connect with other diverse employees by creating content that showcases diversity in your industry, work, and people.
3. Host inclusive meetings
Hosting inclusive meetings is another great way to support diverse employees. If you’re serious about retaining diverse talent, you need to ensure your employees are not only invited to the table, but are given a chance to speak.
“Onboarding new employees can be a challenging and stressful experience for all involved,” says Rebecca Y. Vallee, a professional recruitment consultant. “If you can eliminate these stressors and create a welcoming, fun, and supportive environment, you’ll be able to create a more positive experience for your diverse hires. At Yotpo, our diverse employees have found the company to be a welcoming and positive environment that creates a lasting impact on their careers. They’ve seen how diverse teams can bring fresh perspectives and innovative ideas to the table, and they have more opportunities to learn and grow.”
Support the Creation of Communities Within Your Organization
Having allies at work makes the work environment easier. In the case of underrepresented employees, it can make a world of difference to have people who can help them on their journey.
Support your diverse hires in forging connections. One way to do this is by supporting employees who want to form communities based on shared identities. Ask them how you can help, what resources they need, and how they want to promote the initiative company-wide.
To retain diverse talent, you need to create an inclusive work environment where everyone feels welcomed. When you do this, you are also creating a community. “Communities in an organization have a number of characteristics that contribute to a positive and safe environment,” writes community development expert Jennifer Baughman in the Harvard Business Review. These characteristics include;
– an awareness of differences in individual, team, and organizational cultures
– an understanding of shared purpose and values
– a collective commitment to working toward a united goal
Train Managers to Lead Diverse Teams
Managers need to understand their behaviors impact their team members’ sense of belonging. Organizations need to train managers to become aware of unconscious biases and how to identify diverse talent needs.
Encourage them to continuously assess their processes to ensure that everyone on the team gets the same opportunities—are assignments given to everyone, including those who don’t raise their hands?
Leaders need to understand the importance of inclusive leadership, but the most successful leaders know they need to support their team members. This is especially important for minority employees. Research from BambooHR shows minority employees are more likely to leave their jobs if their manager is not a leader of the team. A 2015 study of 500 diverse, underrepresented workers in the US found that 89% of the workers believed their managers were a factor in their lack of career advancement.
So how do you help minority employees advance? Make sure your managers are well-equipped to lead diverse teams. “You have to make sure your manager is skilled in working with diverse groups of people,” says Laurie Wilkerson, BambooHR’s diversity manager. “If you don’t have that, you can’t be successful.”
Make the Path to Growth Transparent
Make sure everyone knows what opportunities are available, and what competencies are needed to get to the next level. One example of how to do this is to make your promotion criteria public.
Additionally, assess whether there are unwritten rules of career advancement at your company.
Assistant professor at Harvard Anthony Jack notes in his TED Talk, “Promotion at work is dependent on relationships with superiors. It’s not just what you know or who you know but also who knows you and how well they do.” Make sure diverse employees understand what they need to do in order to be seen by superiors.
Hiring for diversity is important, but equally important is making the path to growth clear. People who don’t feel supported are less likely to stick around. This means organizations must invest in diverse talent. If you’re committed to diversity, you need to help diverse employees grow by;
1. Providing mentorship and training opportunities to help them get their feet wet in a new area.
2. Working to create an inclusive environment where people can collaborate and innovate.
3. Developing programs to build connections between your organization and the community.
Create Mentorship and Sponsorship Opportunities
Every employee can benefit from having someone who will help them be better at their jobs and advocate for them, especially diverse talent. Many organizations have mentorship programs, some specifically targeting diverse employees for this reason.
Some companies have taken the idea one step further by creating sponsorship programs – like The Warmline at Intel. While mentors are confidantes and advisors, sponsors are advocates. Research by the Center for Talent Innovation confirms that effective sponsorship is critical to engagement, retention, and advancement of diverse talent.
While mentorship programs are great, they often leave minority employees out. If you’re not intentional about providing opportunities for your diverse employees to grow, you may be leaving out the very people you’re trying to support. Sponsorship programs are a great way to provide mentorship opportunities to your diverse employees.
Implementing diversity in your workplace signals to all employees they belong and have a voice. And with organizations really needing new talent from different backgrounds to stay relevant and innovate, there has been a big shift towards attracting and retaining diversity among your team. Diversity in workplaces is beneficial for everyone. Now make sure to create an inclusive, transparent, and welcoming environment for your diverse talent to stay.
What are some ways your organization attracts and retains diverse talent?
What types of communities exist in your organization that support diverse employees?
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