In 2020, a national spotlight on racial violence led to a vocal response from corporate leaders, who made grand promises to hire more diverse talent and invest in overlooked and underrepresented communities. Three years later, it’s hard to see what outcomes have resulted from this national reckoning.
While most companies had positive intentions of expanding diversity, many lacked a clear understanding of how to execute this in practice. Employers need an approach that extends beyond a one-off initiative. Instead, corporate leaders should weave equity and inclusion into company culture consistently, as opposed to only when it’s trending or in response to news events.
Let’s look at how forward-thinking companies – and leaders like you – can help make diversity a more sustainable and impactful reality.
Tech companies went on a years-long hiring binge during the recent tech boom. However, even as they hired thousands of new employees, they failed to deliver on the promises they made to invest in diverse talent. In 2022, amidst a more challenging economic environment, firms started laying off swaths of employees. Based on a study from Revelio Labs, the layoffs disproportionately affected diverse talent, such as women and people of color. The study also found that, since July 2022, the percentage of employees of color hired by major companies has dropped significantly.
Employee attrition has been especially worrisome among DEI roles. Many companies invested in DEI leadership during the past few years in order to expedite meaningful changes. In some cases, layoffs have eliminated entire DEI teams or initiatives, leaving no one to continue the efforts that were started.
The events of the past year have shown that simply paying lip service to DEI and making short-term hiring commitments do not create meaningful change. Executives and HR leaders need to treat DEI as an essential effort, not a PR response. When designing recruitment and retention strategies, companies should prioritize initiatives that promote inclusive hiring practices, foster a culture of belonging, and eliminate bias – and then ensure that those initiatives are codified into company policy.
Creating an inclusive hiring process starts from the moment you write the job description. Avoiding gendered language can make women and people outside of the gender binary more likely to apply, for example, while avoiding jargon and making use of white space makes your job description more accessible.
Once the candidate reaches the interview process, there are more opportunities to ensure equity. Oftentimes, hiring managers focus on interview questions that relate to past performance in one role to predict future performance of a similar role. This screening method will easily exclude candidates who don’t come from a corporate environment, like those with retail or gig backgrounds.
A candidate’s likelihood to succeed doesn’t hinge on whether they have corporate experience. People from underrepresented and overlooked communities who have worked in blue-collar jobs tend to bring a wealth of experience that can be applied to different industries. They also have other characteristics, such as work ethic and problem solving skills, that make them attractive to employers. Someone who has worked long hours in retail or on a factory floor is often going to have a strong sense of determination and client focus as a project manager. People who have worked in restaurants and hospitality have the patience and creativity to help gracefully navigate the problems they encounter at an IT help desk.
By increasing awareness of the qualities that make great talent, business leaders will realize that focusing on characteristics, rather than exclusively past experience, is a better lens to assess candidates’ strengths. This will enable leaders to tap into a new talent pool by hiring employees who bring unique expertise, perspective, and enthusiasm.
Simply hiring diverse candidates is not enough. Companies must do the internal work to ensure that they are creating an environment that supports people from all backgrounds.
When companies skip this crucial step, they create a new problem for themselves – retaining diverse talent. Underrepresented talent may enter an environment where they are further marginalized, don’t receive the support they need to succeed, or see that people like them are not represented in leadership. Employees of color specifically may face continuous microaggressions from colleagues or managers.
According to the Center for Talent Innovation, employees feel like they belong at work when they are seen, connected, supported, and proud of the organization to which they belong. Managers should also implement the following concepts on an ongoing basis, independent of the hiring process:
As corporate leaders, we have an opportunity to use today’s layoff trend as a catalyst for positive change in our organizations and society. Diversity must not become a casualty of this uncertain economic climate. Even if companies feel like they are “doing enough” for DEI, there are most likely other avenues they can pursue to deliver on their promises. Let’s keep pushing for real-world results to back up these good intentions.
About the Authors
Nitzan Pelman - CEO and Founder
Nitzan Pelman is a three time social impact entrepreneur. She founded Climb Hire in 2019 as a way to create economic opportunity and mobility for people earning below livable wage. Climb Hire’s program model is based on Nitzan’s first hand research as an Entrepreneur in Residence at LinkedIn on the powerful role that social networks can play in securing living wage jobs. Nitzan is an Ascend Fellow with the Aspen Institute and is an official “LinkedIn Influencer.” Nitzan was the founding CEO of an Entangled Ventures company called ReUp Education that focuses on re-enrolling students who have dropped out of college (acquired in 2022 by Sterling). Nitzan also founded the New York region of Citizen Schools, a middle school initiative for low income students. Early in her career, she worked at the Department of Education in New York City, KIPP, and Teach for America. Nitzan holds a Masters in Public Administration from New York University and a BA from Stern College for Women.
Sorbriqué “Sorby” Grant - President
Sorbriqué “Sorby” Grant joined Climb Hire as its inaugural Chief Program & People Officer just over a year ago. Sorby launched her career in 2007 as a Teach for America Corps Member in the South Bronx. Following her stint in the classroom, she landed at Citizen Schools as the Managing Director of Program for the NYC region, where she served thousands of students through Expanded Learning Time partnership programs. Following Citizen Schools, Sorby transitioned into the field of Leadership and Talent Development, and worked as the Director of Principal Preparation at Achievement First (AF), supporting and coaching aspiring school principals. Soon after, she was recruited to be the turnaround principal of Achievement First Hartford Academy Middle School. Having achieved incredible results with AF, Sorby then briefly served as Head of School for KIPP New Orleans. Seeing the need for a more comprehensive response to the challenges facing New Orleans youth, she left KIPP and became the Chief Program Officer in 2019 for the Center for Resilience, Louisiana’s only therapeutic day program for children with behavioral health and autism spectrum diagnoses. Sorby brings to Climb Hire deep experience in Program & Curriculum design, Talent Management & Development, and Human Resources Management. She holds a Masters of Teaching from Pace University, a Masters of Public Policy & Urban Planning from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and a Bachelor of Arts in Government and American Studies from Cornell University.
