Most job candidates seek employers who value diversity, inclusion and equity

Dive Brief:

The majority of job seekers in a survey by ZipRecruiter look for employers with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. The recruiting firm found that millennial and Generation X job seekers are more likely to value workplace diversity in the job search than other generations next to other criteria like salary and flexible work options, ZipRecruiter said in a statement.
Survey results also showed that millennial job seekers are likely to double their average tenure at a given company if that company is committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. While postings on ZipRecruiter for diversity, equity and inclusion experts rose 40% year-over-year, the tech, healthcare and legal industries lag behind other sectors when it came to concentration of those postings, ZipRecruiter said.
"Millennials and Generation X together account for over two-thirds of today's U.S. labor force," Ian Siegel, ZipRecruiter's co-founder and CEO, said in the statement. "When close to 90% of them say that a company's concrete commitment to workplace diversity affects their decision to work there, it means that employers who deploy DEI programs can have a competitive edge in the war for talent."

Dive Insight:

Choosing to act on diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives is not only an ethical decision but also a business decision. Research shows a commitment to D&I can boost business outcomes. For example, a 2019 analysis by The Wall Street Journal found that the 20 most diverse S&P 500 firms financially outperformed the index's non-diverse firms over both five- and 10-year periods.

Many organizations' struggles with D&I begin further upstream from their day-to-day HR operations. In these cases, HR executives may need to expand talent pipelines to include professional and social organizations that advocate for underrepresented workforce groups. Companies like Uber have taken this a step further by tying executive compensation to the outcomes of diversity goals, upping the personal stakes for leadership.

There are various indexes HR staff and recruiters can look to for guidance on attracting diverse talent. The Disability Equality Index, for example, measures employers in part based on whether they have written D&I statements that include sections on employees with disabilities, as well as whether company locations are accessible. Diversity Best Practices' Inclusion Index measures employer performance on items like providing education around implicit bias and auditing performance management practices to address bias.

Additionally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission offers guidance that can help employers prevent workplace discrimination as well as promote equity in hiring practices. Recommendations from the agency include creating objective, job-related qualification standards for specific positions and ensuring promotion criteria are made clear to workers.