Diversity Matters: Why DEI is a Key Pillar of Employer Branding

According to Glassdoor’s 2020 polling data, 76% of job seekers and employees report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.

Let that sink in.

That’s 3 out of 4 potential hires.

At this point it’s an understatement to say that diversity is an important part of your employer brand: it’s paramount. And it’s not just about the composition of your workforce, potential hires and current employees are highly interested in the programs, progress, and people that make your diversity story. They know no one does DEI perfectly. What they want to see is a true, solid commitment to progress and accountability.

How you externally communicate your diversity story as it stands – coupled with your goals for an even more diverse future – can and does determine the quality of hires your company attracts. Candidates are savvy and will immediately look past surface-level, website landing page ”representation.” But well before communicating your org’s diversity story, you need to be able to see it.

Most DEI data is still processed manually, whether that’s in spreadsheets or a somewhat more sophisticated ATS. This leaves you sifting through mountains of data by hand, stuck in granularity, unable to see patterns. The Included platform was developed to scale DEI, creating actionable reporting that allows you to navigate massive amounts of DEI data with ease.

Our platform combs through your data, running millions of scenarios faster than you can filter a single column on a bulky excel sheet. And sure, we can find problems, but let’s talk about how Included can point towards the successes you can build on.

Let’s walk through a hypothetical – say, for example, you’ve got an open role being sourced by 3 recruiters. You’d want to know exactly where in the hiring funnel women and People of Color are dropping off, right?

Included shows you.

And you could drill down further, going on to see how equitably each recruiter, at each step of the hiring funnel, advances candidates of marginalized identities. In a perfect world, there would be total parity, percentage-wise. Black women would advance from screening call to interview at the same percentage as white men. It’s not likely that any of your processes have hit that level of equity, but the Included platform can show you who’s closest, and it can highlight progress over time.

How about another hypothetical – You have an open role and your goal is that the interview pool will include at least 25 historically underrepresented candidates. The Included platform will alert you if the goal is not being met with specific tasks you can action immediately to meet your sourcing goals.

But imagine that in the same scenario, the recruiter sources an interview pool that goes above and beyond the stated goal. That data is also visible for you to see and learn from.

When a company publicly takes steps to measure and improve diversity, candidates take notice. It’s no wonder, then, that companies like Slack and GE are so invested in touting their DEI programs and data (read more here about why you should share your DEI data). Potential hires want to know that you’re serious about diversity, and that your investment goes beyond an awkward 90 minute video at onboarding.

In a recruiting environment where you can’t afford to be left behind, it’s a business imperative to get on top of your DEI data.

For a demonstration of what Included can show you, click here.

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