After recentering, Pat moved forward. “So, what do you think?”

"I hear you, Pat." Amy replied almost dismissively.

Pat knew Amy was learning the nuances of leading and building a team, as well as the building blocks of basic human resource principles. Amy might not be concerned to learn more about diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, or maybe Amy just wanted this meeting to be about hiring a buddy; but Pat wanted to take this chance to impart knowledge.

"Amy, we are in an exciting time. The world is changing and the workplace is reflecting that change. There are some really cool things happening on a variety of levels in society that I think our company should embrace!

For example, did you know that there are some state and local governments that have passed legislation to help protect traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protecting certain hairstyles?

As a company, we should be learning from legislation like this. Imagine the incredible opportunities and talent that other companies have lost because someone was wearing a turban or cornrows? Think of the amazing opportunities and talent we may have lost because they were not an alumnus of a certain university or knew someone who worked here? How silly is that?”

Amy responded, “I just want someone who can meet or exceed my expectations. But I understand your point—we should be the type of company that embraces the fact that people come in all shapes and colors (and all sorts of other traits) and we need to hire from diverse hiring pools to reflect that we’ve embraced that fact. That about cover it?”

Pat wanted to plant one more thought for Amy’s consideration.

“Amy, when you look at our company, do you think it is diverse as it stands now?”

Amy thought about it for a moment. "I mean, I think so. I’ve never really thought about it."

As a numbers person, Pat could not help but see certain trends. Pat considered how there were very few people of color in leadership roles—something that has been brought up in the past to the company’s co-CEOs, Luke and Laura many times. But, despite Pat’s insistence, hiring efforts continue to be focused almost exclusively on certain Ivy League institutions, friends of internal hires, and legacy job boards.

"Amy, I'd like you to consider the positions represented by the people of color you are thinking about and the decision-making power they have. How often do you have a person of color in your strategy meetings?"

Amy remained silent but Pat could see that Amy was thinking about it. Pat considered the other inequalities mentioned in an article around white men being more likely than others to get away with personality quirks and interpersonal issues and having more freedom to express anger. Pat remembered a key point in the article, "Being seen as an “angry black man”—or an angry woman of any race—typically is not a good career move." The company has to work on its equity and inclusion efforts in parallel with its diversity efforts, Pat knew. But the focus at this moment was Amy and her new hire.

"I am not trying to play 'gotcha', I promise. I hope you consider expanding your talent search as an opportunity, and I think it’s concerning that our organizational make-up is the way it is. I recently read about some wild statistics around workplace discrimination claims. Since you brought race up, I read somewhere that there were about $80 million in total settlements in 2019 for racial discrimination charges with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the EEOC )."

"One way to help mitigate these types of claims is to create an inclusive workplace that values diversity. If we keep looking for talent at the same universities and referrals from within, we may miss out on some amazing talent. In fact, about a quarter of minority senior executives plan to switch jobs in 2021 to advance their career . That is an opportunity for us to welcome top talent to our organization! But I am not talking about race alone. "

"In a recent report, surveyed organizations in the top 10% for financial performance reported that women make up 24% of their high-potential pool and 19% people are from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds . While we do not have to be like any other organization, do you see even a small fraction of women or members of diverse ethnic backgrounds making up our leadership?"

“Other than Laura, I don’t, Pat. Looks like you should be sharing those articles and reports!”

“I’m trying! Our company is slowly learning and evolving. It is through conversations like these that we can help shed some light and open dialogue and conversation. We need to implement strategy and raise the level of effort and focus in a more strategic way."

Key Considerations:

What would you like to do next?

Would you like additional resources to learn more about opportunities that you may want to consider embracing?

⚙ Are you a TriNet customer? Learn about DEI Training, click here

⚙ Want to start posting on diverse job boards, but don't know where to start? Check out Diversity Jobs.

⚙ Are you a TriNet customer? Contact Connect 360 to learn how we can help you! If you are a small to medium-size business interested in learning more about how TriNet can help with talent recruitment, please reach out!

📖 Read about how you can update your DEI strategy! Article from Harvard Business Review: Update Your DEI Playbook.

📖 Learn more about trends in race-based charges filed with the EEOC at this link.

📖 Learn more about top talent leaving because of a lack of a diversity and inclusion read this article from Inc.

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