Top 5 Takeaways from 5 Ways Talent Leaders Can Set & Reach Diversity Goals

The best talent leaders know that diversity isn’t just a “nice to have,” it’s a must have. Diverse organizations are more innovative, make better decisions, and realize over 30% more profits than homogenous counterparts. As important to the business as diversity, equity, and inclusion is, most businesses are still struggling to set diversity goals, attract underrepresented talent, create cultures of inclusion, and promote equality through the organization. 

If that struggle rings true for you, you are in luck. 

Earlier this month, we partnered with HR, talent, and D&I leaders at some of the largest technology, manufacturing, and financial services companies to walk through what strategies and best practices are helping them set and reach their diversity recruiting goals.  The conversation was moderated by Fairygodboss co-founder, Romy Newman, and panelists included:

• Alicia Scott, senior director of people, culture, and DEI at ON Semiconductor

• Margot Goodson, vice president and head of North America diversity & inclusion at SAP 

• Nita Hendrickson, head of human resources at BD Biosciences 

• Nigel Williams, global head of talent acquisition at Moody’s Corporation

Throughout the event, speakers and experts brought to light several actionable insights that companies can use to set and reach diversity goals in 2021. Here are the top takeaways: 

Tip #1 - Set goals to improve in areas you need, and tie diversity goals to leadership compensation.  

In The State of Diversity Recruiting in 2021 research found that 98% of companies consider diversity recruiting a top priority. Yet, only 54% of companies have tangible diversity recruiting goals. To move the needle, companies will need to identify problem areas, set goals to improve them, and then create a strategy to achieve those goals. 

Scott said that in order to put goals together, data and research was at the forefront. “We worked with our team of data scientists to come up with a forecast model. We looked at hiring rates, turnover, promotions and advancement, and more.” She continued, “we found the data from our HRIS, and also considered research from industry CSR reports, analyst reports, and diversity reporting among industry peers to benchmark.” 

But ON Semiconductor didn’t stop there. “In 2018, we tied diversity goals tied to our corporate bonus plan. This has helped us keep diversity top of mind for everyone,” Scott shared.

Tip #2 - Attracting women to male-dominated careers means focusing on community outreach and belonging.

Once problems have been identified and goals have been set, it’s time to act. For companies in male-dominated industries, that may be a challenge. 

“When you’re looking for women in tech or women engineers, it’s important to understand that women haven’t been socialized generationally to work in STEM. We need to take an educational, inviting, and community outreach approach,” says SAP’s Goodson.  

As an engineer by training herself, Scott was able to provide a unique perspective in attracting women to male-dominated careers. She recommends companies start at university relations level. “View schools in tiers, and rank them by the diversity of their programs and graduation rates among women and people of color. Evaluate these tiers every few years.” What’s more, she adds, “look at the labor market data of where you are looking to grow to see where you might need to expand to get the talent you need.” 

In finance and fin-tech, Williams added “it’s important to move away from the post and pray method of recruiting.” He follows, “Moody’s is lucky enough to have a strong retention rate. Once people get in the door, they stay.” Continuing, “That’s why we build strategic partnerships with organizations like Fairygodboss, host events with candidates and women leaders at the company, focus on career pathing, and build diverse internship and tech rotation programs.” 

Tip #3 - Don’t wait for roles to be open to recruit for talent. 

In order to diversify candidate pipelines and slates, proactively building talent communities is critical.  “There is no shortage of talent. But, how do we nurture and invite them into the company,” asks Goodson. 

To do that, companies need to build relationships with top, underrepresented talent all year long. Goodson recommends companies do that with “strategic community outreach, leveraging talent agencies, schools, as well as community and professional organizations.”  

In addition to building talent communities, Hendrickson talks about the importance of proactively connecting talent to company leaders.  “Introduce talented candidates to leaders even if there’s no current role,” Hendrickson says.  

Tip #4 - Diversify interview panels to enhance hiring team collaboration and make better hiring decisions. 

At Moody’s, Williams and partnered cross-functionally to enhance diversity through collaborative hiring. He spoke about the “tapestry approach” his team has used to weave diversity into every step of the hiring process. 

“We reframed the recruiting process not as an HR function, but a business-led and TA-enablemed approach,” he said. “We did that by setting goals to diversify candidate slates and interview panels, launching a series of hiring manager and interview trainings, as well as deploying consistent rating scales and structured interviews.” 

One step further, Williams also mentioned that Moody’s has introduced structured debrief meetings that has significantly changed the way hiring managers make decisions. “At these candidate selection and debrief sessions, the most junior person speaks first, and the decision-maker speaks last.” He continues, “adding junior team members to the interview process and allowing them to speak first has fundamentally changed the outcomes of some of our hiring processes and decisions.”

In addition to process changes, technology and data can help, as well. Hendrickson shares that a data-driven approach has helped recruiters collaborate with and coach hiring managers. “Here at BD,” she says, “we use data to create transparency. We share diversity and labor force data with hiring managers so they can understand our goals. We educate them on where bias can show up in the process and how they can overcome it. We also provide insight to break down what diversity will be additive versus maintain homogeneity.” 

Tip #5 - In order to attract women and underrepresented talent, you’ll need to enhance your Employer Brand. 

Employer branding plays a big role in attracting underrepresented talent. At Fairygodboss, Newman shared how “men apply to job descriptions whereas women apply to stories and narratives.” 

“It’s important to share your story, share your brand, and share what you’re about,” said Scott on ON Semiconductor’s recent cultural shift. She continued, “your career’s site should be a tool to help you share that with the world - and it should leverage inclusive visuals and language.”

Now that the webinar is over, it’s time for the work to begin. As a final and parting thought at the very end, one thing was clear: you have the tools you need at your disposal, now you need to start. 

Follow Up Resources

• Access the conversation and watch the webinar recording here. 
• Harvard Implicit Bias Test
• McKinsey Women In the Workplace provides the breakdown of your diversity data (representation, hiring, turnover) across several industries looking at gender and race/ethnicity. To sign up, organizations should email [email protected].

About Fairygodboss  

Fairygodboss is the largest career community and job board for women. Through our career community, job board, employee reviews, curated content, and hiring events, Fairygodboss has helped more than 150 enterprise organizations diversify candidate pipelines and achieve diversity hiring goals. 

Founded in 2015 and based in NYC, Fairygodboss helps 9 million women each year navigate their careers. See why organizations like Apple, Johnson & Johnson, Home Depot, and Deloitte partner with Fairygodboss to enhance their employer brand and develop diversity-focused recruitment marketing to attract and engage professional and technical women today.