Community Forum – How is your organization making underrepresented employees a priority?
- Resource Type
- Survey (Community Forum)
- Publish Date
- 04/20/2021
- Author
- Innovation Research Interchange
- Topics
- Leading Innovation Organizations, Culture, Talent Management
- Associated Event
- Publication
In the wake of the racial/social/civil protests and unrest that has occurred within the US, our organization has renewed efforts to improve the representation of underrepresented minorities at all levels within the corporation as we believe diversity and inclusion to be a strategic imperative. Please take a minute and let us know how your organization is approaching this challenge.
| 4. Of the concrete actions selected above, please describe what aspects or features of them have resulted in the sustainable changes within your organization.Added more women to board of directors.The starting of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) has been a great start. These have provided a common forum for under-represented talent and allies to share experiences and discuss ideas for improving the way the rest of the organization functions. It has been a great way to bring awareness and visibility to the unique positions of many in this category. Unconscious bias training has been a good way to show this effect is real for everyone and needs to be acknowledged, especially by those in managerial/leadership positions. Training was a good start, I am eager to see how this turns into tangible actions.Transparency and accountability as it provides a metric and tracking measure,We are in the early stages of implementing these initiatives, we don’t as of yet have results of sustained changes.The biggest one is improved visibility to current metrics down to the department level and establishing goals for improvement.Have implemented many of these but are not seeing the pace of change we had hoped to see 5. What aspirational goals and/or KPIs related to diversity and inclusion has your organization established and what do you feel are the biggest challenge to achieving these?Having enough candidates to apply for the jobs from the minorities.Need to set or communicate clearer the specific metric targets.% diverse in all roles, % diverse in leadership roles, % diverse promoted, % diverse regrettable turnoverOur key aspiration is to diversify our workforce by 2030. Our senior leaders would like our workforce (predominately men) or be 50% women by that time. We are also working to build inclusion internally and within the communities we serve.Three main KPI’s are related to increasing female and minority representation in leadership roles and successor pools and reducing turnover of these groups. 2023 goals have been set. Biggest challenge is hiring and retaining the best diverse talent.Goal of # women in senior management roles.30% of senior level leadership positions filled by females by 2030 6. Is your organization happy with the pace of change? Why/why not?No, concern for the pipeline fill toward the experienced ranks. Need even more in the early ranks to allow for some leaving to follow other paths, but right now would need more minorities applying for STEM professional related jobs.Yes, this is part of a long effort to be more inclusive. Our organization is now highly ranked by Forbes in part as a result of these efforts.There has been a surge of attention to this topic in the last 12x months, I think the organization is on a good pace but now realizes how much more needs to be done.Happy but not satisfied – change is slow.Yes – we are early in this process, but we are taking it slow and steady. We want to learn from each step we take, so we don’t want to jump in too quickly.NoUnclear – We are at an early stage.No. Not seeing a meaningful change. Retention and advancement are both issues.Biggest challenge is having a pipeline of STEM graduates from under-represented communities. |
Do you have a question for the IRI Community Forum? Email Us Today!