Key takeaways:
- Senior DEI and talent leaders at the world’s largest brands share insights into the partnerships that helped them establish successful talent pipelines for diverse candidates.
- Partnering with different business lines in your organization is essential for nurturing your talent pipelines – employer branding teams, data analytics teams, resource groups, and others can help elevate your initiatives.
- Data is essential in proving where your DEI talent efforts should be focused and can help executives prioritize where resources should be leveraged.
Creating partnerships with external organizations, employees, and business lines is essential to attract the diverse talent your company needs to succeed. These partnerships are vital to establishing successful talent pipelines and nurturing your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-based talent acquisition strategy.
We looked at some of the necessary actions DEI leaders can take to establish partnerships at large organizations to nurture diverse talent pipelines and elevate talent acquisition strategies.
Partner with your employer brand teams to focus on DEI
One key business line you should look to leverage is your employer brand team, who can help amplify the core DEI values of your company in the talent recruitment process.
Remitly Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition Erin Pierpoint – who previously served as Bristol Myers Squibb’s Worldwide Head of Talent Strategy for Global Diversity and Inclusion Recruitment, Early Career, Social Media, and Brand – explained how her team realigned Bristol Myers Squibb’s employer brand and recruitment strategy to promote diverse talent and build an inclusive workforce.
“From a recruiting perspective, we were struggling to take our enterprise brand and translate it into a sentiment that resonated across all candidate populations,” Erin said in a 2020 interview with the Talent Marketing Board. “Many candidates didn’t know the BMS brand and our focus on patients.”
Erin shared their steps to shape a culture where all voices and perspectives feel valued and welcomed. One included leveraging their People and Business Resource Groups as brand ambassadors to elevate diverse voices in their organization.
Leverage external partners to help recruit diverse talent
DEI Board members shared the best practices they’re using to bring in diverse talent and the challenges of recruiting in today’s market environment.
Some of the senior DEI leaders in the community discussed how they leverage Upwardly Global, a nonprofit that supports immigrant and refugee populations and brings diverse talent into rural settings.
Members also noted how Catholic Charities also provides resources to help newcomers acclimate to rural communities, which can be critical in helping your organization reach untapped talent pipelines.
Meisha Sherman, Chief People Officer at California-based SaaS company Mindbody and former Chief Diversity Officer at Envista, explained how she helped develop a diverse talent pipeline. In partnership with The Consortium, her team focused on fostering a culture of inclusion and ensuring opportunities for the advancement of employees from underrepresented groups.
Partner with internal teams to find diverse talent
DEI Board members recently shared how they’re also looking within their organizations and partnering with internal teams to find top talent, which is a critical step in nurturing your talent pipeline and providing career development opportunities.
For DEI teams, you may not have to look for external hires to support your strategies. Instead, members explained how partnering with ERG leaders and employees could help existing talent transition into DEI roles, which can be critical for retaining institutional knowledge while increasing the DEI team’s capacity and capabilities.
Partner with data analytics teams to inform senior leadership teams
In an interview with S&P Global, Johnson & Johnson Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Wanda Hope and Genentech Chief Diversity Officer Quita Highsmith talked about their diverse talent goals. They shared how data is helping to increase the pipeline of talent for women and minority communities in the pharmaceutical workforce.
“We use data and insights to drive accountability and deliver on business outcomes [and] we know that by bringing together people with different perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, we fuel our creativity, innovation, and growth,” Wanda said.
In a recent DEI Board leadership discussion, one member shared how they revamped their initiatives to attract top talent from diverse backgrounds using data analytics. That member reported that their attrition rates were 12% higher among high-potential women and people of color and that this group spent 8-10 months longer in a role before being promoted, compared to their counterparts who don’t represent marginalized groups.
Partnering with their data analytics teams, this DEI Board member helped the organization recognize that while they did work to promote individuals from diverse backgrounds, they didn’t foster cross-functional talent conversations — causing senior leaders to want to address the disparities.
Elevate your talent acquisition strategy by partnering with employee resource groups
In the DEI Board, senior diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders at the world’s largest brands shared how employee resource groups (ERGs) can support diverse talent attraction during a live panel discussion.
They provided insights on how ERGs create opportunities for employees to connect and help create a sense of belonging for everyone throughout your organization.
Tanya Spencer, Chief Diversity Officer at General Electric Vernova, Cheya Dunlap, Vice President of Human Resources and Communications at Honeywell, Tyson Bauer, Director of DEI Employee-Led Initiatives at Beam Suntory, and Siobhan Calderbank, Managing Director of Talent at Alberta Investment Management Corporation, discussed how leveraging ERGs can enhance your company’s external branding as a place of belonging for candidates.
You can watch the panel discussion to learn more about setting ERGs up for success at your organization to elevate your DEI-based talent strategies.
If you lead DEI at a large organization, you can apply to learn more about the DEI Board and gain unbiased peer insights on nurturing a diverse talent strategy.
