Employer Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Toolkit

Diversity recruitment is a top goal for most employers right now, but how can you stand out to diverse talent in your recruitment cycle? It's important to have consistent communication about your organization’s commitment to this work embedded into your brand.

Reimagine job descriptions and applications

Take a look at a Sample Job Description with Equity in Mind created by Team Dynamics^© and these additional resources through Glassdoor and Indeed.

Be aware of the dangerous statistics of preference to “whitened”, heteronormative resumes and cover letters. Find ways to avoid name bias in making decisions on who to interview.

Salary transparency

Hiding salaries until the job offer perpetuates the pay gaps that contribute to the cycle of inequity in the workforce, primarily for women and people of color. One simple step you can take, if you are not already, is to list the salary range in the job description and openly communicate it throughout the application process to prepare candidates on whether they’d be able to accept given their life circumstances. According to charthop.com a company holds itself accountable to its employees with salary transparency.

Paid internships

Many organizations use internship programs as a pipeline for full-time talent. Unpaid internships provide an unfair advantage to candidates who have the resources to forgo income for experience.

According to a research study funded by NACE the study showed “that students completing an unpaid internship the year before graduation were more likely to be still seeking employment six months after receiving their degree.”

To diversify your workforce, start by providing equitable opportunities through pipeline internship programs. For some organizations, this may be a fiscal challenge, but you can work with community organizations or partner institutions on grants or funding or get creative with valuable benefits for participating interns.

Set specific goals for targeting diverse demographics

“Diversity” is a buzz word and—at face value—applies to every single person. Every individual is different from one another and may bring a diverse perspective or piece of their identity to the workplace.

Instead of setting your recruitment goals for diversity at large, communicate the value you are seeking specifically from targeting candidates who identify as people of color, LGBTQA+, female, someone with a disability, veteran, international, and/or other historically marginalized populations. Be prepared to present customized information for the demographic(s) you are recruiting for and leverage colleagues and leaders in the organization sharing those identities when recruiting.

Stages of Inclusion*

Many assessments will provide a categorization of where an organization is after they complete their assessment. Having this organizational awareness and accepting it allows the group to begin to plan for actual change and identify areas of growth.

Prior to completing an organizational assessment, explore this sample of different stages of inclusion* of how an organizational assessment could relate to intercultural competencies and see if you can self-assess where your group could be. Don’t be surprised, however, if your initial reaction places your group at a higher stage than the assessment indicates. It is often common to have a view of your organization as being further advanced than it might actually be. That will inform the work that needs to be done.

1. Conventional (Stage 1): The primary view of an organization in this stage is that only those who fit into the traditional norms and values will succeed
2. Defensive (Stage 2): The leadership understands that the organization must work to make others feel included but continue to resist changing the culture
3. Ambivalent (Stage 3): The Ambivalent stage is present when historically excluded group members represent 15% to 25% of the institution’s population and diversity best practices are being put into place to include them
4. Egalitarian (Stage 4): Cultural differences are embraced yet there is resistance against putting efforts into make further changes to create a level playing field
5. Integrative (Stage 5): The high performing organization actively includes and utilizes the wide range of skills and perspectives of its identity groups. There is fairness and equity in the organization that promotes diversity with little effort

*Adapted from DTUI.com, a paid resource

Paid Resources

There are also paid options to consider if your organization is looking for more comprehensive results and help crafting an action plan. These are just a sampling of a few of the assessment tools and consultants that exist to help your organization evaluate your current diversity, equity, and inclusion processes.

Boston Area Diversity Consultants

• Diversity @ Workplace Consultants
  Diversity @ Workplace focuses on all aspects of talent—recruiting, learning and development, succession planning, performance management, and associate engagement—to the Diversity & Inclusion work in your organization for a holistic talent strategy, goal setting, and programming. Clients include pharma, finance (banking institutions and accounting firms), academia (colleges and universities), tech, law, sports, and nonprofit. Su Joun Principal.
• IBIS Consulting Group
  The IBIS Consulting Group offers a wide range of creative options for advancing Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) and mitigating Unconscious Bias. Since 1987, IBIS has used a collaborative, results-oriented approach to guide hundreds of organizations through successful workplace diversity initiatives, improving individual and organizational performance by leveraging the potential of D&I. A recognized leader in the field of D&I consulting, assessments, and trainings, IBIS has clients in all sectors and sizes, from Fortune 100 companies to innovative start-ups to university systems. IBIS is certified as a woman and minority owned business.
• The Partnership, Inc.
  The Partnership, Inc. has been helping organizations build racially and ethnically diverse talent pipelines for 30+ years. Based in Boston, they provide consulting services and customized resources to improve organizational performance and build top multicultural talent pipelines from entry-level to C-suite executives.

National Resources

• Team Dynamics^©
  Team Dynamics is a People of Color, Woman, and LGBTQ+-owned company focused on helping leaders and workplaces live up to their potential through intentional and meaningful culture change. Their work is centered on racial equity leadership development. They offer a number of services for a strategic approach to culture change and have free resources available to get you started.
• Globesmart^® Inclusive Behaviors InventorySM (IBI)
  Designed with a global lens on inclusion, the IBI offers a seamless roll out to employees at all levels, across the globe. Translated into 7 languages with concepts that are easy to grasp, learners will quickly begin modeling inclusive behaviors at work.

These are just a sampling of a few of the assessment tools and consultants that exist to help your organization evaluate your current diversity, equity, and inclusion processes.