Which Diversity Boxes Do I Need To Check In My Employer Brand?
Screenshot form Soda Stream employer brand campaign
While salary, commute time, growth opportunities, and job stability often come first, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) plays a vital role in attracting and retaining talent. The challenge for your employer brand is demonstrating genuine inclusivity, ensuring it doesn't appear as box-ticking.
Some stats about the importance of DEIB for employers:
40% report that diversity & inclusion is a top criterion when choosing an employer. (1)
32% of employees and job seekers would not apply to a job at a company where there is a lack of diversity among its workforce. (2)
18% of women leaders have quit their job in the past two years because of a lack of the organisation’s commitment to DE&I (3)
Talented individuals in general, but from minorities in particular, select companies in which they expect to feel appreciated. (4)
A Proven Recipe: The Manifesto Movie
So, you will want to show that you're a diverse and inclusive employer. Making a manifesto movie with a diverse cast of employees is a proven recipe.
As a random example, here is an 8-minute Microsoft employer video. In the first three minutes we encounter women and men from different ethnic backgrounds. One has prosthetic legs, one who was the first in their family to get a university degree, and one without a degree. We see their kids, cats and dogs. We see people praying, meditating, doing yoga and working out before starting their work day. They reflect on the state of the world, their insecurities and how they're building the future together while fulfilling their full potential.
The people and their stories are moving and authentic. But at the same time it may feel like the makers might have been ticking boxes. Or am I too cynical now? And what if you don't have 200.000 plus employees to choose an articulate and well-balanced ensemble from?
Should I Tick A Matrix Of Checkboxes?
Do you really need a multi-dimensional matrix of checkboxes, covering genders, ethnicities, ages, sexual orientations and abilities to show that you're an inclusive employer?
No you don't. You can explicitly show diversity - risking the checking-boxes effect - but you can also implicitly show diversity. Here is an acclaimed 2018 employer brand movie from Soda Stream. It is fun, it is bold, and it focuses on the company's values. At the end of the film, the CEO mentions casually that everyone is welcome, while a super diverse crowd of employees join in.
As a sidenote: This movie is 5 years old, but it feels like from another era than Microsoft's video. The Soda Stream movie is about purpose, ambition and work-culture, rather than individual needs like hybrid work, mental health and self-care, which became common during COVID. I wonder how employer brand messaging will evolve now that companies push people to return to the office.
Don't Shoehorn Everyone In, Question The Norms
The perfect inclusive world is not one with as many women as men in construction, and as many men as women in nursing. The perfect world is one where everyone can participate and use their talents, without unnecessary physical, psychological or social barriers just because they are different from the imagined norm.
Photo by Mikael Blomkvist
If you can't show a full spectrum of diversity in a certain job, you should emphasise that there are no unnecessary barriers. You can do that by showing people who defy preconceptions.
I worked on a recruitment campaign for warehouse workers for a multinational company. One of the preconceptions about warehouse work is that it is for young, strong and fit men. The campaign was shot with real employees and since this company is inclusive it featured diverse people picking, packing, sorting, and moving carts.
Before the campaign was launched we pre-tested it with blue-collar workers. We Showed the video and asked for feedback:
Researcher: “What are your first thoughts seeing this”
Respondent: “Everyone is welcome here”
Researcher: “How do you know?”
Respondent: “I saw an older man, a guy covered in tattoos, a heavier person and a woman of color."
So these four cues, these four non-typical warehouse workers signaled that everyone was welcome there as they are.
Think Of All The Diversities
Photo by Jason Leung
Diversity in employer branding often focuses on gender and ethnicity. Larger employers may also include persons with disabilities.
But age is another crucial topic. There are currently four generations on the workfloor. Fourty-five year olds are only half way through their careers. Yet most employers signal "young and dynamic" in visuals and text, because old is associated with being slow, inflexible and technophobic. Showing stereotype-free age is another opportunity to show you're an inclusive company.
Another form of diversity is language proficiency. A client asked us to analyse job descriptions for unskilled blue-collar jobs. The analysis revealed that they were written in such complex language that you would need the highest language proficiency level to read them. This was the case not only in the job descriptions, but throughout the entire employee acquisition journey. With inclusive language and an inclusive user experience, you're removing another barrier.
Campaigns Don't Matter As Much As Reality
Image by Nick Fewings
Word of mouth is still the most influential form of communication to attract talent. If your employer brand campaign doesn't match workfloor practices, people will tell each other and post it on job sites.
Also your product brand and employer brand influence each other. This poses some risks for multinational companies. They may launch a global inclusive product campaign, while local work practices may be less inclusive. This reflects badly on the whole brand.
In Conclusion
Do you explicitly need to show a full spectrum of different diversity dimensions in your employer brand campaigns? No, you don't. But you need to show that you're questioning the norm. In your campaigns and on the workfloor.
Sources
Global Employer Brand Study, Randstad, 2022
Glassdoor, Glassdoor’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey, USA, 2020
Women in the Workplace 2022, McKinsey, USA, Oct 2022
The 3 Types of Diversity That Shape Our Identities, HBR, 2018