istock
By Chris Warren
You could be excused for thinking that 2023 was a terrible year for diversity hiring specifically, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) overall. In February, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a memo calling for state agencies to jettison DEI initiatives, following a similar effort in Florida.
Later in the year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that declared affirmative action admissions practices at Harvard College and the University of North Carolina to be unconstitutional. Though not directly applicable to diversity hiring in the business world, many employers worried about the decision’s impact on their DEI programs and targets.
While these high-profile setbacks injected confusion and uncertainty into company efforts to improve their economic performance by hiring a more diverse workforce, the reality is that diversity hiring and DEI remain a high priority for employers — and will likely become even more important as companies jockey for the talent they need to remain competitive. In one example of the ongoing corporate commitment to diversity: 82 corporations and business groups signed amicus briefs supporting the position of Harvard and UNC in the Supreme Court case.
The underlying commitment to diversity hiring is just smart business. Indeed, organizations that rank in the top quartile for gender diversity and ethnic diversity have a 25 percent and 36 percent likelihood, respectively, of outperforming peer companies. Diverse companies also have a 2.5 times greater cash flow per employee compared to less diverse companies.
The competitive advantage businesses gain by hiring employees who bring a range of life experiences and perspectives to guide corporate decisions and product development means that companies will continue to pursue diversity hiring. But it’s also reasonable to expect that company approaches to diversity hiring and DEI will evolve. In many ways, this evolution is both a sign of maturity and a good indication of how serious many companies are about securing the benefits of a diverse workforce.
“DEI won’t disappear; it will become more embedded in the way we work,” concluded the authors of a story about 2024 workplace trends in the Harvard Business Review. Indeed, the authors argue that DEI efforts have largely been siloed within corporations, not integrated into the metrics and decisions that company leaders care about. “When companies expect enterprise-wide results without enterprise-wide ownership and accountability, it results in unfair expectations for DEI programs and disappointment in DEI outcomes,” wrote the authors.
There are many reasons why diversity hiring and DEI targets and accountability are being hardwired into companies. Besides the acknowledgement that diverse workforces are good for business, companies are also facing intense competition for talent. With unemployment low and emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) creating challenges and opportunities for companies, it has never been more vital to build a pipeline of workers with STEM skills and experience. Translated, that means it’s best to ignore the negative headlines and remember that employers need you more than ever.