As more companies are making their workforce diversity statistics publicly available, Glassdoor, a leading jobs platform and recruiting solution, polled its community of active and passive job seekers to better understand the importance of diversity during the hiring process and during employment. The survey results underscore the value of showcasing diversity efforts when recruiting as two-thirds (67 percent) of those surveyed say a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers. The survey also provides the employee perspective on leadership diversity, and includes whether or not they think their employer is doing enough to foster employee diversity.
“Understanding what impacts jobs seekers when it comes to diversity is key to building an effective employer brand,” said Mariah DeLeon, Glassdoor vice president of human resources. “However, your efforts to highlight diversity during the recruiting process must match your efforts to maintain a satisfied and diverse workforce. Your voice to recruits detailing your diversity efforts must mirror and promote the voice of employees who are key to showing how the workforce is comprised.”
When it comes to the recruiting process, minority groups value diversity even more than the average job seeker. Seventy-two percent of women surveyed say that a diverse workforce is important when evaluating companies and job offers, along with 89 percent of black respondents, 80 percent of Asians, and 70 percent of Latinos. Military veterans also care about workforce diversity, with 65 percent reporting that they consider it an important factor during the job search process.
When asked who is in the best position to increase diversity in their company’s workforce, the top three responses were: hiring managers at 45 percent, the CEO at 42 percent, and human resources departments at 40 percent. Interestingly, 23 percent said employees themselves were responsible for increasing diversity, reinforcing the importance of employees as ambassadors of a company’s brand. One in five (21 percent) said a company’s board of directors was responsible while three percent said President Obama was responsible.
On the employee side, more than half (57 percent) of respondents think their employer should be doing more to increase the diversity of its workforce. And nearly one in three (31 percent) of those surveyed are aware of initiatives to increase diversity at their company. It is interesting to note, however, diversity initiatives may be reaching the right audiences internally, as non-white employees are more likely to be aware. Of those surveyed, more than half (51 percent) of Asians, 40 percent of Latinos, and 38 percent of black respondents, versus only 28 percent of white respondents reported awareness of diversity initiatives.
When it comes to leadership diversity, the survey showed that two in five people (41 percent) do not think their company has a diverse executive team. The overwhelming majority (89 percent) said that their company’s executive team included men, and more than three-fourths (78 percent) also indicated that their executive teams include white executives. On a slightly positive note, nearly two out of three (65 percent) report there are women on their executive team. Less than one in five (17 percent) reported there are military veterans on their executive team. And, one in 10 reported that there are LGBT members on their executive team.
The Glassdoor survey also evaluated diversity among direct managers and found more than half (57 percent) said their direct supervisor is male. When we break down the data by gender, we found more than half of women (51 percent) work for a woman, while less than 1 in 3 (31 percent) men work for a woman.
To learn more about how Glassdoor can help build effective diversity hiring campaigns, visit http://employers.glassdoor.com/. To claim your employer profile and share details about your workplace for free, register for a free employer account.