Best Practices for Hiring to Create a Diverse and Inclusive Workforce

The business benefits of creating a diverse and inclusive team of employers are well-known. By embracing diversity, companies gain fresh perspectives, reinforce their company culture, expand their talent pool, and promote creativity and innovation. Who wouldn’t want that? But the motivation to diversify your team should not just stem from aspirations of rapid growth—it’s also exactly what the new generation of job seekers is looking for—organizations that prioritize diversity and inclusivity.

That’s right—Gen Z is prioritizing businesses with a diverse team of employees more than any of their predecessors. If your company does not openly embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in its culture, you could miss out on a huge pool of talented applicants (Gen Z is expected to account for around 30% of the workforce by 2025).

Of course, DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) hiring is important—not just for its benefits to company growth and culture but also for its value to society as a whole. By investing in a hiring pipeline that strongly supports diversity and inclusion, you can simultaneously benefit your company, your people, and the people you serve. Here’s how:

1. Diversify Your Hiring Channels

Broaden your candidate pool by diversifying your recruitment channels. Traditionally, interviewing processes have been designed to attract the same types of candidates, often utilizing the same online job boards or local schools for job fairs. By expanding your hiring channels, you can break down barriers for underrepresented individuals. Recruiting from a wider range of educational institutions is a great place to start. Additionally, offering both in-person and virtual interview options can better support individuals with caregiving responsibilities, people of color, and those with disabilities. An easy way to expand your hiring channels is to move beyond standard platforms like Linkedin and Indeed .

By expanding your recruitment channels and posting to job sites that prioritize diversity, you can uphold your commitment to creating a thriving workplace that emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion. This can also look like writing inclusive job descriptions—using language that is free from gender-based terms and complex industry jargon, ensuring that the job requirements and responsibilities are clear and accessible to all potential candidates.

2. Create Clear Career Paths

When it comes to DEI in the workplace, transparency is a crucial step. The organizations that succeed in bringing up diverse talent are the ones that are unmistakably clear about their hiring and promoting process, how it works, and who can benefit from it. It’s important for every employee to understand how they can progress from entry-level roles to higher levels and leadership positions within the organization. This way, individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of color, gender, or ability, have an equal opportunity to advance within the company.

Clear pathways to success are not the only important factor for internal mobility; consistent, clear communication from leadership is equally critical. According to Bain & Company, a survey of more than 500 companies indicated that only 28% communicate pathways for promotions and salary increases to their employees. Rather than solely relying on job boards or “top candidates” when new opportunities arise, managers should consistently communicate about upcoming roles within the company—including information on what the role will entail and how anyone who’s interested can be considered for the opportunity.

If you want to foster greater diversity in your organization, start by promoting individuals of all backgrounds, first, from within.

3. Remove Barriers to Entry for Disadvantaged Workers

Statistically, women and people of color prefer to interview virtually. Virtual interviewing tends to accommodate these groups, enabling them to participate regardless of their location, especially for those who may live in areas with limited job opportunities. Virtual interviews also benefit women with caregiving responsibilities, as they offer flexible scheduling options. To eliminate barriers and promote inclusivity, consider offering accessible interview locations, providing materials in alternative formats, and allowing additional time for assessments to those who need it.

4. Strive to Make Inclusion Part of Your Brand

As DEI becomes increasingly important in the workplace, it’s getting harder for brands to hide their commitment to diversity from their applicants. Gen Z, in particular, keeps a keen eye on a company's practices—paying close attention to its language, social media presence, and employee opinions on platforms like Glassdoor or Twitter. Therefore, by engaging actively and genuinely in initiatives such as International Women's Day, Juneteenth, and other celebrations against discrimination, your organization can speak volumes to potential candidates. Companies like EventBrite, for example, demonstrate this by showcasing employee success stories and career advancements through social media. This provides real examples of diversity in the organization and how candidates have thrived in their environment.

5. Measure and Keep Track of DEI Data

Cultivating the integration of an effective DEI strategy in your organization starts by taking a comprehensive look at your current values, processes, and practices, including recruitment and hiring, talent development and retention, compensation and performance evaluation, and more.

Without a complete understanding of your current diversity and inclusion status, tracking diversity within your company becomes challenging. It’s important to establish metrics that align with your aspirations and develop strategies to achieve them. Simply tracking diverse hires, however, is not enough—and does not align with inclusive practices. A true commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) means committing to the overall success of all groups in your organization. Track hires from their point of entry and throughout the growth process. Once you have a clear snapshot of this, strategize ways to promote internal growth, paving the way for advancement to higher-level positions for people of all backgrounds.

At LHH, our mission is to achieve a continuously evolving work environment in which all individuals feel valued, supported, and respected. Contact an LHH expert today to learn more about how we can help you achieve your own DEI ambitions.