Beamery and Greenhouse release state of diversity 2017 report

2 mins, 30 secs read time

According to a PwC survey, 85% of CEOs whose companies have a formal diversity strategy said it has improved their bottom line and leads to a happier, healthier work environment.

Well, OK—but ever wonder how these companies are actually approaching and recruiting for diversity? How highly do they prioritize diversity? What are the most common roadblocks on the path to building a diverse workforce? And what methods are recruiters most often relying on to increase diversity?

If you've asked yourself these questions, today’s your lucky day. Greenhouse and Beamery collaborated to provide answers in the State of Diversity 2017 report. We surveyed over 300 talent acquisition professionals to benchmark and learn about companies’ challenges and successes when implementing workplace diversity strategies.

The report addresses topics ranging from how organizations are prioritizing diversity, tracking diversity and creating targets, to the most widely-used recruiting tactics for expanding diversity. Additionally, Tony Park, VP of People Operations at Chariot, offers insight into how his recruiting team is focusing on diversity in 2017.

Here are three key insights from the Greenhouse and Beamery report:

The diversity disconnect: There’s a mismatch between priorities and action

While over half of survey respondents said diversity was a high priority at their organization, only 33% reported offering diversity training to recruiters, whose roles and decisions directly impact diversity. This suggests there may be a lack of action around the priority, despite diversity being considered highly important.

The main obstacle to meeting diversity objectives is finding relevant candidates

As recruiting becomes more competitive and companies go after the same talent, 56% of companies report their biggest challenge in meeting diversity goals is finding candidates that are the the right fit for a job.

Companies will rely on more proactive tactics to overcome challenges

When asked how they were planning to address challenges like finding the right candidate in 2017, 45% of respondents favored proactive recruiting strategies like talent pipelining and sourcing.

In the report, Tony sheds light on a few ways his own team at Chariot is trying to improve the level of diversity in their pipeline by frequently checking in on diversity goals during the recruitment process.

“We use metrics to track our recruiting efforts, so I review the data and make sure that daily, we’re making progress to increase diversity in our in pipeline. One thing I do is review final candidates for a role with the recruiter and ask ourselves if we have met the challenge of building a diverse team,” he says.

Are you or your team focused on increasing workplace diversity at your organization? Download the State of Diversity report here to learn more about how other recruiters and talent acquisition professionals are increasing diversity at their companies.