Bringing Diversity to Your Company

Savvy companies realize in order to build a business that truly appeals to top talent, they must be committed to diversity. This means doing more than posting a line on your website that says you promote diversity – you must follow through.

Diverse Teams Are Winning Teams

When it comes to diversity, your team only stands to win when you fully commit. Cultivating a group of talented people who come from diverse backgrounds and have different perspectives are more engaged, innovative and creative. Diversity also brings you the benefit of:

• Better decision-making: In diverse groups, everyone has unique strengths and weaknesses and unique ideas. This forces more in-depth discussion when it comes to decisions, and individuals are less likely to simply go along to get along.
• Innovation: Diverse teams are more likely to innovate thanks to a variety of perspectives and knowledge. If everyone thinks and acts the same way, it’s difficult to come up with ideas and try new things.
• Adaptability: Homogenous teams quickly fall into routines. When something disrupts that routine, it is difficult for them to adapt and adjust quickly. Diverse teams are much more flexible and can respond better to challenges.

Recruiting for Diversity

Hiring for diversity is tricky. You never want to fall into the trap of implementing quotas. Instead, diversity must be organic. You can attract a more diverse candidate pool by focusing on hiring for culture add, not just culture fit. Culture fit is important because you need people who align with the company mission and vision, but if you take it one step further and hire for culture add, you’re less likely to hire a workforce of people from similar backgrounds and experiences. Look for traits in talented candidates that will add another dimension to your culture, rather than simply assimilating into it.

Step outside your comfort zone in your recruiting tactics and try new things. You can’t expect to attract different types of people if you keep recruiting in the same way. You can remove unintentional bias by removing all personal identifiers from candidate’s applications and adding new people to hiring teams who bring a fresh perspective to the process.

Are You Building a Diverse Workforce?

Improving diversity in your workplace sounds simple, but it can take years to see value-add from an internal push. If you really want to hire with diversity in mind and attract the best and brightest, put an expert on your side.

Contemporaries Inc. is one of the leading staffing firms in Boston. We are focused on continually building a pipeline of the best and brightest talent in the market, and we match our clients with people who will add value. Our team-based approach to hiring ensures you will connect with the talent you need, and you have access to our entire, deep pool of top talent from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

If you are committed to diversity and you are ready to partner with a true recruiting expert, contact Contemporaries Inc. today.