Jana Haounji | Entrepreneur | December 6, 2021
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace require leadership commitment, established policies, concrete plans, and middle-management’s buy in.
If you ever thought that attracting and retaining talents before the COVID-19 pandemic was difficult, brace yourself- the real war for talent is about to begin.
The phrase “war for talent” was initially coined by McKinsey & Co. in the early 1990s, when the global demand for workers exceeded the available pool in the market. People became more attracted to job hopping for better benefits and offers, and the available workforce started aging. This competition on the global scale interrupted businesses and resulted in some projects being paused/stopped until qualified talents filled the needed vacancies.
Fast forward 30 years, and the world is witnessing a new war for talent that is like nothing seen before.
In the middle of all this global turmoil, where COVID-19 reshuffled all workplace cards, where companies have to decide between hybrid or remote work, where perks, benefits, and packages are no longer appealing to the global mass, and where the need for qualified talent that is familiar with the global digital transformation has spiked like never before, one crucial hot topic has emerged once again: workplace diversity.
One might consider diversity as a not-so-new buzzword that HR professionals say à gogo, and organizations use among a set of cards when they feel a sort of heat. The truth is that, even though diversity doesn’t usually make it to the top priorities of an organization, the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for tech specialists, and the domination of new generations in the job market have put it at the forefront in the war for talent.
So, how can companies win the war for talents through achieving diversity in the workplace? Here’s a primer
1. Companies need to walk the talk and go beyond using diversity in cliché statements Though diversity emerged as a topic post the civil rights movement in the US, it has rarely gone beyond the cliché statements and compliance with political correctness standards that companies use to attract both clients and talents. To win the war for talent, organizations need to step up and embed diversity practices in their culture. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace require leadership commitment, established policies, concrete plans, company trainings and middle-management’s buy in. The process doesn’t happen overnight, but once rooted within, it really works.