On this International Women’s Day, let’s recommit ourselves to inspiring inclusion for women by creating better working environments, where everyone feels included, respected, and empowered to reach their full potential.

While this celebration takes place annually, IWD recognizes the focus of its efforts must occur year-round and requires a commitment of people and companies working together to promote the advancement of women daily.

As a woman, a mother, a wife, and a member of the labor force, I am thrilled to be part of this year’s celebration. I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the challenges we face collectively and the steps we can take to support women and advance their outlook in organizations today. Let’s first take a look at the participation of women in the U.S. labor market.

Looking at the state of women in the workplace

When the pandemic struck, more than two million women dropped out of the labor force virtually overnight. Now, four years later, the number of women working has almost fully recovered. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the labor force participation rate of women is 57.5% as of January 2024, back to pre-pandemic levels.

While this represents a positive step for companies and working women everywhere, the fragility of women’s participation in the workforce was on full display, and the gains over the past 50 years were eliminated almost instantly.

So, what can employers do to move toward greater inclusion and support of women in the global workforce?

In the spirit of International Women’s Day, let’s strive for greater opportunities that support women where they are. Here are three areas where organizations can take specific actions to achieve greater inclusion and equity for women from all walks of life.

How to effectively support women in your organization

#1: Recognize the care burden

A friend of mine once said women today are expected to work like they have no caregiving responsibilities and to serve as caregivers like they have no work. This paradox represents the reality many women are facing today.

As a woman in the workforce, I have experienced first-hand the challenges of being a caregiver to children, once being forced to reduce my own work from full-time to part-time to keep up with the demands of both roles.

According to the Fidelity Investments American Caregivers Study, female caregivers who are also employed either full or part-time spend an average of 36.2 hours each week on caregiving, 35% more than men.

The same is true in caregiving for adults. Women are the predominant caregivers for the elderly, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, accounting globally for between 57% to upwards of 80% of all caregiving for the elderly.

And according to the same Fidelity Investments Study, this had a great impact on a caregiver’s ability to work. Thirty-three percent permanently lost or reduced their source of work income, and 24% fear this may be a long-term solution.

Understanding that the burden of caring for others is real to women and has a tangible impact on them is the first step toward greater equity — not only within companies today, but in overall society.

#2: Provide flexible work and supportive programs

Addressing the burden that falls on women starts by creating a culture of inclusivity, flexibility, and accommodation.

First, in relation to the caregiver burden, organizations can actively establish — and promote — flexible work hours, supportive leave policies, remote and hybrid work options, mental health services, counseling, and other employee assistance programs that directly affirm women in their roles and achieve greater equity.

The Fidelity study further reported that “64% of working caregivers said they had not asked their employer whether specific benefits or flexible work options were available,” but of that 36% who did ask, “61% reported their employer was willing to work to accommodate their needs.”

This indicates the importance of actively having conversations and promoting these programs visibly within the organization.

Second, ensure that your company takes an active role in developing and promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging initiatives.

According to Employ data, 45% of workers want their employer to have an active voice in moral and social justice conversations. Nearly two in five (38%) would turn down a job offer if the company lacked diversity in its workforce or had no clear goals for improving diversity.

Create a welcoming environment that is inclusive for all walks of life — from age, race, sex, gender, religious affiliation, parental status, disability status, military status, and neurodivergence. Also, create opportunities for women in underrepresented sectors.

Lean In reports that in 2023, one in five women indicated they were often the only woman or one of the only women in the room at work, and this is twice as common for senior-level women and women in technical roles.

It’s time for employers to actively address the lack women in these roles, and at the same time, to address the tangible pay gap that exists for equal roles. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, women earn just 82 cents for every dollar a man earns.

Creating an environment where women feel welcome, supported, and recognized for their contributions both within the organization — and outside of work — will pay dividends for employee engagement, loyalty, productivity, and innovation.

#3: End the employment gap bias

One inherent bias that exists for employers today is generalizing employment history gaps for those individuals seeking work. Long gaps in work service are seen as negative to organizations and may blind them to potential talent who were fulfilling home or familial obligations in a system that does not support caregivers.

The Fidelity Investments Study found that 33% of caregivers permanently lost or reduced their source of income and, on average, women spend 3.6 years longer than men providing care for their loved ones.

This is the point at which the gap in work history becomes much harder to overcome. In fact, one study suggests interview chances significantly decreased for applicants with work gaps of three or more years.

For women wanting to re-enter the workforce, particularly after a long pause, organizations must proactively support hiring women despite longer career breaks.

They should advocate for systems and structures that support the demands placed on women and demonstrate their commitment to the value women add to the workforce.

Let’s celebrate today, then get to work

International Women’s Day offers the moment organizations need to rally together, showcase the achievements of women, and support them in their efforts to create a more accepting, welcoming, and progressive workplace.

Let’s dig in and do the work together. Let’s see employers inspire inclusion by providing opportunities that support women in their jobs and in their lives.

The post Inspiring Inclusion for International Women’s Day first appeared on Jobvite.

An internal recruitment process isn’t just a nice-to-have for your enterprise. It’s an invaluable talent acquisition approach that leads to net benefits for both your workforce and business at large:

• Your employees can take advantage of career-pathing and mobility opportunities to move laterally or upward into positions that align with where they want to advance professionally.
• Your company (specifically, your talent acquisition team) can spend less time scouring the candidate “marketplace” for external leads and instead simply advance and promote existing full-time team members who are good fits for existing and upcoming job openings.

The question for your org isn’t “Should we focus on hiring internally or externally”? Rather, it’s “How can we best leverage internal recruitment to alleviate pressure on TA and realize our growth goals?”

Common types of internal recruiting approaches

Let’s get the bare-bones definition out of the way. Internal recruiting is the process of filling open roles across your business with current members of your workforce. (Fairly obvious, right?).

Where many large-scale employers get tripped up with leveraging this recruiting approach, though, is understanding the various nuanced approaches to internal hiring. In short, there are a few popular methods for conducting an internal recruitment strategy. These include, but are not limited to:

• Internal job boards: These are dedicated platforms for disseminating open positions within the organization, including the specific job description created for said roles.
• Job postings on the company intranet: Whereas an internal job board is a filterable” way for employees to scan job openings, your intranet (or wiki) can also act as a digital channel on which you can share news about available roles and what managers are looking for in new reports.
• Employee referrals: More specifically, we mean referrals from people managers and departmental leaders who oversee employees, can attest to their growth within the company, and can vouch for them in terms of recommending them for another position across the org. (Even a promotion.)

Regardless of the method you implement, your talent team must regularly speak with hiring managers and HR team members to identify qualified internal candidates whose skill sets and overall expertise could translate into new roles on our outside their current team is essential.

(Ideally, using an advanced ATS with built-in internal mobility capabilities for evaluating employees.)

That is, you can host formal monthly meetings in which you collectively assess employees’ strengths, weaknesses, and career aspirations to boost your odds of a successful placement for open roles.

5 notable advantages of internal recruitment

An internal recruitment strategy not only taps into the top talent already in your existing workforce but also contributes to worker retention and satisfaction. Let’s dive into some of the key benefits.

1) Save time and money

When you focus on filling open positions with existing members of your workforce, you can cut down on the need for costly job ads and postings on external platforms and simply look in-house.

Hiring from within often reduces the average recruitment process time, as internal candidates are more familiar with their org’s culture, processes, and business objectives.

What’s more, employees who are promoted or transferred within your company typically require less onboarding and training than external candidates, leading to faster “time to productivity” in their new roles. (Not to mention you don’t need to spend a week or so conducting new-hire background checks.)

2) Better retention rates

Internal mobility is directly linked to better employee retention rates. Why? Mainly, because it demonstrates to employees they have opportunities for career growth and development.

This sense of internal progression and encouragement by management often leads to increased job satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately reducing the need for costly external recruitment processes.

By actively promoting from within — and ensuring diverse talent is fairly considered for more impactful and higher-paying positions — you cultivate a more motivated and committed workforce.

The Great Resignation may be (finally) over. However, your employees are much more likely to leave your org and look elsewhere for work, if internal recruitment and mobility isn’t made a top priority.

3) Preservation of culture

Another pro of prioritizing internal recruitment? You ensure your organizational culture is preserved. That’s because existing employees are already familiar with your values and working environment.

Integrating new hires poses the inherent risk of disrupting your existing culture. Sure, your TA team works hard to find “good-fit” candidates who can fit in well with colleagues. But, this isn’t always a guarantee. Internal promotions and transfers help maintain continuity, in a way, culture-wise.

4) Reduced onboarding time

Internal hires already possess the required skills, company knowledge, and work experience that external candidates may lack. When recruiting externally, the process of onboarding a new employee can often take a lot of time. (Time that could be spent hitting the ground running in their new roles.)

External hires also require extensive training, guidance, and support from onboarding “buddies” and managers. That’s because they must familiarize themselves with your culture, values, and systems.

With internal recruitment, your current employees are already up to speed with the company’s inner-workings. They necessitate less hand-holding and supervision and have more autonomy to get going.

5) Achieve workforce planning goals

Internal recruitment is closely linked to workforce planning, with both strategies complementing each other. How? They both ensure your business remains agile and prepared for the future.

A carefully implemented internal recruiting strategy can play a vital role in succession planning, reducing talent gaps, and quickly upskilling and reskilling employees to prepare for upcoming needs.

Tapping into internal talent pipelines minimizes the potential talent gaps and aids talent acquisition teams by providing a smaller set of candidates who are known entities within the org.

Moreover, this well-oiled internal hiring mechanism allows for the seamless transition of employees into new roles. In turn, this decreases the time spent on searching for and integrating external hires.

Want to learn how Jobvite can help you thrive in today’s hiring landscape? Schedule a demo to learn how our powerful enterprise ATS can strengthen your internal recruiting strategy.

The post The Many Advantages of Internal Recruitment for Employers first appeared on Jobvite.

Whether you’re a CHRO, talent leader, recruiter, or other business stakeholder, you can play a pivotal role in ensuring your org attracts and retains the diverse talent it needs to thrive.

The trick is knowing how to get your first DEI initiative in the workplace up and running.

5 tips to kickstart your first DEI initiative

The good news is it’s not a one-person task. Rather, everyone interested in creating a safe and more inclusive work environment — from C-suite members to entry-level employees — can work in tandem to establish goals, execute on the agreed-upon plan, and assess success over time.

Here are five best practices to follow when establishing your initial DEI initiatives.

1) Set DEI goals and identify underrepresented groups

To begin, examine your current workforce composition and identify underrepresented groups. This will enable you to set meaningful DEI goals that reflect the specific needs of your org.

For example, you might choose targets relating to increased gender diversity in leadership positions or improved representation of people from ethnic and other minority backgrounds.

If one of your goals is to hire 50% more black female engineers, assess your talent database to gauge existing prospects that align with this particular demographic. If the total number of these candidates is low, that means switching up sourcing to more diverse communities (online and offline) is likely your first step to achieve said goal.

As for existing diverse members of your workforce, empower these employees by helping them form employee resource groups (ERGs): communities where they can meet with similar backgrounds and experiences can share ideas and advocate for DEI goals.

Working with your DEI committee and employees with interest to create these groups can provide valuable feedback, insights, and ideas to drive diversity within the org and contribute to an inclusive company culture.

2) Engage stakeholders to incorporate them in decision-making

To ensure the success of your DEI initiatives, it’s essential to involve key stakeholders from across the org. This includes not only HR pros and recruiters, but also senior leaders, managers, and entry- and mid-level employees.

Each of these individuals can all play a vital role in championing diversity and inclusion in the workplace by bringing their own unique views, opinions, and ideas.

This can range from more equitable advancement opportunities, the intro of mentorship programs, or simply greater representation of historically marginalized groups.

Just ensure that your C-suite is not only committed to seeing each of these respective DEI initiates through, but also that they are visible and vocal in driving these efforts.

About three-quarters (77%) of “leaders” in terms of DEI program success have visible support from execs, a recent Harvard Business Review and SHRM survey found. That compares to just one-third (34%) of DEI “laggards.”

3) Modify your hiring practices to better reach diverse candidates

Transform your hiring practices to remove barriers faced by diverse candidates. This might involve using more inclusive language in job descriptions, offering flexible working arrangements, or introducing blind recruitment to minimize unconscious bias.

Also, build relationships with community orgs to tap into underrepresented groups and reach out to professional networks and social media groups that cater to diverse demographics.

Attracting and retaining diverse talent requires altering your recruitment strategies from a long-term perspective. Diversifying job boards, partnering with diversity-focused entities, and showcasing company culture through public-facing channels can help in reaching out to diverse candidates.

4) Implement dedicated DEI training and inclusion programs

Diversity training is a crucial element of any effective DEI strategy, helping employees to understand and challenge any ingrained prejudices they might hold. However, it’s essential that this training is engaging, interactive, and tailored to the specific needs of your workforce.

Also, consider introducing targeted interventions to support employees from underrepresented groups, such as mentoring, coaching, and leadership development programs.

Specific topics to cover in your diversity training as part of your DEI initiative include educating your workforce about unconscious bias, micro-aggressions, and inclusive language.

5) Measure the success of your DEI efforts

“One of the most important aspects of creating inclusive organizations is about measurement,” Evolution Managing Partner Stuart McCalla told CIO. “Numbers don’t lie.”

Track your DEI efforts by gathering and analyzing data on your org’s core diversity metrics in a centralized location. Then, use this data to set measurable milestones and evaluate progress over time.

Key metrics worth monitoring include:

Demographics (including by department)

Collect data on race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, and disability status. This will help you identify any gaps with building a more diverse workforce and help you prioritize focus areas for your DEI initiatives. To gauge representation ask:

• What is the demographic makeup of this in leadership positions?
• Do certain teams lack i diversity (in general or a specific group)?
• Are sourcers reaching diverse populations of qualified candidates?
• How many diverse prospects advance far in our overall pipeline?

Tracking representation data will help you pinpoint areas that need improvement.

Employee engagement and satisfaction

A key factor in retention is ensuring all employees are satisfied with their jobs and managers and highly engaged in the company culture. A sense of belonging and purpose goes a long way in retaining top-performing employees.

With that in mind, survey your workforce regularly to gauge their perceptions of your DEI initiatives.

At the end of the day, each DEI initiative you enact is about creating a culture of psychological safety in which every employee feels valued, respected, and heard.

Routinely securing feedback from employees can provide valuable insight into the effectiveness of your distinct diversity, equity, and inclusion-centric programs.

Career mobility and advancement

Growth opportunities and upward mobility are critical components of an inclusive workplace. Scrutinize data tied to promotions and pay increases across demographics to ensure that every worker at your org has equal opportunities for professional development and advancement.

Pay equity is crucial for ensuring all employees are compensated fairly. Tracking this metric monthly can tell you if your org is meeting its goals when it comes to providing equal pay for equal work.

Unfortunately, disparities in pay for minority groups still exist, even in the most well-intentioned companies. Thus, placing an emphasis on improving pay equity on an ongoing basis must a top priority.

A major focal point of many DEI initiatives today is to improve diversity hiring. Learn how your talent team can better source, engage, and hire diverse candidates with Jobvite.

The post How to Get Your DEI Initiatives Off the Ground first appeared on Jobvite.