“Companies often treat recruiting diverse people as compliance or risk mitigation, rather than a business opportunity,” says Art Hopkins, a consultant at executive search and leadership advisory firm Russell Reynolds Associates. Another issue he points out is that these same companies view hiring people who seem different from the majority of their employees as somehow lowering the bar. Having such a limiting mindset negatively impacts their ability to recruit and build a genuinely diverse workforce.
But when companies view the recruitment of people of color as a business opportunity, such inclusivity can result in a more engaged workforce. “An inclusive culture is the bedrock of a hiring process that broadens the definition of the best talent,” he explains.
The rising interest of the companies to hire black talent emerged after the death of George Floyd, 46, African- American in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020.
A lot of inquiries have come up to fill the vacancies with black employees after the “Black Lives Matter” Protest came into full force. A trend related to this makes everyone question, would it be a long-lasting change in the U.S. Companies.
The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA), and Blacks In Technology all said calls from companies looking to hire their members have “tripled” in recent weeks.
HOW PEOPLE/COMPANIES SUPPORTED “BLACK LIVES MATTER” AGENDA
ADIDAS, a sportswear giant promised in June that 30% of all new positions in the U.S. at Adidas and Reebok would be filled with Black and Latino workers over the next five years.Also, they promised to finance 50 university scholarships for black students each year over five years.
BOEING CO (BA.N) a planemaker addressed the issue by stating that it will seek to increase Black U.S. employees throughout the company by 20% and mandate benchmarks for hiring people of color.
ALPHABET’S GOOGLE said 30% of leadership positions would be filled with employees from underrepresented groups by 2025.
Executives from 27 BANKS, TECH COMPANIES, and CONSULTING FIRMS – including Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase – vowed to hire 100,000 people from low-income Black, Latino and Asian communities by 2030.
ALEXIS OHANIAN, co-founder and executive chairman of the social news website Reddit, resigned from the board to make way for the first black director in the company’s history.
BANK OF AMERICA (BOA) promised to spend $1 billion over the next four years to address “economic and racial inequality accelerated by a global pandemic.”
WALMART, the country’s largest retailer, pledged to stop locking up “multicultural” hair and beauty products in display cases.
SEPHORA committed to devoting at least 15 percent of its shelf space to black-owned beauty brands.
STARBUCKS SBUX reversed an earlier decision to prohibit workers from wearing Black Lives Matter apparel on the job, announcing that the company would be designing a new T-shirt for employees emblazoned with a dozen-plus protest sign, including “Black Lives Matter” and “No justice, no peace.”
JAMES GORMAN, chief executive of Morgan Stanley, held a conference call with some of the bank’s highest-ranking black executives and announced the promotion of two black women to positions on its operating and management committees.
Though efforts have been made to achieve racial equality in the U.S. Workforce. For how long will this change prevail. We have all known the history of how reluctant are white men to welcome a black man.