Building a Diverse and Inclusive Employer Brand: Best Practices for Attracting Top Talent

“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”– Jeff Bezos.

Managing your employer brand is undoubtedly one of the most crucial business functions in today’s highly competitive market. The truth is you cannot underestimate the value of building an employer brand. But what is the reason behind it? Well! Present-day job seekers are go-getters and would gladly accept job offers from a company with an excellent reputation, even without a salary increase. So, to summarise, employer branding does it all.

Promoting company culture and employee experiences through videos across your social media platforms isn’t equivalent to employer branding. It is way beyond and includes adopting the best practices to attract top talent. And the only way to do that is by incorporating diversity and inclusion in employer branding.

Benefits of Building a Diverse & Inclusive Employer Brand

A diverse and inclusive employer brand is one that is welcoming and supportive of people from all backgrounds. It is a brand that is committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected.

There are many benefits to building a diverse and inclusive employer brand.

1. First, it can help you attract top talent. Studies have shown that diverse and inclusive workplaces are more attractive to job seekers. 
2. Second, it can help you improve employee engagement and productivity. When employees feel valued and respected, they are more likely to be engaged in their work and productive. 
3. Third, it can help you build a stronger brand reputation.

A diverse and inclusive employer brand is seen as more progressive and forward-thinking, which can attract customers and partners.

Building a diverse and inclusive employer brand can feel overwhelming, and you may not know where to begin. Start with our list of best practices to reach suitable candidates and capitalise on the potential of diversity recruiting. 

RELATED POST: 5 Ways to Cultivate Inclusion in Your Organization

Best Practices to Build a Diverse Brand

1. Assess your position

Your brand is how people perceive it— including your employees. So, fundamentally, it must matter to you whether or not your employees view the organisation as diverse and inclusive. 

Build a two-way communication channel, seek your people’s opinions, and determine how they see the company. This will ensure your success in weeding out biases and improving the employee experience with a diverse and inclusive culture. 

2. Rethink employer branding

Employers view employer branding as a short-term activity that will reap benefits for years. However, a never-ending process must find its place in every business function. 

The creation of a diverse and inclusive employer brand is about prioritising diversity, equity, and inclusion principles across the organisation. You can start with clearly communicating with the candidates, hiring & salary decisions, and growth opportunities.

3. Start with your values and set clear goals

What do you value as an organization? Once you know your values, you can start to create an employer brand that reflects those values.

What do you want to achieve with your diversity and inclusion efforts? Do you want to increase the representation of women and minorities in your workforce? Do you want to create a more inclusive workplace culture? Once you know your goals, you can start to develop strategies to achieve them.

4. Be authentic

Developing a DE&I employer brand and maintaining the stance are different aspects. Unfortunately, multiple organisations worldwide failed to deliver DE&I commitment. Consequently, their market reputation begins to wear out and sends a negative impression on the audience’s minds. 

As a responsible organisation, you must develop a plan to back up your words and take necessary actions to improve the employee value proposition.

5. Showcase your commitment to diversity

The world needs to see your efforts to make your organisation diverse and inclusive. Therefore, you must plan to make it visible in an unambiguous manner.

Put your unique programs, benefits, and policies to display. Additionally, you can ask your employees to leave reviews on different job boards to promote diversity recruiting. 

6. Involve your employees

The most fruitful practice to build a diverse employer brand is involving your employees & stakeholders and listening to their experiences and opinions. The next step is to encourage them to become your brand ambassadors by sharing their stories and recommendations with the world.

Ultimately, you can garner their trust by instilling in them a sense of belongingness.

7. Promote collaboration between HR and marketing

The corporate landscape always has an internal debate regarding the ownership of an employer brand. Generally, HR and marketing clash to claim ownership. However, organisations like yours must do away with unnecessary differences.

To promote the DE&I employer brand, HR must work on policies to support the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Parallely, the marketing team must communicate effectively with the audience.

8. Use inclusive language  

Be mindful of your language in all communications for healthy company culture and diverse employer branding. Keep the following key points in mind:

• Use inclusive language that resonates with all readers.
• Include gender-neutral language.
• Avoid terms that are racially and culturally insensitive. 
• Create an inclusive language guide for employees to use in their communications.

9. Continuously update DE&I meaning for your organisation

DE&I meant utterly different 20 years ago and would hold a different meaning 20 years from now. So on that account, the need is to continuously learn, prepare to make policies, and update your DE&I standards with the changing times. It is important to track your progress towards your diversity and inclusion goals. This will help you see what is working and what is not.

Closing Comments

Top candidates have choices in their career journey, and won’t work with an organisation with a bad reputation. The more you reflect DE&I in your employer brand, the stronger your organisation will become in attracting top talent. Diversity and inclusion are the breathing and living elements of your organisation and can shape employee value proposition appropriately. However, creating a diverse and inclusive employer brand is more than checking a box. Building a diverse and inclusive employer brand is an ongoing process. It takes time, effort, and commitment. But it is worth it. By creating a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected, you can attract and retain top talent, improve employee engagement and productivity, and build a stronger brand reputation.

Weave DE&I into your company’s mission and create an employer brand that resonates with top talent and exhibits your commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Contact Cornerstone Global Partners (CGP) Singapore for your recruitment needs. After all, choosing the right recruitment partner can help you source the most competent candidates.