Dozens and dozens of brewers I have spoken to over the past couple of years have considered one outcome, above many possible others, as the “gold standard” of efforts to diversify their businesses–a more diverse staff. These same folks have expressed deep frustration and genuine concern about the inability to achieve this outcome. Hence, the common refrain, “we would love to hire more (fill in the blanks) but (fill in the blanks) don’t apply for our jobs.”This post takes up what I believe is the most important aspect of working toward a more diverse staff–pipeline development.
What is Pipeline Development?
The hiring pipeline is most commonly conceptualized as a funnel. Crudely, if you want something to come out of the small “potential hires” end, you need to make sure that it is going into the top of the funnel. The last couple of posts discussed goal-setting. So, I’ll start this post with a hypothetical goal related to developing the pipeline for a hypothetical business. I have recently moved to Richmond, VA (RVA), so I’ll use my new hometown as an example…and with nearly 30 breweries in town, it’s a fitting one.Goal: I want my business’s staff to be demographically representative of the city of Richmond.
Establishing the “Perfect Pipeline”
If my goal is to be representative of the city of Richmond, then I need to get a sense of the city’s current demography. Basic demographic facts about cities, counties, or metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are often available on your local economic development agency’s website. However, I tend to head to www.census.gov because of the depth of information available and the ability to customize geography down to the census tract. While there are countless demographic factors that a business might consider indexing, race/ethnicity, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, and disability status tend to be those used most frequently (note, the latter two may be difficult to find area data for). My very brief dive into the census data revealed that Richmond is a very “black and white” city. According to the census, 47.8% percent of the population is Black or African-American, 45.4% of the population is White, 3.3% of the population is mixed-race, 2.1% of the population is Asian, and all other racial groups account for less than half a percent of the population of RVA. Additionally, 6.7% of the population is of Hispanic ethnicity (these individuals can be of any race). RVA skews slightly more female than most areas, at 52.5%, and roughly 5.8% of the population are veterans. While I can certainly work to find some additional data, this is a solid start. In an ideal world, the “perfect pipeline” would be a uniform cross-section of the area’s demography. Or put another way, a perfect pipeline would be one in which a relatively representative sample of individuals would find their way into the top of my business’s hiring funnel. Problem: In all likelihood, if my hypothetical business is a brewery or cidery, my pipeline is not perfect.
Tactics for Correcting the Pipeline
With an established goal and the knowledge that my pipeline is imperfect, I need to adopt some actionable tactics to correct my pipeline. Rather than focusing on how to attract or put out “bait” for the populations I am hoping to reach, I am going to ask myself what barriers those populations might be perceiving that are keeping them from applying for my jobs. Consequently, if you have ever heard me speak in public, you have heard me beat the barriers not bait drum before. It may take time and some uncomfortable conversations to discover what these perceived barriers may be. Rest assured, knowing is worth the effort.In Richmond, when it comes to the Black population, three barriers are almost certainly in play:
- Dispropotiantaly few Black RVA residents have direct exposure to or knowledge of craft beer as a product, culture, and/or employment opportunity (Resource Barrier).
- A disproportionately high number of Black RVA residents are impoverished and may have limited transportation options. (Resource Barrier)
- My business, along with many others in the city, has benefitted from the rapid gentrification of a number of predominantly Black neighborhoods and there is considerable mistrust in the community. (Cultural Barrier)
When it comes to women, there are fewer barriers:
- Some women express concern about a “bro-y” culture and being safe in an environment where lots of alcohol is consumed. (Social / Cultural Barrier)
For the purposes of this post, we’ll assume that these are on the only two populations that are underrepresented in my workforce. Now that I’ve got a sense of some of the barriers out there, I can begin the process of developing tactics to develop my hiring pipeline.I don’t want those folks who are already applying for my jobs to stop doing so. After all, they have served my business well up until now. So, my only option is to grow the pipeline. That’s going to inspire one tactic right off the bat. Tactic #1: Commit more human resources and training to reviewing an increased number of applications for every future job opening. The rest of my tactics should make some attempt to address identified barriers.Tactic #2: Increase the numner of job openings through strategic placement of job annoucements in venues/outlets frequented by underrepresented populations. Tactic #3: Participate as a vendor in local Black cultural hertiage, music and arts festivals, and block parties (and advertise job openings at the table). Tactic#4:Consider offering (and advertising) free bus fare to interviewees and/or bus passes as an employee benefit. Tactic #5: Include an equity and inclusion statement that includes a zero-tolerance sexual harrassment policy on the business’s website and online job application portal.
Establish Targets and Timelines
Your conversation may yield many more potential tactics than this…and that’s a good thing! Ultimately, you want to evaluate each for its merit and your ability to execute it with the organization’s available capacity. When you’ve chosen a group of tactics that you can commit to long term, it’s time to establish timelines and targets. Targets are simply thresholds that define success for each tactic over a given period of time. Some tactics may be one-time efforts and can be given a simple deadline like the ones below.Tactic #1: Commit more human resources and training to reviewing an increased number of applications for each future job opening. Over next 6 months create a 5-person hiring committee for application review and train the committee for blind applicaition review. Tactic #5: Include an equity and inclusion statement that includes zero-tolerance sexual harrassment policy on website and online application. Facilitate an employee-driven statement drafting process that results in an outward facing statement for the organizaton in six weeks.In these cases, hitting the target and hitting the deadline are the same thing. Other targets may be set for a recurring time interval or may be triggered by particular needs. Tactic#2:Increasethenumberofjobapplicaitionsthroughstrategicplacementofjobannoucements. Include at least three strategic placements per job (city workforce development office, neighborhood listservs, partnerships with social media influencers, etc.). Target is a 25% increase in the numner of applications received as a result of these efforts. Tactic#3:ParticipateasavendorinlocalBlackculturalhertiage,musicandartsfestivals,andblockparties(andadvertisejobopeningsatthetable). Attend two festivals in year one, and 3 – 5 events in subsequent years. Assessment targets should be reviewed at regular intervals–every staff meeting, every quarter, six months, or annually. If targets have been reached and there is documentable evidence of change, keep the same targets in place or shift to more ambitious targets. If targets have been reached and there is no documentable evidence of change, consider longer time intervals for assessment (change can be slow) or consider implementing new tactics. If targets are not reached, reassess the feasibility of the target and consider strengthening your implementation efforts.
Collecting Data on the Job Application
I’ll close this post by saying something that is probably fairly obvious. Collecting demographic data from applicants makes assessing your efforts infinitely easier. However, it can seem intrusive and awkward to ask for this kind of information on a job application. In my next post in this series on Equitable Application Review Practices, I’ll cover some best practices for collecting this data and how it can be used (and misused) during the hiring process.