Report five: Five ways to develop diversity
(without relying on recruitment)
This month’s focus: Career development
If companies are serious about creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization, they can’t rely on hiring alone. Employers must invest in the upward mobility and retention of women and marginalized individuals already in their organization, which is best achieved through career development programs.
- Gain a clear understanding of how career development can strengthen your diversity strategy
- Key findings into what career development opportunities women want and need
- Tick lists to help you audit your company’s current offering
Investing in career development can strengthen your overall diversity strategy
Investing in the career development of your current workforce creates upward mobility for women and marginalized groups. This not only helps your company increase representation in different departments and roles but also creates an ongoing virtuous cycle that will continue to strengthen your diversity strategy.
Investing in developing diversity internally can:
- provide career development, which retains talented women and marginalized individuals already in your team;
- increase representation which helps to attract more women and marginalized individuals;
- enable your organization to become an employer of choice for women, and reap the rewards.
“So many companies are focused on recruiting and getting to that 50/50 gender or 30/70 ethnicity level of representation […] But they’re not then working on ways to retain this talent. What a waste of money, resources, time, and effort.”
Asif Sadiq MBE
Global DEI thought leader and member of WORK180 DEI Board
About WORK180
Inspired by their own experiences of workplace discrimination, Gemma Lloyd and Valeria Ignatieva founded the first transparent job board for women. Almost a decade later, WORK180 is a thriving community and platform where women and marginalized groups access the information they need to make informed career decisions — and find workplaces that work for them.