Hiring, Diversity and the Role of Stakeholders
Hiring is a process that is usually initiated by an employer who has a vacancy within a company that needs to be filled. However, the role of stakeholders should not be overlooked in the hiring process. Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have a vested interest in the successful operation of a business. This includes clients and customers, shareholders, suppliers, and employees. In any business, the client or customer is always considered the most important stakeholder group. Without the client’s support or use of the business there would be no success for the business. As such, it is important for companies to understand and know what the client is looking for and expecting when making hiring decisions. Doing so will help the company attract and retain the clients and potentially employees that are most aligned with its business goals and provide the best chances for a successful business.
Clients nowadays are invested in having and seeing diverse leadership teams in the companies they choose to work with. It is increasingly important that people in leadership positions within companies reflect the communities they serve. This means developing a team that is not only diverse in terms of nationality and culture, but also in terms of gender, age, and experience.
Firms that are not diversifying their leadership are not being invited to submit proposals and are not making the approved vendor list when their teams do not “look” like the clients they serve. This has become an increasing phenomenon for stakeholders in both public and private healthcare systems and universities. Firms in the AEC industry and other businesses not heeding this message will have much lower chances of success and survival.
“I think that if you are on the marketing side you really can make a good case for the fact that diversity is important to winning the work so just sort of as a crass business case for making sure that you are giving an owner, public or private what that owner seems to value.” - Colette Holt, J.D., Colette Holt & Associates and General Counsel to the American Contract Compliance Association
Having a diverse work environment helps firms tap into different perspectives and skillsets and gain an advantage over the competition. As the business landscape continues to evolve, businesses that embrace diversity will be the most well positioned to succeed.
Additionally, the importance of gender diversity in the workplace cannot be overstated. Hiring women for leadership roles is crucial in the new workplace from an ethical standpoint and in order to stay competitive. A review of 353 Fortune 500 companies by nonprofit group Catalyst showed that companies with high representations of women in their senior leadership teams had a 35% higher return on equity and 34% higher total shareholder return than male-dominated firms. Women bring a unique perspective to leadership, and research has shown that companies with female leaders outperform those without.
The logic is simple: businesses that embrace diversity are more successful and innovative than those that do not. Businesses today must be very intentional about ensuring diverse teams and members of leadership. This way they are they are showing that they are forward-thinking and progressive, which can help them to attract top talent, win over clients and customers and grow and expand their businesses.