{"id":4757,"date":"2023-08-15T19:09:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T23:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/blog\/measuring-dei-for-hiring\/"},"modified":"2025-08-14T12:05:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:05:50","slug":"measuring-dei-for-hiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/primepay.com\/blog\/measuring-dei-for-hiring\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Factors When Measuring DEI for Hiring"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2015, McKinsey & Company published one of the most impactful studies on the topic of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI),\u00a0\u201cWhy diversity matters.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0This examination of 1,000 companies from 15 countries is completed every few years, most recently in 2018 and 2020, and directly connects the likelihood of financial outperformance of competitors to gender diversity (+15%) and ethnic diversity (+35%). In fact, this gap in performance can widen as much as 48% when you compare the outliers of most gender diverse to least gender diverse.<\/p>\n

Considering the clear financial link to increased DEI \u2014 as well as it being the right thing to do \u2014 you would think it would be every company\u2019s urgent priority today. And yet the same studies show that progress is being made very slowly: Female representation on executive teams has risen between 2014 and 2019, but only from\u00a015% to 20%,<\/a>\u00a0and representation of ethnic minorities has risen only from 7% to 13%.<\/p>\n

With statistics like these, and DEI issues ever present in the news cycle and boardroom alike, it\u2019s no surprise many HR executives are making it a priority to increase diversity within the company. But it\u2019s not always easy to know where to begin to create the most momentum.<\/p>\n

If your organization is looking to increase underrepresented demographics throughout the organization, here are the top three items to consider:<\/p>\n

1. Where you source candidates.<\/h2>\n

As the adage goes, \u201cIf you do what you\u2019ve always done, you\u2019ll get what you\u2019ve always gotten.\u201d This phrase encapsulates companies that have built up very traditional, cookie-cutter talent pipelines \u2014 and also deliver traditional, cookie-cutter candidates. If you\u2019re looking to increase the diversity of your candidate pool, you need to start looking at different sources for finding and recruiting talent.<\/p>\n

Depending on your company\u2019s current DEI status, this might mean re-assigning recruiting efforts from traditional recruiting sources to new ones. For example, a high-performance technology might reconsider its efforts to recruit at Ivy League college open houses in favor of local or regional talent sources like community colleges and state workforce development initiatives.<\/p>\n

The company might also consider niche networking communities like\u00a0Girls Who Code<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lesbians Who Tech,<\/a>\u00a0which offer training, mentorship, and job boards for underrepresented communities in technology.<\/p>\n

2. How you write the job description.<\/h2>\n

How you write your job description matters, especially when it comes to recruiting a more diverse candidate pool. For example, one commonly cited anecdote from\u00a0Hewlett Packard<\/a>\u00a0reveals that women apply only when they have 100% of the qualifications, while men have been shown to apply so long as they have 60% of the qualifications. The weight and value you place on different qualifications \u2014 identifying them as \u201cnice to have\u201d or \u201crequired,\u201d for example \u2014 can have an impact on who decides to apply.<\/p>\n

There are many things you can do to make sure your job descriptions aren\u2019t putting off candidates from underrepresented minorities:<\/p>\n