Dive Brief:
- Companies seeking a diverse tech talent pool can look to partner organizations for support, said Irvin Bishop Jr., EVP and global CIO at Black & Veatch, said Wednesday speaking at the Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo in Orlando Florida.
- "First of all, fish where the fish are," said Bishop. Businesses can connect with diversity-focused organizations to find diverse candidates, such as the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) and the Hispanic IT Executive Council (HITEC).
- But leaders must follow-up talent attraction strategies with the right hiring framework. Bishop said his company ensures the candidate pool and hiring committee are both diverse before a position can be filled.
Dive Insight:
Diversity has remained a stubborn challenge for tech organizations, with gender and racial gaps showing anemic growth despite efforts in transparency and action from large organizations.
Now, with tech labor in high demand, market dynamics can represent an opportunity for companies seeking to position themselves as a top employer for diverse talent, said Bishop.
"If you are looking at the talent landscape, understanding what employers are looking for, having conversations with your team, having stay interviews before you have to have exit interviews … then the great resignation for you can be the great acquisition," said Bishop.
Solely bringing talent into the pipeline is just the start. Corporate culture has the power to make or break a company's ability to retain talent. Compensation, upskilling and project assignment are other factors that can play a role in retention.
But management styles matter too. Retaining a diverse employee workforce means understanding new work styles that emerged after the pandemic.
"[Workers] got accustomed to being more independent," said Bishop. "You cannot micromanage these employees after they come back to the office."
To better understand staff needs in the post-pandemic era, seeking and responding to feedback is critical.
"Don't just do the pulse surveys and not act on what you hear," said Bishop. "As much as possible, when you get that feedback from your teams, act on it."
