Earlier this year, Uber hired its first chief diversity officer, following a series of sexual harassment allegations and other public relations crises for the brand. Last month, after a year plagued by controversy, the NFL posted a job opening for a chief diversity and inclusion officer.
Diversity officers also appear in many other high-profile companies. Titles may vary — “diversity and inclusion director,” “equality director,” or “diversity, inclusion and engagement officer” — but more organizations are realizing that this is something that matters to their employees. It’s even worth a whole post (or sometimes, even its own section).
According to data from Indeed, demand for the roles has grown significantly in just the last few years. Between 2017 and 2018, postings for diversity and inclusion positions had increased by nearly 20%.
But what does a diversity officer do?
A three-pronged approach
Diversity and inclusion roles require expertise in three important areas: employee recruitment, retention and engagement. Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand, which is exactly why you see them in so many of these job titles. When diversifying the company’s workforce, leaders must also make sure that employees from underrepresented groups feel welcome.
“All of these efforts need to connect,” says Mary Pharris, director of business development and partnerships at Fairygodboss, a job review site for women. “Because then you disconnect with what you’re doing in the hiring process, which ultimately affects how you retain employees.”
Focusing on diversity and inclusion is not just a good PR move, something that needs to be implemented in the wake of a crisis. Instead, Pharris says, it’s a proven investment in the company’s success.
“There’s been study after study showing that diversity is good for the bottom line,” he says. “So by investing in this, companies are doing the right thing. Not only does it make your employees happy at the end of the day, but if your employees are happy they’re more likely to stay.”
Working yourself out of a job
Ciara Trinidad, Program Manager for Inclusion and Diversity at Netflix (NFLX)she has learned to keep her eyes on everything.
“This is not just set aside in recruiting and HR,” he says. “It’s the way we talked in sales and targeted the people who would eventually become our customers, the way we treated the people who served us lunch … the goal of this job is to eventually put myself out of a job.”
That meant focusing on recruiting, but also training and developing the talent already in the company — especially those in positions of influence.
“The solutions to this problem are our people managers,” he says. “They’re the ones who set the pace for employees’ personal development. If you don’t invest in them in every way you can, it’s not going to work.”
Netflix strives for diversity not only in its employees, but also in its programming. Her typical day could include meetings with talent partners, production managers and employee resource teams, talking about what they want in the workplace and what could be best for people like them.
He admits the “working without a job” thing might not happen anytime soon.
In the past, many companies relied on employees from underrepresented groups to spark change from the ground level. Trinidad says her job now is to listen to those employees, raise their concerns at the highest levels and implement policies to help.
“They don’t have to be distracted thinking about how to survive in this workplace, how to make it even better for people like themselves,” he says. “They just have to be focused on their work, [and] I have to focus on building infrastructure so they feel like they can be themselves.”
CNNMoney (New York) First published August 21, 2018: 11:07 am ET
