Industrial Manufacturer

Challenge

A leading industrial manufacturer is committed to achieving a workforce that reflects the communities where it works and serves. With that, it has identified two goals to ensure it achieves that commitment. The first is to achieve 50% female parity in leadership roles by 2030. Secondly, it aims to create a globally diverse workforce with inclusive leaders and teams. Therefore, an accurate picture of their current workforce diversity mix and the recruiting pipeline are key to how the company measures and tracks progress.

Analysis Conducted

The team measured retention and promotion rates of women leaders to see how it is changing and where areas of opportunity may exist. They also looked at their recruiting pipeline to better understand how women and minorities move through the full pipeline from recruiter review, to meetings with the hiring manager, to offer extension.

This visualization shows the number of applicants at different stages within the hiring funnel.*Fictional data used for customer privacy.

This headcount breakdown reveals whether there is diversity within the executive level so you can determine if more diverse leadership candidates are needed.*Fictional data used for customer privacy.

Insights

The company found that women perform as well as men–and occasionally outperform them. Women also tend to stay longer. However, a review of the talent acquisition process uncovered the amount of women applicants is disproportionately lower than their male counterparts. Further, as women moved through the hiring process, more were dropped during the interview process.

Actions Taken

The company has taken strategic, programmatic action to mitigate bias and increase the amount of women and minorities who move through the full hiring process. Programs implemented for hiring managers include unconscious bias training, as well as workshops on inclusive conversations, which enable a better hiring experience for women and minority candidates moving through the process.
For current employees, the company has worked to incorporate trainings and workshops for women to develop their leadership skills, facilitate mentorship experiences, and, ultimately, enable career growth within the company.
More than 10 years ago, the company began working toward creating an inclusive, equitable work environment. Their efforts began with the founding of the Women’s Employee Network, which today boasts several thousand members globally. In the years since, the company has founded seven more Employee Resource Groups, including the Black Employee Network. To solidify internal commitments, the company has signed on to significant public pledges and acts, which solidify its efforts to establish gender parity and advance black talent. In addition, through its foundation, the company has funded education for 210,000 women in STEM-related activities and spurred workforce development in underserved communities.

Results

Where they used to spend more than six months analyzing their diversity numbers and hiring funnel, they can now quickly perform analyses using Visier People. More importantly, they can efficiently take action on their findings. They are continuing to make progress to meet their 2030 goals, which include achieving gender parity in leadership roles. They are also working to attract more women and minority job applicants through strategic partnerships with the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers, among others.