To: Leadership and Hiring Committee

From: Jamal Mohamed

Deputy Chair, Committee on Hiring Practices
Subject: Strategies to Increase Diversity
Date: February 20, 2018

Purpose: To increase racial and gender diversity in our workforce, this memo will outline
specific strategies supported by company data and current labor diversity research.

Summary

Our company needs to do more to bring minorities and women into our workforce. Current labor
research shows diversity among the workforce increases creativity, productivity and profit. A
lack of diversity makes it for difficult for our company to both innovate and target specific
consumer populations. Some strategies to help combat this problem include forming a
subcommittee on diversity to help oversee hiring practices, posting unbiased job advertisements
in multiple media platforms, creating programs to support female and minority employees, and
creating programs to raise diversity awareness.

Discussion

The technology industry has low ethnic and gender diversity. Specifically, iNOVA’s workforce
is only 24% female and over 86% white. This lack of diversity creates a male-centric racially
homogenous workforce that can lead to similar thinking and a disconnect with our customers.
Instead, we should strive to have a workforce that closely mirrors the communities we serve.
This not only makes sure that we are responsive to the needs of our customers and communities,
but also allows us to more accurately target females and minorities in making products and
casting advertisements. Increased diversity in the workforce opens us to new opportunities and
will increase the company’s marketing efficiency (Green, 2002).

Diversity does not only concern having certain demographics represented in our workforce. It is
also about having employees with different backgrounds, life experiences, and skills. A diverse
workforce not only increases a company’s ability to innovate, but also increase its creativity and
flexibility (Green, 2002). Thus a diversity of ideas and perspectives will help our company be
more flexible and make better decisions. Our company is young and has grown rapidly from a
startup three years ago. To keep growing, we need a workforce that is adaptable to new market
conditions and innovative enough to ensure our products are the best among our competition.

Diversity is not just a set of platitudes, but has a sizeable impact on a company’s bottom line.
Current labor research shows technology companies with low gender diversity have, on average,
5% lower yearly returns (Morgan Stanley, 2017). Furthermore, if diversity initiatives are
properly handled, technology companies could net $400 billion every year (Rayome, 2017). This
means that a commitment to diversity has noticeable payoffs and companies that fail to diversify
their workforce lose big opportunities.
 Strategies to Increase Diversity

Issues of diversity are complex, and there are many reasons technology companies are not as
diverse as the communities they serve. Many women choose not to work in certain companies
due to long hours and travel times. Prospective minority or female employees may be
intimidated by perceived workplace bias or a difficult working environment (Morgan Stanley
2017). Moreover, hiring practices can limit the pool of candidates that companies can hire from.
Currently, iNOVA’s hiring process consists of employee recommendations. This process favors
candidates that are similar to our current workforce, decreasing our ability to hire candidates of
different backgrounds.

Recommendation

● Formation of a Subcommittee on Diversity

We should form a subcommittee on diversity as a part of our Leadership and Hiring

Committee. This subcommittee would be made up of men and women of all backgrounds
that would advise the Leadership and Hiring Committee in reviewing applications and
conducting interviews. This subcommittee should also change our company’s mission
statement to reflect our commitment to diversity and come up with new ideas on ways to
make our company more diverse.

● Programs to Support Employees

We need to recognize that different groups have specific needs and we need to create
programs to cater to these demographics. Proposals include implementing programs to
support recent or expectant mothers, expecting fewer work hours to those experiences
difficult times at home, and opening locations closer to the communities that our target
demographics reside. We should also make sure that prospective employees understand that
we are willing to allow them to celebrate religious or cultural holidays, wear religious
clothing, and work with them on specific medical needs if they are living with a disability
(Konrad 2005).

● A More Inclusive Workplace Environment

We need to reiterate our commitment to zero tolerance of harassment and discrimination in

our workforce. We should make sure we fulfill this commitment by ensuring that claims can
be filed anonymously and are carefully reviewed. We should also ensure our employees
undergo diversity training to allow them to become more sensitive and understanding to
different groups and cultures (Konrad 2005).

● Overhaul the Hiring Process

We should market available jobs and our dedication to a diverse workforce through many
different platforms: our website, local newspapers and magazines, local job sites, radio and
television advertisements, and sponsorship of community events. Further, we should post all
available jobs publicly for at least a month and post only the qualifications and talents
required for the job. We should avoid all biased and gendered language in these posts or
 Strategies to Increase Diversity

advertisements including pronouns such as “him” or “her” and specifications like “men” or
“women” (Canada Research Chairs 2012).

I will be happy to discuss this report further. Please email all questions and concerns to
mohamed.331@osu.edu.

Best Regards,

Jamal Mohamed
Deputy Chair, Committee on Hiring Practices
 Strategies to Increase Diversity

References

Canada Research Chairs. (2012, November 29). Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Best Practices
for Recruitment, Hiring and Retention. Retrieved February 14, 2018, from
http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/program-programme/equity-equite/best_practices-
pratiques_examplaires-eng.aspx
Green, K. (2002, 09 03). Diversity in the Workplace: Benefits, and Challenges. Retrieved
February 15, 2018, from
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/52649416/HR02200.pdf?AWSAcce
ssKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1519088810&Signature=VHMVOA
lrk5hMmS6cutuXOFepOdA%3D&response-content-
disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DDiversity_in_the_Workplace_Benefits_Chal.pd
f
Konrad, A. M., Prasad, P., & Pringle, J. (2005). Handbook of Workplace Diversity. London:
Sage.
Morgan Stanley. (2017, May 3) More Women, Better Investment Returns. Retrieved February 15,
2018, from https://www.morganstanley.com/ideas/gender-diversity-tech-companies
Rayome, A. (2017, November 15). Here's the real reason tech companies fail to hire more
minorities. Retrieved February 15, 2018, from
https://www.techrepublic.com/article/heres-the-real-reason-tech-companies-fail-at-hiring-
more-minorities/