I have heard several questions about diversity recruitment services the last decade: Do you focus on diversity placements? Are there firms that focus on this solely? Can you please help us hit our diversity placement goal? The good thing is, this is happening more and more. Diversity and inclusion are large and growing initiatives for many organizations. Looking back, it was once solely focused on racial differences, but today this also includes gender, disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals. While we as a society have a long way to go, the fact this is a continuous conversation provides hope that more and more companies will make this a priority. Three reasons to focus on diversity recruitment in healthcare leadership:
There is Still Room for Improvement
Some companies have a large diversity push while others do not. The numbers specific to healthcare show over time these changes have not yielded a lot of progress. When looking at hospitals, The American Hospital Association Institute for Diversity and Health Equity released figures to focus on progress in minority leadership placements. The years 2011, 2013, and 2015 all remained consistent with only 9% of CEOs from hospitals were from a minority group. Additionally, in 2011 and 2013 about 12% of Executive Leaders within hospitals were from minority groups, and it decreased to 11% by 2015.Grace Donnelly wrote an article titled: “Only 3% Of Fortune 500 Companies Share Full Diversity Data.” This article discusses only 12 companies on the list of 500 were a part of the “50 Best Workplace For Diversity” list results in a survey directly from the employees.
Diversity Provides Perspective
Whether it is entry level, the board room, or anywhere in-between, diversity in recruitment is vital to grow as an organization. Too often group thinks occur within organizations with very similar leadership teams. While we of course want people to play nice in the sandbox, not having the platform for people to think outside the box and provide their perspective could be detrimental for an organization to prosper. Having diversity enables a platform for more authenticity in making decisions and looking from several different lenses. Specific to healthcare, it could be beneficial for diversity in making decisions on people’s lives. When managing a population of individual’s health, whether ethnic, gender, generational, culturally diverse, etc., different perspectives provide new ideas and innovations to make sure the population is getting managed to the best ability. Healthcare continues to have very tight margins, so the more ideas to effectively manage a population with the resources available should be a focus.
Getting Top Talent
Diversity and Inclusion are top-down ideals which are extremely important to the new wave of individuals joining the workforce. Whether it is business reputation, succession planning, growth opportunities, or making individuals feel comfortable, it’s vital for top, large organization focus on diversity and inclusion as it directly affects them at all levels inside and outside the organization. The Institute of Public Relations quotes Dr. Sarab Kochhar who states, “Nearly half of American Millennials say a diverse and inclusive workplace is an important factor in a job search.” If companies continue to not make diversity and inclusion a focus, they could be hurting their long-term effectiveness. Top talent might not consider applying or taking a leap of faith while getting recruited if this is not a priority. Diversity and Inclusion are topics that will not be going away and hopefully will soon be talked about more and more. Working with a firm that placed 44.4% diversity candidates in 2017, it is nice seeing our clients often times have a goal or focus on this initiative. We are happy to play a small part in the healthcare space and hope to continue to see this number grow.
Alex Drury is a Principal and Vice President of Business Development at Morgan Consulting Resources, a healthcare executive search firm celebrating over 20 successful years in business.
