Why Employers Deny Inclusion Issue?

by Michele C. | Mar 6, 2023 | DEI

In my 15 year career as an engineer, I truly thought the issue with diversity and inclusion would have improved. Instead it is getting worse at least for African American women. The current statistics on all races of women is 40% leave engineering for good. Why? What is causing this exodus? One reason is LACK of inclusion.

During my trip to San Francisco to attend the Black Enterprise Tech Connect Summit, I’ve been renewed and highly encouraged in the work I’m doing. I want to focus on one speaker's statement about having a diverse workforce. That speaker was Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of the tech company, Slack.

As it’s been publicized tech corporations have a very low number of minority engineers. Slack has a 7% African American rate for engineers. You're like, "Wow, that's low." Actually, in tech 7% is actually high. Stewart Butterfield, the CEO of Slack stated was he did not talk about diversity. He did not say, "Oh, we have to go out and recruit more," or, "We have to go out and take one person from Facebook or another tech company and bring them in." He was like, "That doesn't change anything." He added, "All I'm doing is moving bodies, that is not a growing diversity. That is just me taking one technical expert of color to a different organization.”

He's like, "That does nothing for the industry." He said, "You have to be intentional." He said, "Okay, so …" He not only talked a little bit about diversity but what said, which I had not heard anybody say what they did for inclusion and address inclusion. He said, "I need higher numbers so the African American engineer person, employee is not lonely, they don't feel out of place, they don’t feel excluded. They feel accepted. That they are in a work space where they can see people who look like them." Nobody else said that shit. Nobody wanted to address inclusion. He sat there and said, "Okay, so I bring them over to my company, they leave the industry."

He specifically sat there and addressed the issue which is, you can bring in 10,000 people of color. If 5,000 leave stem, leave tech, leave engineering, you have not solved the problem, none whatsoever. He's sitting there addressing the problem on a whole which not only is one part, bringing in and educating minorities in tech, in engineering, but how do you keep them in the field. They are leaving the field. They're not leaving an employer, they're not leaving Silicon Valley, they're not leaving California, the West Coast, they're completely leaving the industry. How do you go about changing that?

When he was on stage the interviewer said, "We want to discuss diversity at Slack." He said, "Well, the company was started by four white guys." but let me tell you what he said in there that really was interesting.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) tracks college graduation and employment rates for STEM majors and employees. Looking at the 2015 graduation rates for women of color in STEM majors

I'm sitting there like, "Something is not right for somebody to come outside of the US to be willing to address it openly, honestly, and say, "There is an issue in this industry," and they're not even American. It was just like, "Really dude? You're not even American and you want to talk about this?" Maybe that's what it is. Maybe because he has a different perspective, maybe because he's not from the US, he's been here for a long time that he sees it a different way. Wherein maybe as an American if you're Caucasian, well that's just the way it is. He does not have that perspective so it's really interesting to hear him talk about Slack and he wanted to do inclusion, not just diversity.

Why Should U.S. Manufacturing Companies Create & Use Talent Marketplaces?

by Michele C. | Feb 13, 2023 | DEI, HR

Manufacturing companies contribute greatly to the growth of the economy of a country. The U.S. specifically has many manufacturing industries, however, most of them lack workforce power and the challenges of finding the right talents to fill a position are daunting owing to many people’s beliefs regarding careers.

Finding the right individual with a heterogenous skill set at the right time, place, and position is where the talent marketplace comes into play. Some people still believe the manufacturing industry is poor in the use of technology which is why skilled people are not applying to fill the vacant positions. But with the talent marketplace, U.S. manufacturing companies will have the opportunity of selecting the right candidate to occupy a position and also show the citizens the improvement in the industry.

Also, due to the technical nature of today’s manufacturing facilities, heterogeneity, geolocation, and specialized skills by job type, it is even more difficult to rely on old hiring and recruitment tactics. While experienced talent acquisition people and niche job boards help, utilizing a talent marketplace can lead to identifying internal talent at higher rates while retaining current employees. The following are the reasons why U.S manufacturing companies should create and use a talent marketplace:

1. Access to a circle of talented and admirable workers

The talent marketplace provides the manufacturing industry with a larger pool of talented workers than hiring through the job board. It uses powerful software to find hot-breed workers and connect them with the right opportunity. It provides employers and employees with more options over the deal.

2. Automated workflow and hiring

Manufacturing companies can automate the recruiting process, and hire qualified people more quickly by using vertical talent markets to fill positions that are difficult to fill.

Talent marketplace user-friendly procedures enable employees to spend less time looking for their next assignment or promotion. It allows the creation of new seamless employee recruiting and retention processes in the manufacturing industry.

3. Reduction in cost

One of the reasons why U.S. manufacturing companies should look into creating and using a talent marketplace is the reduction of cost. Offline recruiting agencies’ fees, mobilization, and training packages are not necessary for the talent marketplace.

4. Pre-screened and validated candidates

It enabled all workers to be screened properly and picked out the best candidates that fit a position. There is no bias in its matching.

In conclusion, with the state of U.S. manufacturing industries, it is arguable that the talent marketplace is the best solution to provide a diverse workforce for productive activities.

Here’s what you’ve missed:

History of Talent Marketplace: Definition, Differs from Job Boards, Benefits and Features

Talent Marketplace: Creating The Future Workforce U.S. Manufacturing Companies

Talent Marketplace: Creating The Future Workforce U.S. Manufacturing Companies

by Michele C. | Feb 6, 2023 | HR

Working remotely is seen as a productive option and the best means for everyone to work in the comfort of their place anywhere in the world. and this is also what Human Resources (HR) teams prioritized to skyrocket their workplace agenda and retention rates. These transformations in the U.S. manufacturing industry have taught employers and workers a lot of things, however, the most crucial is how adaptable the workforce and organizations are and can be.

We should be optimistic that the future of work is going to be great but technology has a great role to play. Part of this technology is the talent marketplace. It has the potential of creating a great future workforce for U.S manufacturing companies.

According to Deloitte recent studies show there are thousands of talented employees searching for job opportunities. Currently, 65.8% of employees are into job hunting because they want better opportunities. Other employees also believe there are more opportunities outside their current employer and are looking to pursue another career. This is where the talent marketplace comes into play.

With the increasing number of people who desire to explore other opportunities in another field, we can say the talent marketplace is the future of work. If the U.S. manufacturing industry can make use of this opportunity, a booming future is assured in the industry because they would have a pool of talents ready to work within the organization.

The talent marketplace will enable the manufacturing industry to have access to diverse talents now and in the future. It will also focus on internal recruitment rather than external recruitment. It will make boundaries and career trajectories much more permeable and multi-directional.

It is calculated that in 2030, there would be over 2 million unfilled positions in the skill gap in the manufacturing industry. However, with technology like the talent marketplace, the future can be determined and more talent can be trained to close the skill gaps of today and the future manufacturing industry. This in turn makes the future of U.S manufacturing companies more promising.

The talent marketplace is built around the ontology of skills, the accumulation of talents, the interest of workers and HR leaders, and the organizational demand for an effective talent workforce. So much of what the future workplace of the US manufacturing industry looks like is much of advanced strategy and finding the right talented employees.

The marketplace will also allow the organization to develop a future-focused workplace strategy to accommodate new workers and create improved production.

In conclusion, due to the huge U.S manufacturing workers shortage, the talent marketplace is seen as the solution provider to correct the growing skill gaps and make workers available in the future for increased production.

Engaged To Retain: Driving Retention Through Engagement Analytics

by Michele C. | Jan 30, 2023 | DEI, HR

Many workplace challenges have developed from the pandemic. Human Resources professionals have had to use their skill sets and technology to overcome them. One of the most common workplace challenges is the decrease in employee engagement.

During this session, Marissa Lee shares how she used analytics to drive retention within organizations. She will share how she was able to increase employee engagement, especially during the pandemic, by integrating data analytics with HR tactics, over a short time period.

Learn how you can use HR or Engagement analytics to improve your employees’ participation during difficult times.

Host – Michele Heyward, Founder PositiveHire
Guest – Maissa Lee, Founder, SOW EVOLVE Consulting

Next up is a great speaker named Marissa Lee, who’s also an expert and authority in human resources. She is going to be sharing with us how she has used data in employee engagement. Because right before my internet dropped out, I was talking about employers shifting their employees lash in 2020. To their home. So working remote, and what did that look like in organizations? Like, how do we know they’re working? How are they feeling? What are they doing? How do we make this better without being in the office? So she is going to come welcome Marissa, and join us to have that discussion about employee engagement. Hi, Marissa. You are on mute. Hold on, I got you. No, no. Let’s try it again.

That’s a good Oh, hi, how are you? I’m making it work. Okay. So can you tell everyone a bit about your experience in HR being a leader? And we’ll start there?

Absolutely. So hello to everyone. My name is Marissa Lee, and I am the founder and CEO of soul evolve, LLC, which is an HR consulting firm, and I specialize and decoding employee engagement for managers, and really being in the employee experience employee engagement space. But in addition to my business, I have been in HR over 10 years, like I have been in the healthcare industry, retail, building materials, coatings, chemicals, you name it, I’ve had a lot of HR experience in these different industries. And it’s given me the opportunity to really learn a lot about people learn about business, and how they intersect when it comes to looking at engagement and building that strategy. And so, I’m really excited about the opportunity to dive a little bit deeper into, you know, my HR expertise, how that led me into engagement, and how I can continue to support you and give you some tips here today to consider as you look at your own engagement strategies.
So when we step back, and we look at what engagement look like in 2019, to 2020. What were some employers see in their employee engagement?

Yeah, so when it comes to engagement, there are some standard engagement factors that you will see then and that you will still see now. So things that come up like compensation, looking at being able to have flexibility, but it wasn’t in the same way as it is now. And in 2020, you would see things like, more so people filling, Are they satisfied with the work that they they’re doing? What types of benefits are things that the company are offering to them, so was pretty much I like to call those like the foundational engagement, tenants that you need to be able to address when it comes to any type of employee. But when 2020 happened, that pendulum swung, and there was a big emphasis around flexibility, purpose work, and really being able to make sure people felt like they belong or that they were looked being looked at as an individual, as opposed to just this. This one size fits all, I heard that us earlier one size fits all approach when it comes to engaging them. And just from a topic standpoint, when it comes to equity, really being able to look and see what is the intersectionality when it comes to engagement. Are you creating consistent experiences for all your employees? And how does that show up? How are you? How are you making sure you get insight into that? Because I can tell you right now without being intentional with that, more than likely you’re missing the mark.

Absolutely, absolutely agree. So I jumped a little head because I’m excited about you talking about employee engagement, but out of HR overall, how did you end up focus and really looking at employee engagement especially as it relates number one to leaders. So let’s just talk about employee engagement and then leaders. And then we can tie those two together.

Absolutely. So I wrote a book called Why I broke up with my company. So people look at HR, and they view HR as if they’re not having an employee experience. And we are having an employee experience, I just So shout out to all the HR people out there. And I asked you all to show us some grace in regards to that. But throughout my career, I was having an employee experience. And from that, I started to get insight around, you know, the things that were going well, the things that weren’t going well, why weren’t they going well? How can that be improved by myself? How can that be improved by the leader. And so in going through my own journey, then I started, I moved away from the micro while just looking at myself, and started looking at the macro, while if I’m having these experiences, other people are also having these experiences, how can I assist them with improving the experience and getting better at that. And so that helped me hone in on really leveraging love relationships, and comparing it to working relationships, to help that resonate with people to show that how much energy you put into this relationship is going to determine how well it works. And you’re always creating experiences for people, are you creating the right ones. And in the process of doing that, that’s where I saw how leadership is really an activator for engagement, the leader can really drive engagement in the positive direction, or they can be poor leaders in sending in the other direction. And so there is a lot of power that leaders have in being able to keep a workforce engaged and focus on the things that they need to accomplish for the organization.

Yeah, those good leaders will keep you engaged, those not so good leaders will drive people out the door or to another team or department or division or country, but they’re gonna go somewhere else somewhere. So I love how you bridge those two, because it’s really important that understanding employee engagement is tied to leadership. And it’s not like, oh, well, they’re, they’re not engaged. I’m not responsible for them doing their job. It’s like, well, let’s talk about that. Right? You have to own what that means to be a leader. And this is this is the thing I wrote a few years ago, many years, not that many years, less than two years ago, when I was still in corporate. They sent out a an employee survey. And they said, What do you think about your leadership team? I said, number one, you can’t tell me they’re my leaders. Because I may not follow them. I just work here. Right? The person I call my leader does not have a C suite title, or a VP title, right? And I think I always push back on that, like you mean your management team. Because oftentimes, you’re a lot of leaders aren’t accessible, the higher up they go, the they’re not accessible to people. And I think if you’re a true leader, you’re accessible to people, I don’t mean to the point we’re in, there was a line outside your door. But it means that if somebody calls, whether it’s the sake of mourning, or to say they’re having an issue, you’re responsive to that. Right, right. And oftentimes, like you’re in the wrong place, and I think it, I have a whole other definition on take it when it comes to management and the terms leadership in the workplace, it needs to be earned. And it’s not given and even telling me you’re my leader, like, Oh, I’m not following y’all to the bathroom. And I have. So that, you know,

I don’t believe fully agree with you on that. Like when I’m sharing tips around engagement, I will say Attention managers. And so I’ve had people talk to me about well, why do you say managers? Why don’t you just call them leaders, everyone? Everyone isn’t a leader? I agree with you. I definitely think that there’s a distinction between management and leaders, you manage the process, you read people, and everybody hasn’t made that transition to fully leading people they are trying to use management to to do the act of what a leader is supposed to do. And without that clarity and distinction. Those are some of the challenges and pitfalls organizations miss, and it manifests in the engagement of their employees. So something that’s simple and subtle is really getting clear on the definition of what a leader is supposed to be doing. Is is paramount to drive in the engagement?
Absolutely. So I think you answered this, but I’m asking anyway. What’s the difference about your approach to employee engagement? Then what others are doing in the space right now?

Yeah, so a couple of things, I would say one, a lot of a lot of different companies are looking at kind of the one size fits all, and not really doing the comprehensive look at engagement. So where I see my organization having an advantage, it’s really helping organizations get clarity, to transition from the reality to their aspirational state, because a lot of times organizations look at engagement, they think they’re in the aspirational state, where the reality says something completely different. So being able to help them understand what that is what that means. And then helping them go deeper. Because at times when it comes to engagement, people can remain very surface with that, you can something as simple for example, like, if you asked your employees, you know, did you review it, the survey feedback, you may get five different responses based on how those individuals looked at the question and how they process it. One person may say, I got the feedback, the other person may say, I got the feedback, but you didn’t do any action with it. So I’m going to ding you here. Other person may say, I didn’t get it because I was in a different groups, there are a lot of different responses that can come with that. And without doing the extra work of going below the surface, you don’t really get to that information. So that’s the operation side of me really looking for the root cause versus the cookie cutter approach of here’s engagement, here’s the things that you can look to work on. The other piece is really looking at the intersectionality part of engagement. As I mentioned earlier, if you are not leaning in, in that space, and if you think that everybody’s experience is the same, I’m going to tell you now it’s not. So you need to take the time to really review and see where are those differences? What are those nuances? And how can you improve that because it’s likely to show up in your results, or it’s not showing up in your results, you are getting good engagement results. But it’s you’re not seeing the impact in your business results, you’re not seeing the impact and productivity, you’re not seeing impact in these other areas. And that is informing you that even though you may have great results, there’s something else that’s amiss, that you have to really dig deeper and get an understanding about.

Absolutely. So Whoo, you got to my favorites spot. Right, right, we got enough time to dig into this, okay. Because I always like to get the tactical stuff. You talked about data. And you talked about intersectionality. And you talked about managers, and I’m gonna put up this quote, real quickly, very quickly, Haley said, I just saw a quote stating, become the kind of leader that people will follow voluntarily, even if you have no title or position. And that’s that that’s my challenge. Like that’s, that’s what that’s all I’m saying. So I’m gonna go back to where we are, where we’re really talking about data intersectionality, and looking at what’s going on at those levels. And the reason I talk about this is organization like well as a whole or a majority, we’re doing well. When you’re looking at an equitable workplaces, there is no majority, you really have to look to see who and why it’s not part of that. And and I want to get into that that intersectionality part as you utilize data, what were the things that you went through in that in that lens, and the data you’re looking at to try to understand what the what, what type of engagement strategy to create and tactics to include in order to improve engagement?

Yeah, so I look at it in a couple of ways. First, you have to have like the quantitative data and the qualitative piece. So once you’re getting the Insight if you have a survey versus if you get use employee engagement surveys or not, you can leverage that as a starting point to get some insight as to where you need to look to begin to have conversations, but there are other pieces to the engagement story. So if you are not looking at turnover in If you’re not looking at employee complaints, if you are not looking at discretionary effort, and when I say discretionary efforts, that’s not when, you know, employees are working long hours, because they got to get the work done, it’s more so they are volunteering their time, they are happy to give their time to do extra things in the workplace or take on additional responsibilities as they go forward. And so those are different pieces that you have to first start with the the quantitative part, but then there’s the piece of you have to have some conversation, the data means nothing without the insight to what that actually needs. So you may have a certain number in these areas. But if you’re not doing stay interviews, you’re not doing exit interviews, if you are not having focus groups around your engagement with different populations, and splitting up to get insight around that you’re missing the mark there. So for example, it may be with different people of color that you are looking at having those conversations with, it could be different band levels, or great levels that you have in your workplace that you may have a higher level of engagement at the top of the organization. But as you continue to go get go deeper and cascade through the organization that shifts. And so where does that shift, and when it does shift, why, and really look to understand that as you go forward. And that helps you start to get more insight on things that you need to do that’s tailored to specific groups, as opposed to this one size fits all engagement approach.

I absolutely love it. Thank you so much for digging in. And actually like telling, hey, go go have a focus group. But who we have to talk to the people? Yes, we have to talk. Yeah, you’re gonna have to do that. We really appreciate you doing that. Oh, okay. So putting the human back in Human Resources is what I love to say about your approach. In doing that, because too often we’re trying to automate, we’re trying to separate. And it’s really important to get back to that human side, even though we’re looking at data is a people problem that has to be solved by people, data is just a part or tool to help us do that. And I love how you brought that aspect in here. Now, I just want to make sure we don’t have any no questions. But I of course I do. Now, as you’re looking at the data, what how do you know if something isn’t success? Maybe that’s an anomaly. When you’re getting the results back in after after you start working through your strategy?

Yes. So the first part is you have to get clarity. And you have to define what is your engagement story. So that helps you with the baseline of what you’re looking what you currently have. And it needs to be connected with the strategy. So as you are engaging your people, what is it? How do you see that manifesting in the workplace, so then that helps you kind of hone in on the the different KPIs, you want to look to measure and align with your engagement strategy. So you get your baseline, and then you start to manage that. But then it’s like, What trends are you seeing what different engagement factors you need to introduce? Those are, once you have the story, then that helps you determine how you measure it, and align that success to organization success. And a lot of times what happens is the engagement strategy is separate from business strategy. It’s one in the same, you it’s just a component of that business strategy. So if you are looking at it different, like, oh, we need to work on this thing. No, it needs to be connected with what you are trying to achieve. What is your mission? What is the purpose? And how are you bringing that alive for your people? And how are you engaging them in the process? And a part of engaging them is it’s not there’s reciprocity. You have to remember that, yes, you know, there people are performing the service and things like that, but there still needs to be reciprocity there. What are you giving him pouring into them so they are able to pour into your company and then be able to drive it the way you want to? So you are the employer of choice. You are the leader in the market. And when you don’t invest there is no different from the business side. If you don’t invest in growing your business if you don’t invest in it. You know, in materials and products and expansions and things like that you may run the risk of falling behind the competition. So what’s the difference within an employee? What’s the difference in being able to engage them? So there are different aspects, even from a business side, if you think about it from that lens, if you take that, and put that over to the people side would help to be able to guide your engagement strategy in a different way.

Oh, thank you so much. For for just one to two last questions. I’ve never number one, to ask questions. Is that such a thing as it will be? For people that just getting started understanding where their employee engagement, what is that one thing they have to do?
The one thing they have to do is understand their story. A lot of people just go into engagement haphazardly, and you have to understand what is current state. So having that clarity of where you stand today, and how that connects with you being able to execute on your business initiatives.
I love it. I love it. Next. Okay, then the final last question. Can people connect with you?
That’s a great question. So you can connect with me on LinkedIn, I am very active on LinkedIn. And I definitely would love you to give your feedback and comment and engage with me. I love having dialogues with people. And the posts that I put up I love connecting on their posts that they’re putting them is really a community being a part of my LinkedIn family. So definitely make sure you connect with me, I will connect with you and engage in your content and vice versa.

Thank you so much, Marissa, for joining us today. Be sure you connect with her. You can also pick up her book and and I and I love why I broke up with my company. It’s like, I don’t know, sort of kind of feels like a lifetime movie, but not Queenie, like Tifa as maybe terace and how it’s really gonna happen. So I just I don’t know. But I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun and might end up in New Orleans in Miami. Oh, no. I think I think I really really liked that. Um, I we do have one comment I want to share. I agree Marissa understand your organization’s story. This will help take you from where you are to where you desire to go. Thanks for sharing. Yeah. Dr. Pearson, thank you so much for being here today. She’d been hanging out. She’d been running strong for like three hours. So we’re glad she could remain here. So Marissa, everybody check her out. Be sure to check out her book. I will talk to you later. Thanks for joining today.

Thank you. Thank you for everybody that joined I look forward to connecting with you. All
right. Bye bye.

How U.S. Manufacturing Companies can Utilize a Talent Marketplace To Retain Women Of Color

by Michele C. | Jan 9, 2023 | STEM

Many companies are striving to employ a new talented breed of workers to elevate production levels. However, they are encountering problems that are easily solved by the talent marketplace. A talent marketplace provides companies with a way to retain diverse talents and enhances employee development targets.

Most manufacturing industries in the U.S. prefer male workers to women since they believe women are more fragile and have less potential to work in different roles and offices. However, those are old beliefs that are no longer in line with the ethics of working in the modern system.

Women employees workers are now even doing better than men employees males in some positions, especially when you look at the performance of black and Hispanic women.

It makes sense to include women in manufacturing in every aspect owing to the different viewpoints that women bring to the table that are crucial in decision-making. A company’s net profitability may rise by 15% even if just 30% of its executives are women.

However, U.S. women only take up 29% of the manufacturing industry talent workforce which is a bit distressing. Despite that, women see the industry as profitable, and many of them are still leaving the industry due to the lack of life-work balance.

Also, the lack of flexible work schedules makes them think otherwise of the industry. This is why it is important to learn how to retain talented women in the manufacturing workforce.

1. Getting talented women that match positions.

It is still believed that there are many talented women in the manufacturing field with great technological know-how. It is therefore mandatory to have talented women in a befitting position to further retain them. Black and Hispanics are especially good at this. If companies wish to retain women in the field it’s very important to hire more women that fit a position than just only males.

2. Provide equitable pay for all talents.

One of the things U.S Hispanic women complain about before leaving the industry is no increase in wages which is not good. Companies need to focus on pay equity to close the pay gap and make manufacturing work more enticing to women.

3. By promoting professional development

Also, a key factor in retaining women is by encouraging them to explore opportunities for professional development. Women always stress the need to have more skills that can make them outstanding. If this is supported there will be more talented women in the industry.

Lastly, the talent marketplace is a great platform to find strong and determined women ready to work in the manufacturing industry, however, work should also be done on how to retain them.

Have you read this?

Using Analytics & Data-Driven Approach To Retain Diverse Talent In Your Company

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Diversity Recruitment & Retention Toolkit!

History of Talent Marketplace: Definition, Differs from Job Boards, Benefits and Features

by Michele C. | Jan 2, 2023 | HR

History Of Talent Marketplace

In today’s world, some employers complain of not being promoted despite their relentless service for the company’s progress. However, the answer lies in the fact that this employer needs more talented workers with different skill sets, which they haven’t seen in them.

This is what gives birth to the talent marketplace and why companies are searching for the best possible talented workers to handle critical projects or assignments.

Talents marketplace is a well-connected, and transparent talent management system that helps employees to pursue their careers. It matches them with the right opportunity and potential roles based on their abilities, skills, career goals, and preferences. It also enables them to learn new skills or improve on the ones they are learning.

A perfect talent marketplace looks at a person’s complete identity, including their abilities and competencies, but also goes beyond that to take into account things like interests, working preferences, and learning styles. Beyond what individuals can accomplish, the market expands knowledge to encompass what people want to do and how they choose to do it.

Features of the Talent Marketplace

1. Keeping a record of diverse talent

The talent marketplace makes use of AI (artificial intelligence) to collate information about workers’ skill sets and job experience. This information is obtained mainly from their social media profiles such as LinkedIn, Twitter, etc, and also from their employment record.

This data is used to match people with an opportunity or jobs that fit their qualifications. The data is stored in the database and updated from time to time upon acquisition of new skills.

2. Predictive analysis

Predictive analysis is often used in the talent marketplace to know when important jobs need to be replaced when there is a case of retirement or promotion. The database can also be used to identify potential industry leader which in turn promote the career development of employees

3. Setting and achieving goals

Other features of the talent marketplace are goal setting and achievement. It can be used to set and track employees’ progress toward the created plans or objectives.

Benefits of the Talent Marketplace

1. It enhances diversity, equity, & inclusion (DEI)

Talent marketplace helps to promote Diversity, equity, & inclusion by ensuring both males and females are given preference based on their skills.

2. It increases employee retention and engagement

Generally speaking, employees look into what the future of work is before deciding to stay or leave. The talent marketplace builds great trust in the worker’s mind thereby increasing retention and engagement.

3. Becoming Agile

Agility is required in the manufacturing industry to boost production. The talent marketplace provides employers with the ability to be agile when locating internal talent for current and future roles and projects.

In conclusion, the talent marketplace provides a pool of talented employees ready to elevate the industry with their skill sets.

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The Lack Of Women of Color In The Leadeshhip

by Michele C. | Dec 19, 2022 | STEM

Economic and occupational disadvantages are synonymous with black women’s experience working in corporate America. Racism and sexism are the top causes of stifled leadership opportunities for women, especially underrepresented women of color.

No mentorship or support system:

In today’s professional world, having mentors, connections, and network is integral in stepping up the ladder. Research indicates that black women are more ambitious about climbing the corporate ladder to advance in their companies when compared to their white women counterparts. One study shows 75% of Black women view themselves as very ambitious towards their career, with 40% hoping to make it to a management position. However, those rungs to the top are broken for them, because they are less likely to find mentors who will help them reach their career goals and ambitions. Only 26% of Black women say they had equal access to sponsorship and 59% say they never had an informal interaction with a senior leader. Hence, for every 100 men promoted to manager just 58 Black women are promoted to the same role. At a disadvantage from the beginning, Black women see the representation gap continue to widen with only 1.6% becoming vice presidents and 1.4% becoming C-suite executives, while white men hold 57% and 68% respectively.

The reason is two-fold. The sociologist, Tsedale Melaku notes that white executives show visible discomfort and pose unfamiliarity with mentoring or interacting with Black women in the workplace. Moreover, the second reason is the intentional exclusion and disenfranchisement of black women. More often than not, white executives do not want to include their black counterparts in teams or mentor them for higher-level positions. Women of color comprise only 4% of C-level positions despite comprising nearly 18% of the US population. Out of this, only 1% are black women. These patterns result in occupational underrepresentation and wage disparity for women of color, especially black women. It is significant to accept that the issue isn’t restricted to black women only. Asian American women and Latinas are also stereotyped and suffer from racialized and gendered harassment and bias when looking for mentors.

They bypass the requirements of traditional leaders:

An integral step in realizing diversity starts with retention. Recognizing how companies hire, promote, and retain employees is based on a specific leadership archetype. The models of leadership and demographic distribution are based on a Western approach of straight, white men. The job description of the companies looking to hire new people contains words like; “dominant, self-confident, available round the clock, and aggressive candidates/” which are typical keywords used to describe typical white males. This not only leaves women of color at a double disadvantage but women (as a gender) are at loss here. When women, especially of color, embody these traits they are not considered likable and are not respected. Their competence, skills, and intelligence are still doubted. Because, in short, the companies are looking for white males to take over their leadership positions and anything other than that is mostly considered unacceptable.

If this wasn’t enough, the status quo in corporate America is unbelievable. Black women are often reprimanded or rated ‘unprofessional’, ‘unfit to take a higher management position’ because they prefer Afrocentric hair. Native American women have one of the largest pay gaps in the workforce. Latina women as compared to non-Hispanic white women are twice as likely to work twice as hard to prove their cultural background has no impact on their qualifications, experience, or work style. Companies are less likely to employ Middle Eastern women who wear a headscarf. Asian-American women when compared with their white counterparts are generally considered less suitable for leadership positions.

This paired with all the other reasons in this report becomes one of the leading hindrances in the path of women of color who want to secure leadership positions even if they are well-qualified for it.

The concrete ceiling:

Everyone has heard about a glass ceiling, but very few know what a concrete ceiling is. While the glass ceiling metaphor cuts it for white women, it does not for women of color. The difference between the two terms is that the concrete ceiling is a true depiction of the reality of women of color. Black, indigenous, and other women of color face double discrimination in an organization not just because of their gender but because of culture, race, and religious practices as well. This concrete ceiling is impenetrable not just metaphorically but in reality, women of color cannot see what is possible for them.

White women, generally, know what’s hindering their progress and growth in the workplace like the glass ceiling, and gender discrimination. On the other hand, women of color have no idea what obstacles are stopping them. It is because of the ramifications of double jeopardy constituting lower pay, fewer powerful jobs, fewer mentors, fewer sponsors, fewer desired positions, and very few people supporting them. Similarly, leadership biases, stereotypes, white standards of professionalism, racism, discrimination, harassment, lack of support, and emotional & mental exhaustion are only some of the things that comprise this concrete ceiling barring the way for women of color to the top.

The Emotional Tax!

Let’s accept that women of color are tired. High blood pressure seems to be a common occurrence among women of color including those who are leaders. This leads to early retirement and resignation from their workplaces. They are conditioned to do more with less and expect even lesser in return. They are competing for crumbs, knowing that no matter what they do, they are most likely never getting to the top. The emotional tax, also called the black tax for black women, is taking a toll on the physical and mental health of women of color. This becomes a major cause for the lack of BIPOC in the leadership. When they somehow manage to break the glass ceiling, they often face the glass cliff. Glass cliff is when omen and/or people of color are moved into leadership positions when times are tough or the organization is in crisis. They are asked to prove themselves and their worth by cleaning the mess that white executives have spilled. Being in a precarious position means there are potentially higher chances of failure. This is just another way women of color pay the emotional tax.

Approximately 62% of Black workers in STEM fields as compared to 44% of Asians, and 42% of Hispanics have experienced various forms of racial or ethnic discrimination at work, including earning in the same role, exclusion from meetings, not receiving training to perform their jobs and receiving less support from managers. This is taking an emotional toll and putting a strain especially if women of color manage to get the position at the top. Asian, Black, Latinx, and multiracial professionals pay an Emotional Tax at work when they feel they must be on guard to protect against racial and gender aggressions. This becomes one of the most important reasons why they can’t get managerial positions because they are always watching their back.

Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs among women, having grown by more than 600% between 1997 and 2017. They hold the most degrees and yet are unrepresented at the highest ranks of leadership, boardrooms, and academic positions. This is because the microaggressions, bias, and huge loopholes in the existing employment practices, procedures, and processes are causing a huge cause of low retention and inclusion in the organization.

You might be interested in this topic: How To Use Data To Engage More Black Women Graduates In STEM?

Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day

by Michele C. | Nov 30, 2022 | STEM

In the war of wages, Native American women continue to suffer losses. For every dollar that a white man earns, a Native American woman makes 60 cents. Over the course of their work life, an average Native American woman loses around $1 million dollars due to pay disparity.

To bring awareness to this issue, November 30t is celebrated as Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day.

The Significance of Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day

The significance of this date is important to note. It marks the day that Native American women need to work until they earn what their male, white, non-Hispanic counterparts earned the previous year.

In simpler words, it takes Native American women 23 months to earn what a white man earns in 12.

Sobering, isn’t it? Sure. but we’re only scratching the surface here. The pay gap Native American women face is not confined to white men only. It persists when compared with the earnings of white women, Black women, and even women of other tribal nations.

For example, while the gender pay gap between a white man and an Apache woman is 44%, it’s 22% for Aleut women and 55% for women of the Iroquois tribe.

If it sounds confusing, it is. The answers are not easy to come. Because, for one, we do not have sufficient data to form clear-cut diagnoses of this multifaceted issue. Native American women are a notoriously understudied group. No great efforts have been made to research the reasons that lie behind this undying gap.

But that, at least in part, may be due to the fact that Native American men and women only represent 1.7% of the U.S. population: 5.6 million people. For context, the U.S. population is 331.9 million. There are 41 million people in the Black population, the largest racial minority in the country. Hispanics and Latinos, the largest ethnic minority, are 62.1 million people strong.

And for another, the issues may be too complex to give us a bulleted list of simple challenges. Not only do Native American people need to be studied more, but everyone should be prepared and willing to address the uncomfortable truths that might come to the surface.

However, amid all this uncertainty, it is important to celebrate the victories, too.

The Victories of Native American Women

Now, more than ever, more and more Native American women are pursuing a college education. Professional degrees and specializations, too. Access to childcare has also freed these women to think about their futures and to take a more decisive role in them.

These actions are not only improving the lives of these individual women but may also be lifting entire families out of poverty.

The national landscape has also changed. The U.S Justice Department has made violence against Native American women a priority and directed all law enforcement agencies to create strategies to establish public safety in Indian Country.

So, come November 30, as you acknowledge and cultivate solutions for Native American Women’s Equal Pay Day, know that you are a part of a resourceful and resilient group. There are nonprofits, companies, individuals, and organizations that support Native American women in their fight to create a better life for themselves and their families. The National Women’s Law Center is a great organization if you want diverse solutions to address the pay gap at your workplace.

How To Reduce The Native American Women Pay Gap?

For the Native American Women pay gap to be closed or shrink, multifaceted solutions will be required. These solutions will help ensure that the work women of color or tribal women perform is recognized and valued equally. Organizations and HR leaders will need better and broader transparency in workplace pay practices to make a difference and help reduce the wage gap.

The following are five ways HR can implement to reduce the pay gap for Native American women:

1. Transparent Pay Structure

Transparency and openness are essential when it comes to determining pay structures and appraisal factors in an organization. It is a good idea to be completely open about how HR determines the pay scale for an individual or department, the formula used for the distribution of funds or commissions, or the percentage/graph for annual appraisals – irrespective of race, gender, or religious affiliations.

Read: Ways HR Analytics Can Help With Salary Management

2. Review Pay on an Annual Basis

Perform annual research to ensure that payscales are competitive and fair across the organization. A salary review can also help HR managers identify gender, role, and affiliation-based pay gaps in the structure and address them right on the spot. HR can put practices in place and increase pay in order to close the gap if it exists.

3. Identify and Eliminate Unconscious Bias

As long as bias exists, it will continue to plague businesses. The majority of leaders in business are unconsciously biased toward male employees when it comes to promotions, benefits, or corporate perks. In order to eliminate the Native American Women pay gap or the gender pay gap in general, businesses will need to identify and eliminate these biases. Clearly stating the criteria for receiving promotions and benefits will ensure there is no confusion. Leaders in HR can eliminate practices that favor men or one race over another to build a better, stronger, and bias-free work environment.

4. Support Flexible Work Hours

Flexible hours or remote working allow women to balance caring responsibilities for children and income, as well as maintaining a professional career. It could be a great opportunity for organizations to build a healthy and inclusive work environment for all. A number of studies have found that leading remote teams can boost employee engagement and productivity. The WFH arrangement provides employees with the flexibility to choose when, where, and how they work. This results in a reduction in commute time, an increase in family time, and overall, better productivity for the organization.

5. Increase Native American Women’s Pay

The easiest and most straightforward way to address the imbalance in pay is to increase the salaries of Native American Women. This will enable you to pay them equivalent to what you pay to a male worker in a similar role or position. Assign salaries and pay structure according to the role, responsibilities, or position in the organizational hierarchy and compensate accordingly irrespective of race, gender, or color.

Resources To Help Native American Women

Doing our own little bit for this fight, here is a list of resources you can count on as you tread your path as a Native American woman worker.

1. The Tribal Law and Policy Institute: The Native American-owned non-profit provides education, training, and tech assistance programs for the enhancement of justice and well-being of the Native people.

2. National Congress of American Indians (NCAI): One of the oldest and largest, NCAI serves the broad interests of tribal governments and communities. It is a non-profit that advocates for the rights of Native communities and a brighter vision for the indigenous Indian Country.

3. National Women’s Law Center: Founded by talented leaders in law and women’s rights, the National Women’s Law Center is helping women break the glass ceiling. The firm uses the law in all forms and shapes to bring diverse solutions to eradicate gender inequality, pay gaps, and barriers to women’s leadership, specifically for women of color, native American women, LGBTQ communities, and low-income families.

4. American Association of University Women: The American Association of University Women is advocating for women’s rights since 1881. They have helped working women in their battle for equal rights, equal pay, and equal opportunities. The organization endorses and provides support for top roles and leadership opportunities for women of color and native and indigenous women.

5. National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center, Inc. (NIWRC): It is a Native-led organization committed to ending domestic violence against women and children of Native origin. NIWRC offers training, resources, and research to lift the spokespeople and strengthen tribal freedom.

6. StrongHearts: Based on the infrastructure of The Hotline and community network of NIWRC, the StrongHearts Native Helpline is now an independent non-profit community that provides support to Native American and Alaska Natives impacted by domestic or sexual violence. The hotline offers confidential, culturally appropriate, and anonymous service with 24/7 availability.

7. Mending the Sacred Hoop, Inc.: Mending the Sacred Hoop is a native-led non-profit organization that organizes on issues surrounding abuse and violence against Native American women or Indian/Alaska Natives. The organization works with tribes and communities to address the challenges of violence, sex trafficking, stalking, and more.

8. PositiveHire: With the goal of eradicating systemic racism and bias at the workplace, PositiveHire blends data with services to make a lasting impact on black women, native American women, and other underrepresented women.

You might be interested in this topic: How To Use Data To Engage More Black Women Graduates In STEM?

The Black Professional’s Struggle Between Freedom & Security

by Michele C. | Nov 21, 2022 | HR

During this interview, John Graham shares the Black Professionals experiences in corporate America. In his recently released book “Plantation Theory: The Black Professional’s Struggle Between Freedom & Security”, John explains the realities that countless Black corporate professionals face despite best efforts to prove their worthiness of opportunity.

Host – Michele Heyward, Founder PositiveHire
Guest – John Graham, Global Employer Brand Articulator & DEI Truth Teller

Why Coming Back To The Job Market Is Tougher For Women After The Pandemic

by Michele C. | Nov 14, 2022 | DEI, STEM

Black employees had the highest unemployment rate in June 2021 with 9.2%, with Latinx and Indigenous employees following a close lead. This rate came after the job market in the US has started stabilizing a bit, but not for the people of color. Women have disproportionately been affected by the pandemic with 13 million fewer women in employment as compared to 2019. On the other hand, the men’s employment will have recovered to 2019 levels. Not to forget that this divide is exacerbated for women of color, especially black women. Between 2019 and 2020, women’s employment declined by 4.2 percent globally, representing a drop of 54 million jobs. Black and Hispanic employees faced 1.6 to 2.0 times the unemployment rates of their white counterparts.

This goes on to show that coming back to the job market is tougher for women after the pandemic. The same job market that was already difficult for women of color. A recent report by McKinsey and Oxford Economics indicates that women may not be able to recover their jobs to the pre-pandemic level by 2024. So, what makes coming back to the job market tougher for women after the pandemic?

Job

The Increased Burden Of Unpaid Care:

One of the main drivers of this disparity and the high unemployment rate is the added burden of unpaid labor and care that women, especially of color, have to face during the pandemic. The disproportionate division of household chores including cleaning, cooking, managing the house combined with the added task of childcare, homeschooling, and taking care of the parents and other elders has affected women mostly. Women on average already did almost twice as much unpaid care as men pre-pandemic that the COVID-19 crisis has deepened this inequality chasm.

The massive responsibility of being a caregiver at home and the work responsibilities was the reason that 1 in 4 women considered leaving their workplace or downshifting their careers in 2020 in corporate America. This is 40% of mothers compared to only 27% fathers who had 3 or more increased hours of caregiving in their schedule every day. This made up 15 or more hours in the week, which can be considered equivalent to almost a part-time job. Now the routine might be returning to normal with schools re-opening, but people of color have been so severely hit by the pandemic financially, medically and loss of life that finding new jobs immediately or hiring help still aren’t possible options.

Statistics on remote workers reveal that more than 4.7 million people work remotely at least half the time in the United States. 1 in 4 Americans over 26% of the American workforce were expected to be working remotely in 2021. Furthermore, it is also estimated that 22% of the workforce (36.2 Million Americans) will work remotely by 2025. Thirty-nine percent of Asian/Asian-American women indicate they think remote work will result in fewer networking opportunities. Only 25 percent of white women and women of mixed ethnicities, 14 percent of Black women, and 12 percent of Hispanic/Latina women share this sentiment. Moreover, only 35 percent of Black women, 28 percent of Asian/Asian-American women, and 25 percent of Hispanic/Latina women believe that they can be productive while working from home.

On the other hand, only one in six Hispanic workers (15.2%) and one in five Black workers (20.4%) were able to telework due to COVID, compared with one in four white workers (25.9%). These statistics prove the disparities women of color have to face when working from home.

There Is Already A Wide Leadership Gap:

The underrepresentation of women of color in the leadership was already dominant, but the slow return of women in the workforce post-pandemic can take years to fill that gap. By stepping off the ladder due to Covid, it could take years for women of color to climb the corporate ladder again. The disparities in hiring and promotions were huge pre-pandemic but they may have become insurmountable post-pandemic. This has become one of the main reasons for women to change careers or industries

Even before the pandemic, only 1 in 5 direct reports to the CEO were women and this includes white women. The number is staggeringly low for women of color. Nearly, 154,000 Black women left the labor force in December 2020, a concerning sign of a lack of employment opportunities and overwhelming caregiving demands. There is less support for women of color to rejoin the workforce and start their careers from where they left off post-pandemic. They were already suffering from bias, discrimination, and pay inequity, now with less support, they have to fight for their positions from ground zero.

Employers Aren’t Doing Anything To Help:

The Black and Hispanic employees had the highest unemployment rate throughout the pandemic. They had higher death rates in their families and their communities as well. So, what did employers do to offer support and help them with this transition of working from home or being “essential workers” and looking after home as well? Nothing. Workplaces did not modify their practices in order to offer support to Black, Latina, and Indigenous women. Not only were they laid off, but for those employed they were struggling from lack of employer support.. Most companies haven’t realized the importance of optimizing the experience for women of color, offering them support, and helping them with their struggles during the pandemic.

There haven’t been any initiatives dedicated to improving retention and helping underrepresented employees overcome the losses and disparities they faced during the pandemic. Most of the companies haven’t offered any support, help with childcare, financial assistance, or teleworking options for women of color who have been struggling. There is no surprise that coming back to the job market isn’t easy for them because the increased bias and discrimination still persist.

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