The Future of Diversity and Inclusion 

It’s Time to Meet the Moment – Contingent Workforce Diversity & Inclusion: Current State and Evolving Best Practices

We know that diversity is good for business. We know that cultures of inclusion help attract, increase the productivity of, and retain top talent. We also know it’s the right thing to do.

Organizations have realized that doing good and profitability are not mutually exclusive. In fact, they are complementary. The next generation of workers are watching what companies are doing from a social responsibility perspective and from a diversity and inclusion (D&I) perspective. Therefore, to remain competitive in the talent arena, we act with a sense of urgency and weave D&I into our organizational DNA. Companies have been training their employees on D&I in the workplace for years; those same employees are responsible for selecting and hiring contingent workers. This creates an opportunity for procurement to make a huge difference at the right time with results, return on investment and cost savings on diversity hiring.

The need for greater equity is amplified now more than ever. A cultural shift is happening in the workforce and the world, with a pandemic, a recession and protests about racial injustice.

Belonging matters not just for some of your workforce, but for all. Focusing on D&I should not stop with your employed workers; your contingent workforce is a large part of your company culture, and those workers hold a big opportunity for you to take a giant, positive step forward when it comes to advancing inclusion and a sense of belonging.

If there is one thing this pandemic has taught us, it is that we are all connected, and we all benefit when organizations and institutions are more equitable.

It’s time to meet the moment: This is an amazing opportunity for companies to bring their employees together to infuse inclusion across their entire workforce, both employed and contingent. We must go beyond diversity spend to diversity hiring.

That’s why we teamed up with Staffing Industry Analysts to uncover contingent workforce diversity and inclusion efforts as they stand today – and to use this knowledge to lay the path forward for organizational leaders to create real and lasting change.

What we’ve seen from our ongoing conversations and research is that there is a true desire to build a more diverse contingent workforce that includes people from different races, abilities and backgrounds in order to strengthen our businesses and build cultures of belonging across the board.

In fact, it has been the number one topic of discussion that we have seen in the industry – and just in time, too. According to a September 2020 Citigroup report, racism has cost the US economy $16 trillion in 20 years.

But where to begin? As this report will show, many organizations have historically failed to prioritize D&I within their contingent workforce. But there is now a clear and compelling intent to change that. Some organizations have already progressed ahead of their peers and are leading the charge on best practices and cultural norms that have helped build a new diversity roadmap.

The leaders identified in this survey have the right idea; they experienced clear bottom-line results in creating and sustaining a diverse contingent workforce. This goes beyond implementing a few training sessions or signing up a supplier with diversity ownership. It’s about doing the real work needed to bring more humanity to the contingent workforce, which will result in a truly inclusive company culture overall. As this research shows, the reward is well worth it – not only in financial outcomes, such as return on investment, but in expanded innovation, better talent attraction, retention and productivity.

As enterprise leaders, especially those in HR and procurement, you have the power to lead the change for implementing a diversity and inclusion roadmap that will materially have a big impact on your organization – and, in turn, on our society. This is not one-size-fits-all; each company has a unique culture and set of needs. This report will help get you started.

The pages ahead will help tell you where you are compared to your peers, provide a roadmap of where you need to go, and also share a few best practices, tips and tricks on how to get there. Leaders can spark positive change in their companies, and business can spark positive change in society. When I began this journey two years ago, launching Consciously Unbiased at CWS Summit and highlighting the need to go beyond diversity spend to diversity hiring, I was humbled by the response. Now collectively let us make that a reality!

I am confident that if each of us take steps to be part of the change for creating workplaces of diversity inclusion and belonging that includes contingent labor, then our organizations will finally achieve a total talent solution!

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but with a commitment to taking the steps, both small and large, you will lead the transformation. A Chinese philosopher once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

Ashish Kaushal, CEO, HireTalent and Consciously Unbiased

November 2020

#LetsGoBeyondDiversitySpend2DiversityHiring!

 Please download the Future of Diversity and Inclusion report here: Learn — Consciously Unbiased