Pitfall #1 – Tokenism in your campaigns

Tokenism isn’t new. But we still see employers perfunctorily peppering images of people they think will help them look diverse across campaigns, without doing the necessary DE&I groundwork. Candidates can see through this immediately. ThirtyThree’s own research shows that 83% of respondents said it was important to show a diverse workforce. But this can’t be in isolation.

Avoiding tokenism in DE&I initiatives means involving a wide range of colleagues in developing your brand narrative rather than just asking them to feature in marketing materials. This is how your storytelling will reflect genuine experiences and be authentic. Regular consultation with relevant networks and colleagues ensures your initiatives are meaningful. This means your communications are then sincere and actively strengthen the trust colleagues and candidates have in you as an employer.

Pitfall #2 - A message that doesn’t match the reality

Employer branding must be honest. If you misrepresent your organisation or employee experience, people who join because of false promises will soon realise and are far more likely to leave quicker. If you’re overpromising on your DE&I commitments, or your statements simply don’t match internal practices, you’re opening your organisation up to legitimate complaints of hypocrisy and disengagement that could hurt your employer brand.

The solution? Transparency. You don’t have to bring attention to areas where you’re underperforming, but you can instead highlight the areas your organisation is committed to improving in order to create a sense of belonging. Being honest about where you’re at as an organisation and substantiating your commitments with real action is how you’ll successfully engage talent. Candidates will often do their own research so being upfront is a good way to build trust.

You should also engage employees in helping to assess your DE&I efforts. Building in structures for continuous feedback and communication can help you identify areas where there’s a disconnect and be proactive in how to address them. That, in turn, means you can be more accurate in communicating where you’re at as an organisation.

Pitfall #3 – Chasing the statistics

Measuring how your DE&I initiatives perform is essential. But delivering DE&I initiatives primarily because you think they’ll be statistically significant is guaranteed to deliver shallow results with reduced long-term benefits. It’s demoralising for people within your organisation and often obvious to those outside when an initiative has been developed purely to chase specific statistics rather than deliver holistic improvements.

Ensure you are embedding DE&I as a core value, rather than treating it as a box to be ticked. Creating an inclusive home for colleagues of all backgrounds is an essential part of how you’ll succeed as an organisation. Delivering it can be a long-term project, so you should be strategic in what you’re trying to improve. Set realistic, long-term goals and work with existing colleagues to develop policies that are meaningful to them. Your employer Brand and any subsequent recruitment initiatives should be in tune with these longer-term goals. 

Pitfall #4 – Neglecting equity and inclusion

That emphasis on compliance means it’s easy to be led by what’s easy to track. It’s common for employers to focus their efforts on increasing diversity and focussing on applicant diversity, and not putting in the commensurate effort on creating an equitable and inclusive workplace. That means that even if your efforts on diversifying applications are successful, new joiners are more likely to leave which can have several negative implications for your brand.

Our recent whitepaper showed that 44% of candidates are more likely to join a company that promotes activities from employee network groups. People want to know that you’re actively trying to build an inclusive culture. Whether it’s sharing the support of network groups, telling a positive story about your inclusion metrics or something else, don’t forget that successful inclusion is essential, and should be a cornerstone of boosting your employer brand.

Taking the first step towards true DE&I

Creating truly diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces is no quick fix and shaping your employer Brand to reflect this can feel complex at times. But it can be done, and ThirtyThree has helped clients do it. Take a look at our DE&I work to see how we’ve supported others. And if you’re looking to understand where you’re currently at and what can be improved, check out ThirtyThree’s Inclusive Communications Audit here: https://www.thirtythr.ee/products/unlocked