NAM: Manufacturers Make Progress On Diversity, Equity And Inclusion BY CHAD MOUTRAY Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) efforts have a lot of payoffs: they widen talent pipelines, increase retention
“Our 2019 analysis finds that companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability than companies in the fourth quartile — up from 21 percent in 2017 and 15 percent in 2014.” So what are manufacturers doing to strengthen DE&I in their workplaces? A newly updated survey from the Man- ufacturing Institute (MI) and Keybridge has the answers. The Survey Says The MI and Keybridge conducted their inaugural DE&I benchmarking survey in October 2021, and manufactur- ers’ DE&I efforts have grown a lot since then. One year later, the MI and Keybridge repeated the survey, and the results are in — along with recommendations for manufac- turers seeking to grow further. The survey reported that 72 percent of manufacturers agreed that improving and maintaining DE&I was a key fo-
rates and improve business out- comes. According to a 2020 McK- insey report titled “Diversity Wins,” gender diversity, cultural diversity, and ethnic diversity all contribute to better business outcomes. “The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to out- perform less diverse peers on profit-
Chad Moutray
ability,” says the report.
cus for their company in 2022 — and many of them have been taking tangible steps to- ward that goal. Of the 60 percent of companies that made public statements affirming their commitment to DE&I, most have followed through with diversity commitments, em- ployee resource groups, donations and transparent updates on their DE&I progress. More than 60 percent of respondents reported that the representation of women within their companies has increased in the past five years. Still, there were also some challenges in expanding the diversity of hir- ing pools. Fifty percent of companies reported struggling with hiring diverse candidates, with 40 percent struggling with retaining di- Companies that have not yet taken con- crete actions toward fulfilling their com- mitments can get started by developing a strategic plan or designating a senior lead- ership position for DE&I issues, the report recommended. Another useful tactic is set- ting up feedback mechanisms for employ- ees, so the company can track its progress on DE&I. For those further along, the report sug- gests other moves, including: • Expand recruitment pipelines by partner- ing with community organizations, commu- nity colleges, and technical schools to tap into more diverse pipelines • Update position descriptions with lan- guage that widens and diversifies the ap- plicant pool. • Review hiring practices to minimize bias, verse workers. Where To Start
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