Diversity and inclusion policies are commonplace in most organizations, and often form a central part of any recruitment efforts. Research from Pennsylvania State University shows that LGBTQ+ job seekers demand such efforts be authentic.
“As organizations seek to attract a more diverse workforce, it’s important that they’re not just saying that they care but that they embody practices to attract individuals,” the researchers explain.
Diversity signals
The researchers looked at two types of signals on company websites to see how they affect job seekers’ initial interest in a company and whether they feel like they’d be a good fit there.
First, there are “pointing signals.” These signals basically tell job seekers that the company is all for diversity and inclusion. For example, it could be a statement from the CEO supporting LGBTQ+ rights or pictures of employees at a pride parade.
Then, there are “activating signals.” These signals show job seekers that the company is actively doing things to promote diversity and inclusion. This could include having LGBTQ+ employee groups or policies that make suppliers get diversity training.
Looking for work
Between 2020 and 2022, the researchers did two experiments and a survey. They used an online platform called Prolific to find people to take part in their studies.
In the first experiment, they got LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. who were looking for jobs to look at a fake logistics company’s website. Afterward, they answered questions about what they thought of the company’s approach to diversity, whether they liked the company, and if they felt like they’d fit in there. The websites they looked at had different levels of pointing or activating signals. In one version, they changed the content about diversity to be about other things like commitment.
The second experiment was pretty much the same as the first, but the participants didn’t identify as LGBTQ+. In the survey, people from both groups looked at real company websites they had recently seen while job hunting and gave their opinions about them.
“The final study helped us account for other reasons someone may be attracted to an organization, like geographic location or industry reputation. The results showed that, even after accounting for other organizational information, diversity signals remain important to job seekers,” the authors explain.
Effective signals
In the first experiment with LGBTQ+ participants, the researchers discovered that both pointing and activating signals had a positive effect on how participants viewed a company’s approach to diversity. However, activating signals had a more significant impact on making them see the company as diverse and inclusive. These positive perceptions made the job seekers more interested in the company and feel like they would fit in there.
In the second experiment with non-LGBTQ+ participants, both activating and pointing signals improved how participants perceived the company’s diversity climate. This suggests that signals indicating LGBTQ+ inclusivity can also benefit other job seekers by making them more interested in and feel like they fit in with the company.
The results from the survey study matched what was found in the first two experiments. Overall, job seekers were more attracted to and felt they fit better with real companies that genuinely supported LGBTQ+ employees on their corporate websites.
Based on these findings, the researchers emphasize that companies and organizations aiming to attract and support a diverse workforce need to do more than just talk about diversity. They must take concrete actions to demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion.
