Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | November 13, 2023 | wbjournal.com FOCUS H R & R E C R U I T M E N T DIVERSITY in recruitment Companies must expand their networks & standardize processes to meet DEI goals BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer J ob seekers across the spectrum of industries and career levels are urged to network, build connections, and seek out mentorship from individuals in their communities. Companies do the same, looking to established pipelines of talent from familiar colleges, internal referrals, and local networks. While that approach is the foot- in-the-door that can help a candidate get a job, it can also exclude many from gaining access to positions, and prevent companies from reaching goals of recruiting talent from a variety of backgrounds. "e majority of [job] opportunities are shared and gotten through networks and word of mouth," said Su Joun, principal at Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group in Cambridge, a firm specializing in the implementation of diversity, equity and inclusion practices at the corporate level. "We tell people to look beyond their established networks. at's the number one thing we recommend to our clients." Looking outside the typical network does not mean lowering hiring standards, said Joun, but rather ensures that hiring practices do not exclude a large group of potential employees or applicants. Understanding the community that the company aims to serve should guide the hiring practices, said Valerie Zolezzi-Wyndham, founder and CEO of Promoting Good, LLC in Upton, a consulting firm that leads transformational change processes at organizations. en, once the priorities are set, an unbiased, standardized process that is conscious of inherent biases is necessary to ensure the process plays out correctly. at process has to include an unbiased job description, posting of salary range, looking at a job description to make sure it's free of gendered language or language that could be racially coded, said Zolezzi-Wyndham. "While there has been a commitment to diverse hiring, there have also been many organizations that didn't create processes to codify that goal, and therefore outcomes have not changed," she said. In practice, it takes a multipronged approach that starts with hiring but continues to play out in commitment to positive workplace culture for employees from all backgrounds to see success. "Organizations that are successful in retaining staff are not only prioritizing inclusive hiring, but also workplace culture. e most successful organizations understand that one strategy can't exist without the other," said Zolezzi-Wyndham. What those processes look like depends on the specific organization. At MassBioEd, a Cambridge life sciences nonprofit, an apprenticeship program that targets the development of the adult workforce across the state helps bring historically excluded people into the industry. e program, a registered apprenticeship with the state, has a biomanufacturing focus in Central Mass. and partners with companies like AbbVie and Bristol Myers Squibb to train workers and provide staffing. e selected apprentices have 15 weeks of educational classes at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, followed by a year of on-the-job training. Approximately 97% of apprentices earn permanent employment at the end, according to Sunny Schwartz, CEO of MassBioEd. e program expands the talent pool, rather than poaching workers from other companies, said Schwartz. "We are reaching into the community deeply and in ways that employers don't know how to. We find new talent that employers might not otherwise," she said. e apprenticeship program has been in existence for three years, and in the first cohorts, approximately two-thirds of the apprentices have been people of color from underrepresented backgrounds, according to Schwartz. About 40% of the apprentices were unemployed before entering the program. "ere has been a lot of desire to diversify, but head scratching about how to do it," said Schwartz. "We are working to find opportunities for people who have been shut out historically." e apprenticeship program expands the network that MassBioEd is tapping into to help staff the life sciences industry, with an explicit goal of both diversifying the workforce and finding meaningful career opportunities for community members who have been shut out. e approach at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, the state's only public medical school, has been to address internal programs to place the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion work in the center of operations. UMass Chan, as part of its strategic plan, is aiming to improve health equity and population health. at can't be done without investing in diverse talent that meets the community where they are, said Milagros Rosal, professor of population and quantitative health sciences as well as vice provost for health equity at UMass Chan. "ese things require a more diverse community of clinicians, educators, researchers, and practitioners. We Valerie Zolezzi- Wyndham, founder and CEO of Promoting Good, LLC in Upton Su Joun, principal at Diversity@Workplace Consulting Group in Cambridge Lab support specialists provide training to participants in MassBioEd's apprenticeship program in addition to on-the-job biomanufacturing instruction. PHOTO | COURTESY OF MASSBIOED

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