To stay competitive, IT leaders need to radically change the way they recruit and retain talent, and women in IT represent one of the largest untapped markets for IT talent. CIOs need a targeted strategy to attract and retain the best, and this requires a shift in how leaders currently manage the talent lifecycle. Info-Tech offers a targeted solution that will help IT leaders:
Besides the small introduction, subscribers and consulting clients within this management domain have access to:
Create a targeted recruitment and retention strategy for women. Increase the number of viable candidates by leveraging best practices to sell to, search for, and secure top women in IT. Take a data-driven approach to improving retention of women by using best practices to measure and improve employee engagement.
These tools tap into best practices to help you collect the information you need to build, assess, test, and adopt an employee value proposition.
Don’t hire by intuition, consider leveraging behavioral interview questions to reduce bias and uncover candidates that will be able to execute on the job.
Stay interviews are an effective method for monitoring employee engagement. Have these informal conversations to gain insight into what your employees really think about their jobs, what causes them to stay, and what may lead them to leave.
Workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.
Identify the need for a targeted strategy to recruit and retain women in IT and pinpoint your largest opportunities to drive diversity in your IT team.
Establish goals and targets for the changes to be made to your IT recruitment and retention strategies.
1.1 Understand trends in IT staffing.
1.2 Assess your talent lifecycle challenges and opportunities.
1.3 Make the case for changes to recruitment and retention strategies.
Recruitment & Retention Metrics Report
Business Case for Recruitment and Retention Changes
The way you position the organization impacts who is likely to apply to posted positions. Ensure you are putting a competitive foot forward by developing a unique, meaningful, and aspirational employee value proposition and clear job descriptions.
Implement effective strategies to drive more applications to your job postings.
2.1 Develop an IT employee value proposition.
2.2 Adopt your employee value proposition.
2.3 Write meaningful job postings.
Employee Value Proposition
EVP Marketing Plan
Revised Job Ads
Sourcing shouldn’t start with an open position, it should start with identifying an anticipated need and then building and nurturing a talent pipeline.
IT participation in this is critical to effectively promote the employee experience and foster relationships before candidates even apply.
Develop a modern job requisition form though role analysis.
Increase your candidate pool by expanding sourcing programs.
3.1 Build realistic job requisition forms.
3.2 Identify new alternative sourcing approaches for talent.
3.3 Build a sourcing strategy.
Job requisition form for key roles
Sourcing strategy for key roles
Work with your HR department to influence the recruitment process by taking a data-driven approach to understanding the root cause of applicant drop-off and success and take corrective actions.
Optimize your selection process.
Implement non-bias interview techniques in your selection process.
4.1 Assess key selection challenges.
4.2 Implement behavioral interview techniques.
Root-Cause Analysis of Section Challenges
Behavioral Interview Guide
Employee engagement is one of the greatest predictors of intention to stay.
To retain employees you need to understand not only engagement, but also your employee experience and the moments that matter, and actively work to create positive experience.
Identify opportunities to drive engagement across your IT organization.
Implement tactical programs to reduce turnover in IT.
5.1 Measure employee engagement and review results.
5.2 Identify new alternative sourcing approaches for talent.
5.3 Train managers to conduct stay interviews and drive employee engagement.
Identified Employee Engagement Action Plan
Action Plan to Execute Stay Interviews
Technology has never been more important to organizations, and as a result, recruiting and retaining quality IT employees is increasingly difficult.
To stay competitive, IT leaders need to radically change the way they recruit and retain talent, and women in IT represent one of the largest untapped markets. CIOs need a targeted strategy to attract and retain the best, and this requires a shift in how leaders currently manage the talent lifecycle. Info-Tech offers a targeted solution to help:
Retaining and attracting top women is good business, not personal. Companies with greater gender diversity on executive teams were 25% more likely to have above-average profitability.1 In the war on talent, having a strategy around how you will recruit and retain women in IT is Marketing 101. What influences whether women apply for roles and stay at organizations is different than men; traditional models won’t cut it.
65% of men think their employers have a program to encourage hiring women. But only 51% of women agree.
71% of men believe their employers have a program to encourage the promotion or advancement of women. But only 59% of women agree.
49% of women compared to 44% of men in the survey feel they must work harder than their peers.
22% of women compared to 14% of men feel they are underpaid.
66% of women compared to 72% of men feel they are receiving sufficient resources to sustain their career.
30% of women compared to 23% of men feel they have unequal growth opportunities.
74% of women compared to 64% of men feel they lack confidence to negotiate their salaries.
The chart to the left, compiled by Statista, (based on self-reported company figures) shows that women held between 23% to 25% of the tech jobs at major tech companies.
Women are also underrepresented in leadership positions: 34% at Facebook, 31% at Apple, 29% at Amazon, 28% at Google, and 26% at Microsoft.
To help support women in tech, 78% of women say companies should promote more women into leadership positions. Other solutions include:
* Recent data stays consistent, but, the importance of compensation and recognition in retaining women in IT is increasing.
The majority of organizations take a one-size-fits-all approach to retaining and engaging employees.
However, studies show that women are leaving IT in significantly higher proportions than men and that the drivers impacting men’s and women’s retention are different. Knowing how men and women react differently to engagement drivers will help you create a targeted retention strategy.
In particular, to increase the retention and engagement of women, organizations should develop targeted initiatives that focus on:
SIGNS YOU MAY NEED A TARGETED RECRUITMENT STRATEGY… |
SIGNS YOU MAY NEED A TARGETED RETENTION STRATEGY… |
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Info-Tech takes a practical, tactical approach to improving gender diversity at organizations, which starts with straightforward tactics that will help you improve the recruitment and retention of women in your organization.
If you don’t have a targeted recruitment strategy for women, you are missing out on 50% of the candidate pool. Increase the number of viable candidates by leveraging best practices to sell to, search for, and secure top women in IT.
Key metrics to track:
The drivers that impact the retention of men and women are different. Take a data-driven approach to improving retention of women in your organization by using best practices to measure and improve employee engagement.
Key metrics to track:
1. Enhance Your Recruitment Strategies |
2. Enhance Your Retention Strategies |
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Phase Steps |
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Phase Outcomes |
Recruitment Optimization Plan |
Retention Optimization Plan |
"Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful."
"Our teams knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track."
"We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place."
"Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project."
A Guided Implementation (GI) is a series of calls with an Info-Tech analyst to help implement our best practices in your organization. A typical GI is 6 calls over the course of 1 to 2 months.
1. Tactics to Recruit More Women in IT
Call #1: Develop a strategy to better sell your organization to diverse candidates.
Call #2: Evaluate your candidate search practices to reach a wider audience.
Call #3: Introduce best practices in your interviews to improve the candidate experience and limit bias.
2. Tactics to Retain More Women in IT
Call #4: Launch focus groups to improve performance of key retention drivers.
Call #5: Measure the employee experience and identify key moments that matter to staff.
Call #6: Conduct stay interviews and establish actions to improve retention.
Contact your account representative for more information.
workshops@infotech.com 1-888-670-8889
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Day 5 |
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Make the Case |
Develop Strategies to Sell to a Wider Candidate Pool |
Expand Your Talent Sourcing Strategy |
Secure & Retain Top Talent |
Next Steps and Wrap-Up (offsite) |
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Activities |
1.1 Understand trends in IT staffing. 1.2 Assess your talent lifecycle. 1.3 Make the case for changes to recruitment and retention strategies. |
2.1 Develop an IT employee value proposition (EVP). 2.2 Adopt your employee value proposition. 2.3 Write meaningful job postings. |
3.1 Build realistic job requisition forms. 3.2 Identify new alternative sourcing approaches for talent. 3.3 Build a sourcing strategy. |
4.1 Assess key selection challenges. 4.2 Implement behavioral interview techniques. 4.3 Measure employee engagement and review results. 4.4 Develop programs to improve employee engagement. 4.5 Train managers to conduct stay interviews and drive employee engagement. |
5.1 Complete in-progress deliverables from previous four days. 5.2 Set up review time for workshop deliverables and to discuss next steps. |
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Phase 1
Phase 2
How do you position the value of working for your organization and roles in a meaningful way?
How can you expand your key search criteria and sourcing strategies to reach more candidates?
How can you reduce bias in your interview process and create positive candidate experiences?
1. Develop an employee value proposition that will attract female candidates.
2. Understand how your job postings may be deterring female candidates.
3. Identify opportunities to expand your role analysis for job requisitions.
4. Increase your candidate pool by expanding sourcing programs.
5. Identify tactics to improve women’s interview experience.
6. Leverage behavioral interview questions to limit bias in interviews.
Please note, this section is not a replacement or a full talent strategy. Rather, this blueprint will highlight key tactics within talent acquisition practices that the IT leadership team can help to influence to drive greater diversity in recruitment.
Work with your HR department to track critical metrics around where you need to make improvements and where you can partner with your recruitment team to improve your recruitment process and build a more diverse pipeline. Identify where you have significant drops or variation in diversity or overall need and select where you’d like to focus your recruitment improvement efforts.
Selection Process Step |
Sample Metrics to Track |
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Sell | Average time to fill a vacant position |
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Average number of applicants for posted positions |
Total # of Candidates; # of Male Candidates (% of total); # of Female Candidates (% of total); % Difference Male & Female |
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Number of page visits vs. applications for posted positions |
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Total # of Candidates |
# of Male Candidates |
% of total |
# of Female Candidates |
% of total |
% Difference Male & Female |
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Search | Number of applicants coming from your different sourcing channels (one line per sourcing channel: LinkedIn Group A, website, job boards, specific events, etc.) |
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Number of applicants coming from referrals |
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Secure | Number of applicants meeting qualifications |
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Number of applicants selected for second interview |
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Number of applicants rejecting an offer |
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Number of applicants accepting an offer |
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Number of employees retained for one year |
The way you position the organization impacts who is likely to apply to posted positions. Ensure you are putting a competitive foot forward by developing a unique, meaningful, and aspirational employee value proposition and clear job descriptions.
What is an employee value proposition?
An employee value proposition (EVP) is a unique and clearly defined set of attributes and benefits that capture an employee’s overall work experience within an organization. An EVP is your opportunity to showcase the unique benefits and opportunities of working at your organization, allowing you to attract a wider pool of candidates.
How is an employee value proposition used?
Your EVP should be used internally and externally to promote the unique benefits of working within the department. As a recruiting tool, you can use it to attract candidates, highlighting the benefits of working for your organization. The EVP is often highlighted where you are most likely to reach your target audience, whether that is through social media, in-person events, or in other advertising activities.
Why tailor this to multiple audiences?
While your employee value proposition should remain constant in terms of the unique benefits of working for your organization, you want to ensure that the EVP appeals to multiple audiences and that it is backed up by relevant stories that support how your organization lives your EVP every day. Candidates need to be able to relate to the EVP and see it as desirable, so ensuring that it is relatable to a diverse audience is key.
1. Build and Assess the EVP
Assess your existing employee value proposition and/or build a forward-looking, meaningful, authentic, aspirational EVP.
2. Test the EVP
Gather feedback from staff to ensure the EVP is meaningful internally and externally.
3. Adopt the EVP
Identify how and where you will leverage the EVP internally and externally, and integrate the EVP into your candidate experience, job ads, and employee engagement initiatives.
As you build your EVP, keep in mind that while it’s important to brand your IT organization as an inclusive workplace to help you attract diverse candidates, be honest about your current level of diversity and your intentions to improve. Otherwise, new recruits will be disappointed and leave.
The employee value proposition is your opportunity to showcase the unique benefits and opportunities of working at your organization, allowing you to attract a wider pool of candidates.
AN EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION IS: |
AN EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION IS NOT: |
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THE FOUR KEY COMPONENTS OF AN EMPLOYEE VALUE PROPOSITION |
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Rewards |
Organizational Elements |
Working Conditions |
Day-to-Day Job Elements |
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Creating a compelling EVP that presents a picture of your employee experience, with a focus on diversity, will attract females to your team. This can lead to many internal and external benefits for your organization.
Existing Employee Value Proposition: If your organization or IT department has an existing employee value proposition, rather than starting from scratch, we recommend leveraging that and moving to the testing phase to see if the EVP still resonates with staff and external parties.
Employee Engagement Results: If your organization does an employee engagement survey, review the results to identify the areas in which the IT organization is performing well. Identify and document any key comment themes in the report around why employees enjoy working for the organization or what makes your IT department a great place to work.
Social Media Sites. Prepare for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Social media websites like Glassdoor and Indeed make it easier for employees to share their experiences at an organization honestly and candidly. While postings on these sites won’t relate exclusively to the IT department, they do invite participants to identify their department in the organization. You can search these to identify any positive things people are saying about working for the organization and potentially opportunities for improvement (which you can use as a starting point in the retention section of this report).
Sell – Assess the current state and develop your employee value proposition
Activities
1.1.1 Gather feedback on unique benefits
1.1.2 Build key messages
1.1.3 Test your EVP
1.1.4 Adopt your EVP
1.1.5 Review job postings for gender bias
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Download the EVP Interview Guide
*See Engagement Driver Handout slides for more details on these five drivers.
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Internally and Externally
Use the EVP Scorecard and EVP Scorecard Handout throughout this step to assess your EVP against:
Internal Criteria:
External Criteria:
INTERNAL TEST REVOLVES AROUND THE 3A’s |
EXTERNAL TEST REVOLVES AROUND THE 3C’s |
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ALIGNED: The EVP is in line with the organization’s purpose, vision, values, and processes. Ensure policies and programs are aligned with the organization’s EVP. |
CLEAR: The EVP is straightforward, simple, and easy to understand. Without a clear message in the market, even the best intentioned EVPs can be lost in confusion. |
ACCURATE: The EVP is clear and compelling, supported by proof points. It captures the true employee experience, which matches the organization’s communication and message in the market. |
COMPELLING: The EVP emphasizes the value created for employees and is a strong motivator to join this organization. A strong EVP will be effective in drawing in external candidates. The message will resonate with them and attract them to your organization. |
ASPIRATIONAL: The EVP inspires both individuals and the IT organization as a whole. Identify and invest in the areas that are sure to generate the highest returns for employees. |
COMPREHENSIVE: The EVP provides enough information for the potential employee to understand the true employee experience and to self-assess whether they are a good fit for your organization. If the EVP lacks depth, the potential employee may have a hard time understanding the benefits and rewards of working for your organization. |
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INDUSTRY: Restaurant
SOURCE: McDonald’s Careers, Canadian Business via McLean & Company
McDonald’s saw a divide between employee experience and its vision. McDonald’s set out to reinvent its employer image and create the reputation it wanted.
For the full article please click here.
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INDUSTRY: Social Media
SOURCE: Buffer Open blog
When the social media platform Buffer replaced one word in a job posting, it noticed an increase in female candidates.
For the social media platform Buffer, all employees were called “hackers.” It had front-end hackers, back-end hackers, Android hackers, iOS hackers, and traction hackers.
As the company began to grow and ramp up hiring, the Chief Technology Officer, Sunil Sadasivan, noticed that Buffer was seeing a very low percentage of female candidates for these “hacker” jobs.
In researching the challenge in lack of female candidates, the Buffer team discovered that the word “hacker” may be just the reason why.
Understanding that wording has a strong impact on the type of candidates applying to work for Buffer started a great and important conversation on the Buffer team.
Buffer wanted to be as inviting as possible in job listings, especially because it hires for culture fit over technical skill.
Buffer went through a number of wording choices that could replace “hacker,” and ended on the term “developer.” All external roles were updated to reflect this wording change.
By making this slight change to the wording used in their jobs, Buffer went from seeing a less than 2% female representation of applicants for developer jobs to around 12% female representation for the same job.
Activities
1.2.1 Complete role analysis
1.2.2 Expand your sourcing pools
Sourcing shouldn’t start with an open position; it should start with identifying an anticipated need and building and nurturing a talent pipeline. IT participation in this is critical to effectively promote the employee experience and foster relationships before candidates even apply.
What is a candidate sourcing program?
A candidate sourcing program is one element of the overall HR sourcing approach, which consists of the overall process (steps to source talent), the people responsible for sourcing, and the programs (internal talent mobility, social media, employee referral, alumni network, campus recruitment, etc.).
What is a sourcing role analysis?
Part of the sourcing plan will outline how to identify talent for a role, which includes both the role analysis and the market assessment. The market assessment is normally completed by the HR department and consists of analyzing the market conditions as they relate to specific talent needs. The role analysis looks at what is necessary to be successful in a role, including competencies, education, background experience, etc.
How will this enable you to attract female candidates?
Expanding your sourcing programs and supporting deeper role analysis will allow your HR department to reach a larger candidate pool and better understand the type of talent that will be successful in roles within your organization. By expanding from traditional pools and criteria you will open the organization up to a wider variety of talent options.
Failure to take an inclusive approach to sourcing will limit your talent pool by sidelining entire groups or discouraging applicants from diverse backgrounds. Address bias in sourcing so that diverse candidates are not excluded from the start. Solutions such as removing biographical data from CVs prior to interviews may reduce bias, but they may come too late to impact diversity.
Potential areas of bias in sourcing: |
Modifications to reduce bias: |
Intake Session
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Sourcing Pools
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Required Entry Criteria |
Preferred Entry Criteria |
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Education |
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Experience |
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Level of Proficiency |
Behavioral Descriptions |
Business Analysis |
Level 2: Capable |
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SOURCING APPROACH
INTERNAL MOBILITY PROGRAM
Positioning the right talent in the right place, at the right time, for the right reasons, and supporting them appropriately. Often tied to succession or workforce planning, mentorship, and learning and development.
SOCIAL MEDIA PROGRAM
The widely accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access information, collaborate on common efforts, and build relationships. Think beyond the traditional and consider niche social media platforms.
EMPLOYEE REFERRAL PROGRAM
Employees recommend qualified candidates. If the referral is hired, the referring employee typically receives some sort of reward.
ALUMNI PROGRAM
An alumni referral program is a formalized way to maintain ongoing relationships with former employees of the organization.
CAMPUS RECRUITING PROGRAM
A formalized means of attracting and hiring individuals who are about to graduate from schools, colleges, or universities.
EVENTS & ASSOCIATION PROGRAM
A targeted approach for participation in non-profit associations and industry events to build brand awareness of your organization and create a forward-looking talent pipeline.
# of Candidates From Approach |
% of Female Candidates From Approach |
Target # of Female Candidates |
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Internal Talent Mobility |
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Social Media Program |
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Employee Referral Program |
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Alumni Program |
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Campus Recruiting Program |
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Other (job databases, corporate website, etc.) |
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Internal Mobility Program |
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Social Media Program |
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Employee Referral Program |
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Alumni Program |
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Campus Recruiting Program |
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Events & Non-Profit Affiliations |
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Work with your HR department to influence the recruitment process by taking a data-driven approach to understand the root cause of applicant drop-off and success and take corrective actions.
Why does the candidate experience matter?
Until recently it was an employer’s market, so recruiters and hiring managers were able to get good talent without courting top candidates. Today, that’s not the case. You need to treat your IT candidates like customers and be mindful that this is often one of the first experiences future staff will have with the organization. It will give them their first real sense of the culture of the organization and whether they want to work for the organization.
What can IT leaders do if they have limited influence over the interview process?
Work with your HR department to evaluate the existing recruitment process, share challenges you’ve experienced, and offer additional support in the process. Identify where you can influence the process and if there are opportunities to build service-level agreements around the candidate experience.
While your HR department likely owns the candidate experience and processes, if you have identified challenges in diversity we recommend partnering with your HR department or recruitment team to identify opportunities for improvement within the process. If you are attracting a good amount of candidates through your sell and search tactics but aren’t finding that this is translating into more women selected, it’s time to take a look at your selection processes.
SIMPLIFIED CANDIDATE SELECTION PROCESS STEPS
To understand the challenges within your selection process, start by baselining your drop-off rates throughout selection and comparing the differences in male and female candidates. Use this to pin point the issues within the process and complete a root-cause analysis to identify where to improve.
Activities
1.3.1 Identify selection challenges
Selection Process Step | Total # of Candidates | Male Candidates | Female Candidates | % Difference Male & Female | ||
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Applicants for Posted Position | 150 | 115 | 76.7% | 35 | 23.3% | 70% fewer females |
Selected for Interview | ||||||
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(Selected for Final Interview) | ||||||
Offer Extended | ||||||
Offer Rejected | ||||||
Employees Retained for One Year |
Note: For larger organizations, we highly recommend analyzing differences in specific teams/roles and/or at different seniority levels. If you have that data available, repeat the analysis, controlling for those factors.
Brainstorming/Process of Elimination
After brainstorming, identify which possible causes are not the issue’s root cause by removing unlikely causes.
The Five Whys
Use reverse engineering to delve deeper into a recruitment issue to identify the root cause.
Ishikawa/Fishbone Diagram
Use an Ishikawa/fishbone diagram to identify and narrow down possible causes by categories.
Using the process of elimination can be a powerful tool to determine root causes.
Example
Problem: Women candidates are rejecting job offers more consistently
Potential Causes
As you brainstorm, ensure that you are identifying differentiators between male and female candidate experiences and rationale. If you ask candidates their rationale for turning down roles, ensure that these are included in the discussion.
Repeatedly asking “why” might seem overly simplistic, but it has the potential to be useful.
Example
Use this technique to sort potential causes by category and match them to the problem.
Info-Tech Best Practice
Avoid naming individuals in the fishbone diagram. The goal of the root-cause exercise is not to lay blame or zero in on a guilty party but rather to identify how you can rectify any challenges.
Reduce bias in your interviews.
In the past, companies were pushing the boundaries of the conventional interview, using unconventional questions to find top talent, e.g. “what color is your personality?” The logic was that the best people are the ones who don’t necessarily show perfectly on a resume, and they were intent on finding the best.
However, many companies have stopped using these questions after extensive statistical analysis revealed there was no correlation between candidates’ ability to answer them and their future performance on the job. Hiring by intuition – or “gut” – is usually dependent on an interpersonal connection being developed over a very short period of time. This means that people who were naturally likeable would be given preferential treatment in hiring decisions whether they were capable of doing the job.
Asking behavioral interview questions based on the competency needs of the role is the best way to uncover if the candidates will be able to execute on the job.
For more information see Info-Tech’s Behavioral Interview Question Library.
Broaden the notion of fit:
For a deeper analysis of your new hire processes Info-Tech’s sister company, McLean & Company, is an HR research and advisory firm that offers powerful diagnostics to measure HR processes effectiveness. If you are finding diversity issues to be systemic within the organization, leveraging a diagnostic can greatly improve your processes.
Use this diagnostic to get vital feedback on:
For more information on the New Hire Survey click here. If you are interested in referring your HR partner please contact your account manager.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Employee engagement: the measurement of effective management practices that create a positive emotional connection between the employee and the organization.
Engaged employees do what’s best for the organization: they come up with product/service improvements, provide exceptional service to customers, consistently exceed performance expectations, and make efficient use of their time and resources. The result is happy customers, better products/services, and saved costs.
Today, what we find is that 54% of women in IT are not engaged,* but…
…engaged employees are: 39% more likely to stay at an organization than employees who are not engaged.*
Additionally, engaging your female staff also has the additional benefit of increasing willingness to innovate by 30% and performance by 28%. The good news is that increasing employee engagement is not difficult, it just requires dedication and an effective toolkit to monitor, analyze, and implement tactics.*
* Recent data stays consistent, but the importance of compensation and recognition in retaining women in IT is increasing.
An analysis of the differences between men and women in IT’s drivers indicates that women in IT are significantly less likely than men in IT to agree with the following statements:
Culture:
Employee Empowerment:
Manager Relationships:
Working Environment:
Employee engagement is one of the greatest predictors of intention to stay. To retain you need to understand not only engagement but also your employee experience – the moments that matter – and actively work to create a positive experience.
What differentiates an engaged employee?
Engaged employees do what’s best for the organization: they come up with product/service improvements, provide exceptional service to customers, consistently exceed performance expectations, and make efficient use of their time and resources. The result is happy customers, better products/services, and saved costs.
Why measure engagement when looking at retention?
Engaged employees report 39%1 higher intention to stay at the organization than disengaged employees. The cost of losing an employee is estimated to be 150% to 200% of their annual salary.2 Can you afford to not engage your staff?
Why should IT leadership be responsible for their staff engagement?
Engagement happens every day, through every interaction, and needs to be tailored to individual team members to be successful. When engagement is owned by IT leadership, engagement initiatives are incorporated into daily experiences and personalized to their employees based on what is happening in real time. It is this active, dynamic leadership that inspires ongoing employee engagement and differentiates those who talk about engagement from those who succeed in engaging their teams.
Activities
2.1.1 Review employee engagement results and trends
2.1.2 Focus on areas that impact retention of women
Info-Tech’s employee engagement diagnostics are low-effort, high-impact programs that will give you detailed report cards on the organization’s engagement levels. Use these insights to understand your employees’ engagement levels by a variety of core demographics.
FULL ENGAGEMENT DIAGNOSTIC |
EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE MONITOR |
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The full engagement diagnostic provides a comprehensive view of your organization’s engagement levels, informing you of what motivates employees and providing a detailed view of what engagement drivers to focus on for optimal results. Info-Tech & McLean & Company’s Full Engagement Diagnostic Survey has 81 questions in total. The survey should be completed annually and typically takes 15-20 minutes to complete. |
The EXM Dashboard is designed to give organizations a real-time view of employee engagement while being minimally intrusive. This monthly one-question survey allows organizations to track the impact of events and initiatives on employee engagement as they happen, creating a culture of engagement. The survey takes less than 30 seconds to complete and is fully automated. |
For the purpose of improving retention of women in IT, we encourage you to leverage the EXM tool, which will allow you to track how this demographic group’s engagement changes as you implement new initiatives.
Overall Engagement Results
Priority Matrix and Driver Scores
EXM Dashboard
Time Series Trends
Info-Tech’s dedicated team of program managers will facilitate this diagnostic program remotely, providing you with a convenient, low-effort, high-impact experience.
We will guide you through the process with your goals in mind to deliver deep insight into your successes and areas to improve.
What You Need to Do: |
Info-Tech’s Program Manager Will: |
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Engagement driver handout
Culture: The degree to which an employee identifies with the beliefs, values, and attitudes of the organization.
Questions:
Ranked Correlation of Impact of Engagement Driver on Retention:
Company Potential: An employee’s understanding of and commitment to the organization’s mission, and the employee’s excitement about the organization’s mission and future.
Questions:
Ranked Correlation of Impact of Engagement Driver on Retention:
Employee Empowerment: The degree to which employees have accountability and control over their work within a supported environment.
Questions:
Ranked Correlation of Impact of Engagement Driver on Retention:
Learning and Development: A cooperative and continuous effort between an employee and the organization to enhance an employee’s skill set and expertise and meet an employee’s career objectives and the organization’s needs.
Questions:
Ranked Correlation of Impact of Engagement Driver on Retention:
Manager Relationships: The professional and personal relationship an employee has with their manager. Manager relationships depend on the trust that exists between these two individuals and the extent that a manager supports and develops the employee.
Questions:
Ranked Correlation of Impact of Engagement Driver on Retention:
Activities
2.2.1 Identify moments that matter
Train your managers to provide them with the skills and expertise to recognize the warning signs of an employee’s departure and know how to re-engage and retain them.
Employee experience (EX) is the employee’s perception of their cumulative lived experiences with the organization. It is gauged by how well the employee’s expectations are met within the parameters of the workplace, especially by the “moments that matter” to them. Individual employee engagement is the outcome of a strong overall EX.
Moments that matter are defining pieces or periods in an employee’s experience that create a critical turning point or memory that is of significant importance to them.
These are moments that dramatically change the path of the emotional journey, influence the quality of the final outcome, or end the journey prematurely.
To identify the moment that matters look for significant drops in the emotional journey that your organization needs to improve or significant bumps that your organization can capitalize on. Look for these drops or bumps in the journey and take stock of everything you have recorded at that point in the process. To improve the experience, analyze the hidden needs and how they are or aren’t being met.
The moment that matters is key and it could be completely separate from organizational life, like the death of a family member. Leaders can more proactively address these moments that matter by identifying them and determining how to make the touchpoint at that moment more impactful.
Retention
Employees who indicate they are having a positive experience at work have a 52% higher level of intent to stay (Great Place To Work Institute, 2021)
The bottom line
Organizations that make employee experience a focus have: 23% higher profitability 10% higher customer loyalty (Achievers, 2021)
INDUSTRY: Post-Secondary Education
SOURCE: Adam Grant, “Impact and the Art of Motivation Maintenance: The Effects of Contact with Beneficiaries on Persistence Behavior”
Challenge
A university call center, tasked with raising scholarship money from potential donors, had high employee turnover and low morale.
Solution
A study led by Grant arranged for a test group of employees to meet and interact with a scholarship recipient. In the five-minute meeting, employees learned what the student was studying.
Results
Demonstrating the purpose behind their work had significant returns. Employees who had met with the student demonstrated:
More than two times longer “talk time” with potential donors.
A productivity increase of 400%: the weekly average in donations went from $185.94 to $503.22 for test-group employees.
Do not wait until employees leave to find out what they were unhappy with or why they liked the organization. Instead, perform stay interviews with top and core talent to create a holistic understanding of what they are perceiving and feeling.
What is a stay interview?
A stay interview is a conversation with current employees. It should be performed on a yearly basis and is an informal discussion to generate deeper insight into the employee’s opinions, perspectives, concerns, and complaints. Stay interviews can have a multitude of uses. In this project they will be used to understand why top and core talent chose to stay with the organization to ensure that organizations understand and build upon their current strengths.
When should you do stay interviews?
We recommend completing stay interviews at least on an annual, if not quarterly, basis to truly understand how staff are feeling about the organization and their job, why they stay at the organization, and what would cause them to leave. Couple the outcomes of these interviews with employee engagement action planning to ensure that you are able to address talent needs.
Activities
2.3.1 Conduct stay interviews
Build stay interviews into the regular routine. By incorporating stay interviews into your schedule, they are more likely to stick. This regularity provides several advantages:
Stay interview best practices:
Proactively identify opportunities to drive retention.
The Stay Interview Guide helps managers conduct interviews with current employees, enabling the manager to understand:
Use this template to help you understand how you can best engage your employees and identify any challenges, in terms of moments that mattered, that negatively impacted their intention to stay at the organization.
Download the Stay Interview Guide
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