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There is a quiet revolution happening in the workforce: the old metrics such as high salaries are being overthrown for a values-led culture that’s all about doing good. Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is the new way workers are sizing up the companies they’d like to work for, and finding them measuring up – or wanting.
Once again, this seachange is being led by younger workers, namely the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts. If you’re fresh out of college and looking for your first job, you’re very likely to feel the same way.
Where Baby Boomers are motivated by the need for flexibility (a Harvard Business Review study found that 87% of them want to work for employers which offer them this), Gen X workers are driven by a need for autonomy and freedom in the way they do their jobs.
Millennials are the most diverse generation
The picture changes for younger workers. Only around 3% of the current workforce is Gen Z right now, though that is changing as this generation grows up and enters the workforce. As things stand, Millennials are the most diverse cohort at work according to Gallup, and as a grouping, they are also the most diverse: 44.2% of Millennial workers are categorized as belonging to a minority.
It is no surprise then that they hold different values to older generations, and that they want different things from their workplaces. It is a values-led culture that is the key for these employees when it comes to work. According to Deloitte’s 2022 Millennial Survey, nearly two out of five workers in this age group have said no to a job or assignment because it did not align with their values.
It is also really important for these workers to be assured that their employers are making real efforts to positively impact society and the environment, and are creating a diverse and inclusive culture. This, the Deloitte report says, spurs them on to want to stay with their employer for more than five years.
Companies are listening to what younger workers want, keenly aware that in order to get great people to come and work for them, and to keep them as well, they need to do more than offer lip service to the idea of D&I.
Diversity is more than a tagline
Great companies understand that D&I (diversity and inclusion) is more than just a tagline on a website or a set of photographs on social media. A diverse and inclusive workplace is one that embraces D&I across all areas of the business and makes everyone, regardless of who they are or what they do, feel equally involved in and supported. This includes gender, religion, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, and other attributes.
There are many companies that are making inroads in D&I, genuinely turning the dial. We’re taking a look below at five which are currently hiring – and you can discover plenty more on the GradCafe Job Board.
Accenture
“We’re creating an accessible, inclusive environment where all our people can belong and thrive,” the professional services company says. Accenture’s areas of focus include gender, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, religion, persons with disabilities and cross-cultural diversity and in September the company ranked as the No. 1 company on Refinitiv’s Diversity & Inclusion Index, which identifies the 100 publicly traded companies with the most diverse and inclusive workplaces, based on environmental, social and governance (ESG) data.
Discover all open roles at Accenture here.
Salesforce
It is the world’s number one CRM platform and has over 50,000 employees worldwide. As a result, equality is of huge importance here with the company saying it is a core value.
“We believe that businesses can be powerful platforms for social change, and that it is our responsibility to further equality for all. Creating a culture of equality isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s also the smart thing,” Salesforce says.
The company set a goal in 2019 to have 50% of its U.S. employees from underrepresented groups by 2023. It also seeks to double the U.S. representation of Black leaders (VP+) and increase representation of underrepresented minority (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Multiracial) leaders by 50% by the end of 2023. Additionally, it has a goal of achieving 40%
women-identifying and non-binary employees globally by the end of 2026.
Like the sound of that? Check out all of Salesforce’s’ open roles here.
Adobe
It is the software company that powers creativity and it is also powering D&I, with Shantanu Narayen, Chairman, President, and CEO, of Adobe saying, “Adobe’s values — genuine, innovative, involved, and exceptional — are built on the foundation that our people and how we treat one another are what make us a great company. Diversity is about valuing the unique life experience that every employee brings to work every day. Our success is dependent upon it.”
The company publishes an annual Diversity and Inclusion Year in Review report in the interests of transparency and it has putin place a number of programs to help move the dial, including a pilot program that includes partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-serving Institutions to help prepare students for careers in tech and creative industries.
If you’d like to work at Adobe, the company is hiring now; check out current career opportunities.
Microsoft
Microsoft has a long-standing commitment to diversity and inclusion with nine Employee Resource Groups in operation throughout the company. These include The Global LGBTQIA+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft (GLEAM) employee resource group; and Blacks at Microsoft (BAM) which, when it was founded in 1989, was the company’s first employee resource group. It has led investment in programs like the BAM scholarships and Minority Student Day. There are also groups for disability, Asians, families and women, among others.
The company is hiring now with plenty of open roles: check those out here.
Deloitte
One of the “big four” consulting firms, Deloitte has around 415,000 employees globally. As a result it has a diverse workforce and it says “we want everyone to feel they can be themselves and to thrive at work—in every country, in everything we do, every day. This can only be achieved by providing a workplace culture characterized by inclusive everyday behaviors and built on a foundation of respect and appreciation for diversity in all its forms”.
The company stands against systemic bias, racism and unequal treatment, and has a three pillar approach to its inclusive talent culture: gender balance, advancing LGBT+ inclusion and supporting mental health.
If you’d like to work at Deloitte, you can check out all the available jobs at the company here.
Explore The GradCafe Job Board for more opportunities across all sectors and levels
Kirstie works for our job board partner, Jobbio. Based in Dublin, she has been a writer and editor
across print and digital platforms for over 15 years.
