The Business Imperative for DE&I to Prepare for the Workforce of the Future

(hint: It’s just as beneficial for your company as your new talent pool!)

It’s no secret that the workplace of the future is gaining ground much faster than expected, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing advance of the digital economy, technology, innovation, automation and more.

Part and parcel of planning for the fast-approaching future workplace is the need to plan for a new type of workforce. The World Economic Forum estimates that, by 2025, 50% of workers will need to be reskilled, while 97 million new roles will be created with a heavy emphasis on data analytics, digital experience and automation.  

Given Real Chemistry’s intensive focus on data analytics and technology, we know that competition for the right talent will be fierce. That’s why we are working hard to change our culture now to ensure we continue to recruit and retain the right talent today and for the years ahead.

What does the workforce of the future look like? It is younger: by 2025, it’s predicted that 75% of the global workforce will be millennials. As they grow into management positions, these millennials – among other measures – plan to reevaluate hiring and retention to promote diversity and inclusion, which will be increasingly relevant as the workforce of the future is also becoming more diverse. By 2042, the entire U.S. workforce will have no race or ethnic group as a majority of the working population.  

Study after study shows that employees with diverse backgrounds create diverse workforces that are also good for business because they foster innovation, creativity, enhanced morale, resiliency and reduced turnover, which results in better financial performance than organizations that do not invest in diversity. With that in mind, Real Chemistry has implemented significant initiatives to make our workplace an attractive destination, and we are building a more diverse talent pipeline and workforce than we ever have before to fill positions with exceptional young talent.

For example, this summer, Real Chemistry hired 87 interns (all paid positions) – 39% of whom were Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) – from a pool of 7,000 applicants. We hope many of these talented individuals will return to Real Chemistry when they graduate from college because of their positive experiences working here.

In September, we went a giant step further to create a best-in-class employee pipeline with the inaugural launch of the Real Chemistry Fellowship Program. Through a highly competitive process, we awarded 14-month paid fellowships to four diverse graduates. We provided them with access and visibility across clients and brands so they could hone specific skillsets and the opportunity to participate in workshops and on-the-job training to help accelerate their personal and professional growth. Our inaugural class includes fellows in front-end engineering, copywriting and strategy, and we intend to expand the program in the coming years.

We also are partnering with organizations focusing on Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) to prepare their constituents to enter the workforce. Our partners include historically Black colleges and universities; the Emma Bowen Foundation, which recruits students of color into paid internships; KIPP, a network of 255 college-preparatory public charter schools with an alumni base of 15,000 college students, many of whom are the first in their family to go to college; The LAGRANT Foundation, which is focused on increasing the number of diverse employees; and my own 501c3 organization, The Center for Excellence in Life (TCEL). Since the pandemic began, Real Chemistry has helped develop and mentor 150 underrepresented youth through TCEL. This year, we also hosted two interns from the Multicultural Advertising Internship Program (MAIP), which focuses on pipelining students from diverse backgrounds into the advertising industry.

We know that talent is created equally but opportunity is not. That’s why we must consistently focus on the trifecta of diversity, equity and inclusion. Preparing early for our future talent pipeline doesn’t just benefit us. It also provides underserved and unprivileged youth with an income and skill sets that the world will need and helps remove the barrier of socioeconomic status as they join the workforce.

Recruiting is only part of the solution. It’s also about retention.

Attracting and hiring the future workforce is a difficult enough challenge. It’s even harder in this loyalty-light world to motivate and retain employees. People of color, particularly millennials, tend to leave organizations when they realize the opportunities they heard about during the hiring process don’t actually exist. We must adopt inclusive cultures that ensure diverse employees are onboarded, treated fairly, valued and respected, mentored and have access to senior leaders and the same career development opportunities as everyone else.

Some of Real Chemistry’s retention-focused strategies include facilitating listening and learning conversations with diverse employees, setting diversity targets and sharing our progress bi-annually. We are also conducting Inclusive Leadership Workshops, starting with C-suite leaders – because real cultural change starts at the top – and are now moving down the management ladder. 

Planning today for tomorrow’s challenges is one of the few “win-win” initiatives for everyone involved. By addressing the looming and significant gap in the talent pool, we become better organizations in many ways while maximizing skills and opportunities for those who will become the workforce of the future.