How to Incorporate Supplier Diversity Into Your Hiring

As companies look to build out their supplier diversity programs and increase diversity spend, it’s important to consider how these efforts may be interconnected with other areas of your business. In particular, supplier diversity can be linked to your hiring/staffing activities.

In general, building a more robust supplier diversity program can lead to better talent acquisition. That’s because supplier diversity efforts can improve employee experience and make companies more attractive to new recruits. Nearly two-thirds of Millennials would not accept a job at a company that lacks “strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) values,” according to a Cone Communications survey.

Focusing on supplier diversity may also help companies recognize blind spots. For example, acknowledging a lack of supplier diversity may cause companies to realize they need to also open recruiting efforts up more to find diverse talent outside the circles they traditionally hire from.

At the same time, improving your staffing decisions can support the growth of your supplier diversity spend. For one, if employees prioritize this issue, it will be easier to engage them on efforts like using procurement tools that can source office supplies and other products from diverse vendors. Improved staffing efforts can also help increase diversity spend, such as by bringing on more procurement contractors or employees who have a background in sourcing from diverse suppliers.

Promoting Supplier Diversity Efforts

Given the links between supplier diversity and hiring, it’s important to promote supplier diversity efforts. By publicizing how you’re working with diverse vendors, potential staff can learn about your company’s values. So, if a recruit prioritizes finding a socially responsible company, they may choose your company over a competitor if you demonstrate how you’re actively working with underserved communities.

Publicizing your work with diverse vendors can range from creating blog posts about your partnerships to engaging on this issue on social media to discussing these efforts during interviews with recruits.

In addition to promoting supplier diversity efforts externally, you can also better incorporate supplier diversity into your hiring by promoting these initiatives internally. The more your current employees are aware of your efforts, the more they may be willing to refer applicants. Yet if employees aren’t engaged and don’t think of your company as socially-minded, they may not want to recommend others to join your team.

Sourcing Talent That Prioritizes Diversity

Another important way to incorporate supplier diversity into your hiring is to look for candidates who can help strengthen your initiatives. In some cases, you may specifically want to add staff with experience building out supplier diversity programs. In other cases, where you already are comfortable with those leading your supplier diversity efforts, you may want to focus more on employees’ values.

When hiring, many companies look for candidates that are creative, dedicated, team players, etc. Why not add “socially minded” to your criteria? Just as many prospective employees want to join socially responsible companies, employers may want to focus more on hiring socially responsible staff. Consider those with a history of volunteering or other indicators showing they will likely be engaged with supplier diversity efforts.

If your staff prioritizes diversity, then you can likely strengthen initiatives ranging from creating marketing content about your supplier diversity efforts to onboarding and building relationships with diverse vendors.

Leveraging Staffing Partners

Incorporating supplier diversity into your hiring can help you both attract quality talent while also improving your supplier diversity efforts. However, staffing can be a challenging area on its own, let alone trying to find talent that can support your supplier diversity program.

That’s why many companies benefit from leveraging staffing partners with their own focus on diversity.

As a diverse supplier ourselves, GoProcure can help you with your procurement staffing needs, including finding quality contract or permanent staff with the skills and values you’re looking for. For further support, our sister company Metasys Technologies, which is also a minority business enterprise, provides a wide range of staffing and workforce management solutions, including executive searches.

Leveraging staffing partners like these can help you meet your hiring needs while also meeting or even improving upon your diversity spend goals.

Have questions about how you can better incorporate supplier diversity into your hiring? Request a free consultation with our experts today.