Company's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives result in prestigious recognition
TROY, Mich. (April 27, 2022) – Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is at the foundation of the Kelly “Noble Purpose,” the company’s commitment to expand employment opportunities and connect job seekers of all backgrounds to work in ways that enrich their lives. This commitment has earned Kelly a spot on the Forbes Best Employers for Diversity list for the second consecutive year. The list was announced April 26 by Forbes and Statista Inc., the world-leading statistics portal and industry ranking provider.
“Kelly is proud to once again be named to the Forbes List of America’s Best Employers for Diversity,” Kelly Chief People Officer Amy Bouque said. “DEI is at the core of our business to help job seekers find meaningful employment and provide greater access to those opportunities to all segments of the workforce.”
The Best Employers for Diversity were selected based on Statista's survey of 60,000 U.S. workers in companies with a minimum of 1,000 employees. Criteria included internal evaluations, with assessments of women, elders and ethnic minorities weighted higher than non-minority groups; evaluations of other employers within the industry by minority groups; diversity among top executives and the board; and diversity engagement indicators.
Kelly has several initiatives in place that contributed to its ranking on the final list:
- Removing education requirements from all corporate requisitions and giving leaders the option to add them in for roles with specific education requirements.
- Establishing Kelly Discover, a program that connects neurodiverse job seekers, including those on the autism spectrum, and opportunity talent with companies in need of their skills.
- Implementing individualized reviews of candidates’ criminal backgrounds and assessing their job relatedness for full-time employee roles.
- Leveraging Textio, a technology tool that analyzes job postings and website content to promote inclusive language and foster a culture of belonging.
- Joining the Second Chance Business Coalition and launching the Kelly 33 second chance hiring initiative to encourage clients across the country to recruit candidates with non-violent, non-relevant criminal records.
- Launching affinity groups for Asian & Pacific Islander, Black, LatinX, LGBTQ, millennial, veteran and women employees to create an environment where employees are encouraged to be their authentic selves and to support their professional development.
- Partnering with Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) to connect service members, military spouses and veterans with American businesses to create economic opportunity and a strong and diversified workforce.
- Deploying a Supplier Diversity & Inclusion Internship program with Michigan Works! focused on underleveraged and highly capable college students.
- Partnering with the Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP) to diversify the clinical research workforce, which in turn addresses the lack of diversity in the clinical patient population.
- Introducing a company-wide DEI learning strategy that includes a course to mitigate unconscious bias in the workplace and is required for all full-time employees, training for hiring managers to remove unconscious bias from the interview process, and a course for talent-facing employees to build more inclusive hiring practices.
“Kelly is committed to building on these initiatives to further advance diversity, equity and inclusion, and to knock down the barriers many job seekers still face while pursuing employment,” Bouque said.