It’s on — a record number of people have left their jobs in recent months. In April, May and June alone, the US Department of Labor reports 11.5 million employees have quit their employers. And it’s not over.
While there are a variety of issues driving the Great Resignation, a July 2021 Wiley survey of Gen Ys and Gen Zs in technology found that 50% had left or were wanting to leave their jobs “because company culture made them feel unwelcome or uncomfortable.” The percentages were higher for women (53%), Black/African Americans (56%), Hispanic/Latino (58%), and Asian/Pacific Islander (53%).
The takeaway? Clearly, issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are contributing to workplace attrition at unprecedented levels. DE&I is more than a simple hiring issue; it’s an important workplace culture issue. Given this, we wondered how younger workers identify potential new employers. What are the positive signs, the green flags, that signal this might be an organization with an inclusive culture, a place where they can feel they belong?
In June 2021, we asked over 3,000 Gen Y/Gen Z individual contributors in the US what sources of information they used to understand what their organizations are doing on the DE&I front, as the following figure illustrates.