DE&I in Digital and Marketing Recruitment 2024
17 May, 2024
Anna is the co-founder of the MarketingKind community, a non-profit membership community of marketers and change-makers who believe that as the world’s problems depend most fundamentally on human cooperation for their resolution, they can also be read as ‘marketing briefs’ in disguise.
Anna has written this article to contribute to our discussion around creating diverse workforces. She reveals how open hiring can contribute to hiring practices that bring more people from underrepresented groups into organisations.
In a recent MarketingKind event we had the pleasure of learning about open hiring and inclusive hiring from Joe Kenner, CEO and President of Greyston Bakery. Greyston is one of the most well-known social enterprises in the US. They make the brownies that go into Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, among other delicious products, but they are best loved for their open hiring method, which they now support other businesses in practising.
What is open hiring?
Open hiring is as revolutionary as it sounds. Greyston has a waiting list that anyone who would like a job can add their name to. When a position opens in their bakery, they call the next person on the list and they receive a job offer. No interviews required and no questions asked.
Joe tells us that it works well for any role that can be learned on the job. For instance, entry level roles or those looking to make a career change.
This method allows many people who have been completely excluded from the labour market to gain a foothold back into it, including those who have been homeless, incarcerated or out of work for an extended period of time due to illness or caring for children.
The impact of open hiring on businesses
Greyston have hired this way for over 40 years and have found that there are some extra costs needed to support their workforce. For instance, they keep a social worker on staff. However, they do save money in other ways.
By giving people a chance to work who may otherwise not have any prospects, Greyston employees dedicated, hard-working employees. Their inclusive culture allows them to save money with strong staff engagement and employee retention. Overall, this results in high productivity rates.
The opportunity created for individuals
The Greyston Foundation creates opportunities for their employees. They help them climb the career ladder within Greyston or train them so they can move on to other roles. Plus, as employees leave the shop floor, openings are creating for people on the open hiring waiting list.
Joe and the Greyston team have ambitious goals. They are working to create 40,000 job opportunities and $3 billion of economic impact through open hiring by 2030.
Who uses open hiring?
Businesses such as The Body Shop have been using opening hiring for several years, with support from Greyston, to overcome the hiring challenges of attracting and retaining talent. They began in their US warehouses where they had struggled with high staff turnover. Over time they have rolled open hiring out to include their retail staff.
Last year IKEA began an open hiring programme to ‘create a more welcoming work environment’. And many businesses also in the Ben & Jerry’s supply chain, alongside Greyston, have been using open hiring to demonstrate their commitment to creating social value.
While not every business is ready for open hiring, Joe reminds us that, “we all have the opportunity to do inclusive hiring”.
Some businesses begin with one or two positions that they can fill through open hiring. Other businesses don’t feel they can offer completely ‘open’ hiring, but they can create much more ‘inclusive’ hiring criteria. For instance, one business working with Greyston did not want anyone working for them that had been convicted of a sexual offence. As a result, they set that as their one criterion.
Joe reminds us that every business can do more to bring people along who may have been left behind. But he says that it is very important to keep in mind that open or inclusive hiring is not CSR or ESG, it can’t be a side thing, for it to be successful it has to be a core part of your business and a fit with your overall culture.
Learn more about inclusive and open hiring
Open hiring is great for diversity, equity and inclusion, but most importantly it gives people hope.
If your organisation is ready for inclusive or open hiring, I encourage you to reach out to Joe and his team at the Greyston Foundation.
You can watch or listen to the replay of our MarketingKind event with Joe here.
For more information on diversity, equity and inclusion within digital and marketing recruitment, download the 3Search 2024 report.
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