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LaFawn Davis is a certified boss and a powerhouse of achievement. She talks with HR Grapevine about how Indeed is levelling up its workplace wellbeing and discusses the conundrum of talent vs opportunity.
LaFawn Davis is black, queer and a woman – a trio of attributes that have historically been barriers to entry in the business world. For example, according to Harvard Business Review, despite representing about 18% of the U.S. population, “women of colour represented only four per cent of C-level positions in 2018, falling far below white men (68%) and white women (19%).”
It is certainly not a lack of ambition that prevents black women from achieving – nearly all of the research show that black women have the tenacity it takes to achieve in their field. So what is the problem? All signs point to that old bugbear, unconscious bias in hiring, promoting and managing our black colleagues, as the primary issue.
And Davis is out to change that.
Having worked in DE&I positions at PayPal, Google and Yahoo, the tech-focused businesswoman is now the Senior Vice President of ESG at job search behemoth Indeed, where she focuses her strategic and data-driven efforts on removing bias and barriers to entry. She’s been recently named one of Fast Company’s most influential women and non-binary people in its Queer50 list.
Through her, Indeed has recently signed up to the World Wellbeing Movement, which launched 8 July at the University of Oxford. The movement advocates for stronger wellbeing measurement including metrics that can help measure the social impact of organisations’ ESG reporting.
In a statement, Davis said: “Measuring wellbeing is key to creating happier and more productive organisations… As more and more people prioritise wellbeing at work, employers have an important role to play in creating less stressful environments and in doing so improve people’s lives and society. Policies designed to improve wellbeing for all can also help close the stress deficit that research suggests disproportionately impacts women and minority groups.”
The ESG thought leader chatted with HR Grapevine about Indeed’s measures to improve hiring practices, and how using the job search site can perhaps help candidates to get past hiring decision-makers’ unconscious bias.
Having a homogenous workforce of people who think in the same way, drawing from similar life experiences, will have a negative impact
HRGV: What drew you to Indeed and what changes has she made while there, as well as her future plans?
Davis: The hiring process is deeply flawed. Archaic approaches to hiring mean unconscious bias still exists among employers – preventing many from getting the job their experience deserves.
We’ve been asking companies to wake up about their role in the systemic issues that blight hiring for a long time now. The message hasn’t changed. I’ve been beating this drum for 17 years, long before I joined Indeed. It’s just that now with a company mission that Indeed has to help all people get jobs, I can really inspire transformative change.
Indeed’s role in connecting millions of people to new opportunities excited me. The world needs to evolve to become a better place and the world of work is no exception. With a hiring platform that influences people from all walks of life, from all corners of the globe, where else is better to impact the global workforce?
I believe that the pandemic has accelerated societal inequalities and that the current economic challenges are compounding them. When the world finds itself in a crisis, systemic issues come even more to light. That’s why we’re trying to suppress the structural restrictions that companies have for diversity and inclusion. Many of which don’t even know they’re there.
During the height of the pandemic and racial tension in the U.S., Indeed put a message of solidarity on the homepage for the first time. We also made the logo change from blue to black and we put out an external statement of support. These are now new ways for Indeed to show our commitment to those who are oppressed, discriminated against, and suffering from crisis.
Internally, Indeed has been using a lot more storytelling as I fundamentally believe that storytelling is what helps connect people with experiences. We’ve also been working on manager guides about leading through uncertain times and we’re also taking more leadership actions. This is important because uncertain times affect management too. There was no manual for how to navigate the pandemic, there is no guidebook on how to lead a company through economic hardships. Management is key to inspiring change and needs our support more than ever.
My future plan for Indeed is to continue the momentum that we’ve created. There’s a lot of energy about making change and there’s always an appetite for it to happen instantly. But we’re trying to set companies up for long-term systemic change. It’s not just about a message of support or making one hire in the name of diversity. It’s about creating the infrastructure for companies to build upon the positive change they make. It’s about creating working environments where everyone can thrive.
As I mentioned earlier, crises cause us to retreat to old habits. Our job is now to make sure this doesn’t last - so we continue the progress we’ve made.
HRGV: How does Indeed’s promotion of its own ESG goals help both companies and jobseekers?
Indeed’s ESG goals are deeply linked to our mission of helping people get jobs. As the world’s largest jobsite, we have the ability and responsibility to help make the hiring process more equitable and contribute to a better, fairer society.
Part of that involves using our technology to help people find jobs quicker. OECD research shows that 40% of households would fall beneath the poverty line if they were to lose income for three months, and we want to cut in half the time it takes to find a job by making the hiring process faster and simpler.
At the same time, we know that talent is universal, opportunity is not, and millions of people around the world face barriers to employment. We want to break down bias and barriers in hiring, and our goal is to help 30 million jobseekers facing barriers get hired by 2030.
Why does this matter? Because a job can dramatically change the course of someone’s life. And when everyone has access to opportunity, we greatly increase the chances of people finding, getting, and keeping a job.
When it comes to employers, there is an increasing expectation from consumers, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders that they walk the talk on the biggest and most important issues in society and operate in a way that aligns with their values. Another reason why ESG has become a much more pressing topic is the strengthening link between ESG performance and business metrics such as productivity.
We know that talent is universal, opportunity is not, and millions of people around the world face barriers to employment
HRGV: How does ESG and DE&I impact the bottom line?
For a long time, corporate social responsibility was considered a nice-to-have for companies, but now ESG is recognised as a key tenet of business decisions. There’s a growing body of research showing those who build supporting people, communities, and environment into their decision-making and policies stand to gain from increased productivity and a bolstered bottom line.
Our own research shows that 87% of company leaders reported that prioritising worker happiness and wellbeing can give their company a competitive advantage. Furthermore, a study by BT – one of our fellow co-founders of the World Wellbeing Movement – found that workers are 13% more productive when happy.
We believe that our commitment to ESG and DE&I is directly tied to our mission’s success and that we have the ability and responsibility to drive positive, transformative change. After all, building a diverse workforce helps boost productivity and creates a company that people genuinely want to be part of.
Having a homogenous workforce of people who thinks in the same way, drawing from similar life experiences, will have a negative impact. This doesn’t just apply to Indeed’s bottom line, but the bottom line of companies we help to hire talent.
