As more companies rethink their approach to
Puma has gone through their own recruiting audit, headed by Michelle Marshall, the company's North American head of DEI. When Marshall initially joined the company, their
"After joining Puma and embarking on this journey around DEI, we understood that we had to be more intentional," says Marshall. "One of the immediate areas of focus was identifying partners that had databases of diverse [talent] who ranged from college students to professionals fully in their careers. We started leveraging these partnerships to build more awareness of the roles and opportunities available at Puma."
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Puma expanded their talent pools, giving the company more candidates to choose from. However, just because there's more diverse talent to recruit from, it doesn't mean everyone will get a fair shot. EBN spoke to Marshall to get a better idea of how Puma ensures it doesn't let biases get in the way of picking the best talent.
How does Puma ensure their hiring process is inclusive?
We introduced unconscious bias training, because a lot of people aren't always aware of the fact that they may be using bias when connecting with a prospective candidate. Instead of connecting more with the candidate that they may better identify with, the [training] teaches people to have an open mind to all the various candidates they are interviewing. We want to make sure we're identifying the right candidate and not just choosing someone who I feel mirrors me.
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The other piece of this process is diverse hiring panels. We really started working with our ERGs and collecting employees from various departments and teams for interviews. For example, depending on the department — we had departments that leaned more male — we wanted to ensure that there was female representation in that interview process. So when women are being interviewed, they will be able to see themselves reflected at the company.
What challenges did you face as you boosted your recruitment strategies?
The general [challenge] that not just me but many of my counterparts deal with whenever you're rolling out these intentional initiatives and efforts is getting people to understand that when we're reaching out to certain audiences or saying we need to expand our reach, we're not saying we will fill these roles with just anyone because they come from a certain background or demographic, or if they're because they're a certain gender. Instead, we are saying that we know that in a city like Boston, there's relatively not as much diversity, so if we're just reaching out to our networks, then we're not casting a wide enough net. Everyone has the same common goal, which is to identify the ideal candidate and the top candidate for these roles. Oftentimes, when we're being intentional about our DEI recruitment efforts, we're saying, let's make sure we're building awareness with a larger group versus just our immediate networks.
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Does DEI start with recruitment?
It starts with the culture you set up to support all employees. When I first joined, we were putting a lot of great effort into recruitment, but we also had to take a step back and really assess our culture. We don't want to be in a situation where we've hired this diverse mix of employees and then we see them leave the company in less than six months. So it's equally important to ensure that your culture is set up in a way that people see themselves reflected and they feel they belong. They feel psychologically safe, and they can use their voice to express their opinions. We all know the more diverse voices you have at the table, the more innovative and creative your teams are. You're just a better company for it.
