What is one of your company’s core values that inspires diversity in both employees and job applicants?
To demonstrate how your company’s core values can be a catalyst for diversity in employees and job seekers, we asked HR and recruiting professionals and business leaders this question for their insights. From embracing uniqueness to prioritizing transparency, there are several ways that core values can inspire diversity.
Here are 13 company values that inspire diversity at all levels:
- Rally Around a Driving Principle
- Be an Ally
- Embrace Everyone’s Uniqueness
- Cross Border With Knowledge
- Encourage Diversity Through Innovation
- Highlight People, Purpose, and Planet
- Encourage Openness
- Mentor Future Professionals
- Prioritize Transparency
- Be Inclusive in All You Do
- Know That Empathy Matters
- Collaborate Respectfully
- Remember That People Matter Most
Be an Ally
Our company was named for a reason, and “Be an Ally” is our first core value. We believe it is important for us to be an ally to the clients we serve, but also to our fellow team members and our broader community.
We believe that being an ally starts with empathy. It encourages us to proactively understand how our unique experiences, passions, and talents can impact our worldview, but also the superpowers it gives us in helping our clients, team, and community grow.
Anthony Macleod, Ally Pediatric Therapy
Rally Around a Driving Principle
At A World for Children, we believe that we can change the world one child at a time by meeting their specific needs. This driving principle inspires diversity within our agency. As a nonprofit foster and foster-to-adoption agency, we serve kids from all different backgrounds.
In order to provide them with the best possible care and support, we always strive to attract and hire a diverse and knowledgeable staff of case managers, social workers, and other specialists.
Ashleigh Wilkes, A World For Children
Embrace Everyone’s Uniqueness
Something we take seriously at Markitors is embracing what makes each member of our team distinct and one-of-a-kind. Our core value, “You Are Unique,” expresses this in just three words, but we hope it speaks volumes to our community and potential job candidates. We all bring something different to the table by nurturing our differences for more diverse ideas and innovation.
Meryl Schulte, Markitors
Cross Borders With Knowledge
There is always more information out there, and information crosses all borders. This value encourages the sharing of knowledge across all borders, showing our diversity through knowledge and inspiring others to speak up. There is not one person in the world who knows everything, so we must continuously share our knowledge.
Jim Beard, BoxGenie
Encourage Diversity Through Innovation
Regardless of what a business does and the type of brand they are willing to showcase, having an ethical framework is the minimum criterion. Companies who are willing to outshine the cutthroat competition and come up victorious must focus on innovation instead of impersonification.
It implies your employees must be inspired to share brand new ideas, regardless of how out-of-the-box they are. You can significantly assess how those ingenious ideas might be transformed into durable products, which are valuable to employees and job applicants.
Diverse teams are better positioned to unbolt innovation, which boosts market growth and enables adaptability and non-linear thinking, which requires innovation.
Caroline Lee, CocoSign
Highlight People, Purpose, and Planet
When you give your people a purpose within the company and show them their worth, they are going to flourish and grow. Your entire work culture becomes a healthy, sustainable place where more and more people want to work with you and the company, drawing in talent from all areas. People of all backgrounds want a place to have a purpose in their work.
Olivia Young, Conscious Items
Encourage Openness
One of our core company values that inspires diversity in both employees and job applicants is openness — openness to new cultures, new ideas, new people, new backgrounds, new everything. Being open to these new experiences promotes diversity and inclusivity in our workplace.
Chris Gadek, AdQuick
Mentor Future Professionals
As medical professionals, we often seek opportunities to mentor student doctors and nurses to offer advice and assistance through all phases of their studies. While mentorship programs typically attract the best and the brightest talent, these students have diverse experiences and backgrounds. Mentoring also allows us to identify candidates we may want to recruit in the future. This ensures we can provide the best care and experience for our patients.
Zachary Okhah, PH-1 Miami
Prioritize Transparency
The more open you are about the organization’s goals and challenges, the easier it is for employees to understand their role and how they can individually contribute to the company’s overall success.
It helps to keep the business accountable overall and increases credibility with employees and prospective employees. This potentially leads to building stronger relationships and keeps trust high.
Connor MacDonald, The Ridge Wallet
Be Inclusive in All You Do
As a clothing brand dedicated to empowering individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, one of our quintessential company core values is inclusivity. Indeed, regardless of background, we strive to create products that make individuals feel comfortable in their own skin.
Indeed, such an explicit value allows us to hire the best and most diverse talent imaginable. My recommendation to all companies: be outward with your social beliefs, and watch a diverse array of applicants eagerly apply.
Lucas Nudel, Pride Palace
Know That Empathy Matters
One of our core company values is empathy. As a company created by moms, we understand the incredibly difficult personal and professional pressures that mothers face. Indeed, such empathy allows us to create garments, accessories, and collections that free up time for busy moms everywhere.
Empathy is not only embedded in our business model but also in our hiring process. Indeed, we empathize with and appreciate our applicants and their holistic selves. By contextualizing the story and background of each applicant, we are better able to build a diverse and talented team that is focused on creating the best clothing for moms imaginable.
Lori Price, PixieLane
Collaborate Respectfully
Respectful collaboration is a core value of our company that inspires our employees to celebrate diversity. This value is super important because it encourages each employee to be understanding of each other while sharing what makes them unique. The key to this value is remembering to be respectful of other employees as we collaborate.
Daniel Patrick, Daniel Patrick
Remember That People Matter Most
People first is the value that guides us the most. We aren’t just here for ourselves. We’re here for each other. That means at the very root of our company, we start with respect, diversity, and inclusion.
Everyone is worthy and can build their skills toward whatever role they desire. Employees are encouraged to speak up and ask for what they need. We’re only as strong as each other, and that guides each of us from the beginning and throughout our day-to-day tasks.
Charlie McKenna, Lillie’s Q
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