IRI Releases DEI Best Practices for Talent Acquisition

The Insured Retirement Institute has published a compendium of best practices for the association’s member companies to use to help incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion into their hiring practices for early- and mid-career employees. 

“Across 2022 and 2023, we were having a lot of conversations with our members, wanting to know within the diversity and inclusion space, how were they embedding those ideas into talent acquisition,” Christina Brady, chief operating officer at the IRI says. “There’s a lot of talk about the war for talent: How do we bring in exceptional talent to our workforces and into our industry? Those conversations yielded a lot of ideas and tactics that we’re currently using.”

The organization summarized the tactics into one document for companies to use as a resource. The compendium, “Embedding DEI in Early- and Mid-Career Talent Acquisition,” is the first its kind produced by the IRI, as members have focused their initial DEI efforts in recruiting early- and mid-career talent, according to Brady.

Firms can use the new compendium, see what is happening across the industry, establish benchmarks and learn new best practices, she says, noting that every organization should pick DEI strategies that work for their business.

The booklet includes advice related to recruiting and hiring that focuses on a broad, fair screening process. Tactics include seeking out new talent from a variety of sources, rather than “narrow sourcing pools,” and then, in the hiring process, ensuring equitable evaluations that are free of bias.

The IRI lists various strategies for recruiting and advancing DEI at investment firms. Some of the tactics include:

• Creating workplace coalitions focused on DEI talent acquisition and representation;
• setting diversity hiring goals;
• recruiting at historically Black colleges and universities;
• revising job descriptions to appeal to a broader candidate pool; and
• conducting offer acceptance rate analysis and optimization.

The organization is also looking to improve its own DEI, Brady says.

“Where IRI has seen opportunity to incorporate DEI strategies is in our hiring. Areas like being thoughtful about where we post jobs, blind resume reviews, panel interviews and regular DEI training for all staff,” she says. “I know that it’s working, because as we go through our hiring decisions, these concepts come up. They are conscious elements in the decisions we’re making. That’s a great indication that we’re on the right track.”

The best practices were compiled using primary and secondary sources. The IRI sourced from DEI research and articles to draft the initial set of best practices, as well as conducting interviews with DEI and HR leaders from its member companies throughout 2022.