In a post-pandemic workplace, the task of attracting and retaining talent is far from easy. With new challenges and tools, leaders are actively listening and adapting to both external and internal factors to provide employees with the work environment they need.

During From Day One’s Manhattan conference, moderator Lydia Dishman, senior editor of growth and engagement at Fast Company, led a conversation with leaders on strategies for attracting and retaining talent in a changing market.

Keeping an Active Pulse on Cultural Conversations

Recent social movements sparked a conversation for companies to recognize their stance on political and societal issues. Taking a stance was important not only to consumers, but to their employees as well.

Navigating these conversations properly was a large feat for HR leaders, says Ramcess Jean-Louis, global chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer at Pfizer. “From a diversity equity inclusion perspective, we were heroes because we were helping our organizations and companies navigate a very complicated situation. From a social standpoint and corporate standpoint, our colleagues and employees were holding us accountable for speaking up.”

When companies recognize the need for DEI leaders to navigate the conversations, DEI leaders become an influential and important part of a company’s survival. “There was a period where DEI and HR professionals were pulled into some conversations that we weren’t traditionally pulled into, such as investor relations meetings and meetings with shareholders,” Jean-Louis said.

Companies choosing to make a public stance on political issues haven’t been without its drawbacks, however, with boycotts occurring from both ends. Americans are divided on companies taking public stances on political and social issues, with 48% believing companies should and 52% believing companies shouldn’t take stances, showing that the decision hasn’t always been simple for companies to make.

However, shifting views from the public is a part of continuous conversation for some political and social stances, and companies shouldn't stray away from them, according to Singleton Beato, global executive vice president and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at McCann Worldgroup.

“When it comes to how businesses are going to be able to generate revenue and be profitable, they tend to focus on what is crisis and critical. And then everything else [like DEI initiatives] tend to fade out of focus and are put on a shelf for a little while,” Beato said. “But what took ten years to a social uprising, then five years to a social uprising is now going to be more like 18 months. And so what will happen is those business leaders will say, “There is racism in America, we cannot believe this and we need to address it and need to do it now.” But they won't be able to say that in time for next time because the next time is coming in short order.”

A study shows that 74% of Asian adults and 72% of Black adults believe businesses should take a public stance on political and social issues, showing the greater need for allyship from companies. To support a diverse workforce, companies may need to shoulder the responsibility of being involved in social conversations surrounding these issues, Beato said.

“What we are seeing now is what we’ve seen many times throughout our lifetime. There are culture shifts and ebbs and flows to a lot of the issues that continue to plague us in this space, particularly as it pertains to equity in this country and as it pertains to people of color,” Beato said. “It expands from there to underrepresented groups all finding their voice in that moment to say so many of us are in this situation and we need to hold businesses and business leaders accountable.”

Hiring Based on Skills

In a recent analysis by LinkedIn, nearly 20% of job postings do not require a degree, showing a gradual increase in skill-based hiring from 15% in 2021.

With different methods of education emerging from the pandemic, companies need to embrace how future employees are developing their skills. Sivona Blake, vice president of campus diversity recruitment and global talent acquisition & people insights at Citigroup, reflects on how they have embraced skill-based hiring in their practices.

“A lot of times when we get into these roles, we’re re-learning everything anyway, so we’re not really using a lot of our degree to even do these roles,” Blake said. “At Citigroup, we meet early career workers who are not getting the traditional four-year degree and partner them with various organizations and expose them to work through that route. That has been how Citigroup has been deemphasizing the degree requirement, and I think it's a great opportunity to do so.”

For foreign-born workers, skill-based hiring removes traditional barriers like college degrees and language, which can make a difference when seeking an opportunity. At Pfizer, Jean-Louis shares the impact of removing the four-year degree requirement.

“We’ve taken out the four-year degree at our organization as well and that's helped us in so many different places. That's helped us with our military hiring because you want to approach that differently when you’re looking at bringing in these very senior leaders that will do an outstanding job within your organization,” Jean-Louis said. “It has also helped with our refugee leadership initiative. Some of the refugees that we had from Afghanistan don't even have proof of their credentials. Oftentimes, they come with the clothes on their back, and not even a suitcase. So again, we’re taking all of that into consideration.”

Embracing Fractional Employment

The pandemic not only opened opportunities for remote and hybrid work but for fractional employment as well. Fractional employment allows companies to hire specialized or high-quality talent for a part of their workweek, a concept that can be a win for both parties, Michael Morris, CEO and co-founder of Torc believes.

In developing an online network for remote developers, Morris shares how fractional employment can provide higher job satisfaction for employees and higher quality employees for companies.

“I encourage a lot of my customers to start with 20 hours for a talent. They may not have the full-time need for them, but the quicker companies and organizations adopt this fractional, on-demand talent model, the better they’re going to be, and the happier the talent will be,” Morris said. “Talent can be picky. If they’re great at what they do, they should be choosing opportunities that utilize their skills and the industries they want to use them in. If you don’t use talent in the way they want to be used, they’re going to leave, and that's not good for anybody.”

Wanly Chen is a writer and poet based in New York City.