Improving recruitment and retention with employee resource groups

Employers want to find and retain the best talent. Employee resource groups help them achieve those goals by focusing on recruitment and retention. Employers can assist with job search activities to improve candidates’ chances for employment. Employers who demonstrate an appreciation for diversity and who provide employees with professional development opportunities often notice an improvement in employee retention. Employee resource groups offer an effective strategy to both attract and retain the best workers.

College Recruiter is currently focusing on employee resource groups (ERGs), publishing the opinions of experts based on a series of questions. In today’s article, Angela Talton, Senior Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion at Nielsen, discusses the impact of employee resource groups on recruitment and retention.

Angela L. Talton, Senior Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion for Nielsen

“One of the pillars of our ERGs is Recruitment/Retention. The ERGs help Talent Acquisition by attending career fairs, networking at various events in the community or with clients. The ERGs are instrumental in working with University Recruiting to represent Nielsen at some of their alma maters to increase the diversity at our company. The ERGs assist with on campus activities such as resume writing, case competitions, and classroom review of Nielsen data.

Once these candidates accept an offer at Nielsen, the ERGs are instrumental in inviting new hires to become part of the ERGs to increase retention by meeting other employees often outside their teams, their departments, their offices, and sometimes outside their countries. The ERGs engage their memberships in activities for professional development that introduce the members to our various senior leaders, to learn about the many departments at Nielsen, and to gain a more thorough understanding of our strategy. The ERGs also create programs to celebrate cultural holidays, traditions, and important dates. These fun activities are designed to provide a more broad understanding of the diversity within our world and to enrich our knowledge for better client engagement.”

Angela L. Talton is the Senior Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion for Nielsen. Appointed to this role in January 2012, Angela leads Nielsen’s global strategy for new and ongoing diversity and inclusion initiatives, including supplier diversity, education and training, diverse organizational development, recruitment and retention, and client-driven solutions. Since assuming this role, Nielsen has progressively improved its ranking to become one of the top companies for diversity and inclusion (#42 on DiversityInc’s 2015 Top 50 Companies for Diversity and #5 on Diversity MBA’s 2015 Best Companies for Diversity and Inclusion).