Diversity and inclusion branding: a five-country comparison of corporate websites

Abstract

In their quest to attract talent and appear as an employer of choice, organizations must articulate the benefits of having a diverse and inclusive workforce. By communicating the attractiveness of the workplace, a company increases its exposure to the environment as an employer of choice. Within the context of employer branding, we highlight two emerging concepts that encompass corporate communication in the form of diversity and inclusion statements: diversity branding and inclusion branding. We examine the websites of 75 major companies in five different countries (France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the US). The article highlights that organizations use diversity and inclusion branding to attract talent, become employers of choice and dimensionalize diversity to signal that specific dimensions of diversity are relevant to the organization. We show that diversity and inclusion branding has become ‘mainstream’ and how a focus on diversity is particularly useful to attract talent while to appear as an employer of choice a focus on inclusion seems particularly beneficial.

Keywords:

• Diversity
• inclusion
• corporate branding
• employer of choice
• talent

Notes

1 The full list is available from the authors.

2 Coding tree available from authors.