Workforce Wednesday is an opportunity for Minnesota employers to come together and share their stories and strategies on how they're addressing current workforce challenges. These sessions take place the first Wednesday of every month. February's session covered ways to engage with Minnesota's BIPOC workforce. Here are some of the key takeaways we heard from our panel of employers.

Why is it so important to emphasize engagement with the BIPOC workforce?

Angel Uddin – Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota

• The workforce of the future is changing, and we need to keep up – not just in hiring people from the BIPOC community, but also realizing that consumers are changing as well. Companies that are more diverse, are more successful companies because they understand their consumers and know you can't use a one-size-fits-all approach to how you do business.

Miguel Rocha – Manager of Diversity and Inclusion - Mortenson Construction

• Nearly 59 million immigrants have arrived in the U.S. in the last 50 years. 14% of the population is foreign born compared to just 5% in 1965. This just shows it's going to be important to be more representative of our communities. Minnesota is going to be more diverse and we need to be prepared to serve our employees and our customers.

What does meaningful engagement with the BIPOC workforce look like at your company?

Lana Oswaldson Band Member Recruitment Manager – Mille Lacs Corporate Ventures

• To help reduce barriers, we created a Development Director program which was a callout to our tribal members who were interested in exploring careers with our corporate venture businesses. We received 60 applications and we were able to employ 30 tribal members in leadership roles and it was a big accomplishment for us. We also have a Junior Ambassador Program where we offer 14- to 18-year-olds internships where they are given training and a job at the end.

Angel Uddin – Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota

• Before you go out to engage with various BIPOC communities, you need to make sure your house is in order first. You need to make sure you're walking the talk, before you go out into market. For us we focused on four pillars that included recruiting, culture competence of our leaders, mitigating bias in practices and procedures, and focusing on advancement for the purpose of retention. We also reached out to other organizations like GreaterMSP which has a program called ConnextMSP that ensures young professional people of color are recruited, hired and supported by local employers as they launch their careers.

Mary Knudsen – Human Resources Manager - Grede Holdings LLC, St. Cloud

• We looked beyond our St. Cloud area and started an initiative where we worked with an agency in Puerto Rico and hired people to move up here to Minnesota to work. We paid for their housing and transportation and focused on helping them feel part of the community. Now that they're embedded in our community, they're helping give us referrals for new employees based on their word of mouth with the program.

Miguel Rocha – Manager of Diversity and Inclusion - Mortenson Construction

• There needs to be a relationship first. You have to be involved with the community. Word gets out and if you don't come across as genuine, you won't have success in recruiting BIPOC members. Don't make your current BIPOC employees do the work for you by making them go out and make the connections for your company. Make sure your BIPOC employees feel supported. Create opportunities within your company to discuss DEI topics via monthly lunch and learns. Build community relations by volunteering.

What can businesses do to be more welcoming to immigrants and New Americans?

Angel Uddin – Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota

• You need to be looking at the entire spectrum because the absence of one of those BIPOC voices can be critical. As we sent out COVID-19 vaccine buses to marginalized communities we made sure to work with authority leaders in the community so that people trusted us.

Mary Knudsen – Human Resources Manager= Grede Holdings LLC, St. Cloud

• You need to get to know your employees and be interested in them. Your employees are a great resource to learn about different communities that you might not have considered. At our organization we removed language barriers by hiring interpreters and all our documents are now translated into at least 3 different languages. Offering different food options for people at events can also show you care.

Miguel Rocha – Manager of Diversity and Inclusion - Mortenson Construction

• To get employees you've never had, you need to build strategies that you've never done. It might feel a bit uncomfortable and a bit out of the box, but it's what needs to happen.

How can businesses build trust with communities they historically overlooked?

Miguel Rocha – Manager of Diversity and Inclusion - Mortenson Construction

• You have to give back what you took away. You need to invest heavily into communities to build that trust.

Angel Uddin – Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota

• Acknowledge where your company fell short. Drop your ego. Ask: what can we do to fix it? One thing we've done to remove artificial barriers is revisit our job descriptions and ask ourselves if certain requirements are really necessary for the job or is it just a nice to have? We have to stop having unrealistic expectations and open the door for someone who doesn't meet all the criteria, but has the general skillsets needed to perform the job.

What is the one takeaway you want businesses to learn from this session?

Miguel Rocha – Manager of Diversity and Inclusion - Mortenson Construction

• The talent is out there. Get involved. Every company has a chance to make a change. Go out and make a change.

View a recording of February's session and other past sessions, plus view related resources you can download and use, on the Workforce Wednesday page on CareerForceMN.com.

Read more about this month's Workforce Wednesday session on CareerForceMN.com.

Join us in March when we'll discuss strategies for engaging and supporting Minnesota's workforce with disabilities. Register now.