Recruiting Diverse Employees in the Clean Energy Industry
The National Solar Jobs Census found that of the more than 242,000 solar workers nationwide, women represented 26.3% of the solar workforce, despite women representing roughly half of the U.S. population. Additionally, African American workers comprised 7.6% of the solar workforce, even though African Americans represent about 14% of the U.S. population. Despite the wind power sector employing 1.2 million people, women represent just 21% of these employees.
Financial benefits
Why does this matter? Beyond moral considerations about equality, gender-diverse companies are 24% more likely to financially outperform their less inclusive counterparts, while organizations with higher ethnic diversity are 33% more likely to outshine less diverse companies, according to McKinsey & Company. The Harvard Business Review has also found that employees at more diverse companies are 45% more likely to report that their firm’s market share grew over the previous year and 70% more likely to report that the firm captured a new market. Study after study have proven that diversity clearly supports a company’s bottom line.
Qualified staff
However, even clean energy companies that realize the value of diversity often struggle to recruit and retain diverse, top-notch talent. In fact, 26% of solar companies said it was “very difficult” to hire qualified workers in 2018, an increase from 18% the previous year, let alone find qualified, diverse staff.
Intersectional Diversity
Leveraging over a decade of experience in clean energy recruiting, Dylan Green has been able to place female candidates in 57.5% of the clean energy roles we’ve worked. Always maintaining an intentional, intersectional lens and awareness, Dylan Green ensured that at least half of these women were Black or Indigenous people of color (BIPOC), LGBTQ, or have other marginalized identities. Some of our clean energy clients include: Shell New Energies, Lightsource BP, Empower Energies, CleanCapital, Macquarie Group, DC Green Bank, Sol Systems, Standard Solar, Orsted and New Columbia Solar.
Dylan Green looks forward to building upon this success by further developing our network of contacts and continuing to place diverse candidates in key roles within the clean energy industry.