Advice for hiring and nurturing a diverse workforce

Angela Freeman is an attorney at Barnes & Thornburg, formerly a molecular biologist at Eli Lilly and Co., and is finishing up a six-year stint on the board of the not-for-profit Women & Hi Tech, the last year as president. And in those roles, she's served on a number of search and hiring committees, which have often been charged with hiring diverse candidates.

Freeman talks with podcast host Mason King about the biases that exist in hiring and promoting and explains some of the mistakes that companies make when they seek to diversify their workforce. Here's one: If a company doesn't have a diversity statement, a diversity committee or a diversity officer, "that is a big red flag" to minority candidates. And it's not good enough to have the only person of color on an executive team be that diversity officer.

Among her many suggestions, Freeman recommends using a diverse committee for hiring (rather than leaving the job to one individual) and then assigning new employees, especially minority hires, to mentors who are invested in their success.

You can learn more about Freeman in this profile by IBJ reporter Anthony Schoettle.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by the law firm Krieg DeVault.