Each year, BridgeWorks conducts a comprehensive review of hiring outcomes across our employer partner network. The 2024 Employer Diversity Hiring Report draws on data from over forty partner organizations that collectively hired more than 300 BridgeWorks graduates during the reporting period. The findings reveal both meaningful progress and areas where significant work remains.
Key Findings
Representation Is Improving, But Unevenly. Overall, our employer partners have increased the diversity of their entry-level hires over the past three years. Workers from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups now make up a larger share of new hires in construction, manufacturing, and technology roles than they did in 2021. However, progress in mid-level and supervisory positions has been slower. The pipeline into entry-level roles is diversifying, but the pathway from entry-level to management has not kept pace.
Fair-Chance Hiring Is Growing. The number of employer partners with formal fair-chance hiring policies has increased by 30 percent since our last report. These organizations have committed to evaluating candidates based on their qualifications and potential rather than automatically screening out individuals with criminal records. Early data suggest that fair-chance hires have retention rates comparable to or better than the general employee population.
Gender Gaps Persist in Trades. Women remain significantly underrepresented in construction and manufacturing roles. While BridgeWorks has increased female enrollment in these programs, employer feedback suggests that workplace culture in some trade environments remains unwelcoming. Addressing this gap requires effort on both the training and employer sides.
Retention Correlates with Inclusion. Employer partners that scored higher on our workplace inclusion assessment, which measures factors like mentorship availability, management diversity training, and employee resource groups, showed measurably better retention rates among diverse hires. Inclusion is not just the right thing to do. It is a retention strategy.
What the Data Tells Us
The report reinforces a message we have been advocating for years. Diverse hiring alone is not enough. Without intentional investment in inclusion and advancement, organizations risk a revolving door where diverse talent enters at the bottom and leaves before reaching positions of influence.
The employers seeing the best outcomes are those that treat diversity, equity, and inclusion as operational priorities rather than standalone initiatives. They integrate inclusive practices into hiring, onboarding, management training, and performance evaluation. They measure outcomes and hold leaders accountable.
Recommendations for Employers
Based on this year's findings, we offer several recommendations to our employer partners.
Audit Your Advancement Pipeline. Look beyond entry-level diversity numbers. Track who is being promoted, who is leaving, and at what stages. If diverse employees are disproportionately represented in departures at the one-to-two-year mark, that signals an inclusion problem rather than a hiring problem.
Invest in Manager Training. Front-line supervisors have an outsized impact on the experience of new employees. Training managers in inclusive leadership, unconscious bias awareness, and effective feedback practices can significantly improve retention among diverse hires.
Formalize Mentorship Programs. Structured mentorship programs that pair new employees with experienced colleagues improve engagement, accelerate skill development, and increase the likelihood of long-term retention. Ad hoc mentorship leaves too much to chance.
Partner with Workforce Organizations. Organizations like BridgeWorks can provide not just candidates but also consulting support on inclusive hiring practices, workplace culture assessments, and retention strategies.
Our Commitment
BridgeWorks will continue to track and publish diversity hiring data among our partner network. Transparency drives accountability, and accountability drives progress. We invite all of our employer partners to engage with the full report and to work with our team on implementing the recommendations.
The full 2024 Employer Diversity Hiring Report is available upon request from our employer relations team.
