Companies including Facebook, Microsoft and Salesforce are providing employees with the option to remain working remotely beyond the coronavirus pandemic. Not only is remote work providing options for employees, but it also may create more opportunities to attract and hire underrepresented talent without location being an obstacle.

It can be challenging for recruiters to attract and source underrepresented candidates when a local talent pool isn't very diverse, according to LinkedIn's Talent Solutions group's February blog post. For example, Black workers largely do not live in the places where job growth will likely rise the quickest through 2030, a Feb. 22 report by McKinsey & Company found. "Roughly one in 10 Black workers live in the counties with the highest projected job growth," James Manyika, chairman and director of McKinsey Global Institute and senior partner at McKinsey & Company, said during a virtual press conference. There is only about 8.8% representation of Black workers in the West and Pacific. However, many cities in this geographical area are experiencing job growth, according to the report.

"With flexible work environments, including a mix of remote, physical and hybrid, becoming a long term strategy, companies have the opportunity to reimagine their sourcing strategies and recruit talent from more diverse talent pools wherever they are in the world — not just based on a single location,” Jennifer Shappley, vice president of talent acquisition, engineering at LinkedIn told HR Dive in an email.

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