The business case for Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) is stronger than ever. Businesses that have championed a D&I strategy have been able to demonstrate that it really does drive real progress.
The goals of D&I are driven by the belief in ensuring equal opportunities, building an inclusive culture and contributing to the society in which the companies operate.
This article reaffirms the strong business case for both gender diversity and ethnic and cultural diversity in a recruitment strategy—and shows that this business case continues to strengthen. The most diverse companies are now more likely than ever to outperform less diverse peers on profitability.
What is inclusive recruitment?
An inclusive recruitment process involves engaging and hiring individuals from diverse backgrounds, educational backgrounds, and experiences. In order to achieve this a company needs to revaluate its current processes and strategy and shift its priorities.
Workplace diversity should be reflective of our broad society in terms of a team of people who come from a broad range of experiences and backgrounds. So what can diversity include? It can include religion, race, gender, sexual orientation and socio-economic levels etc.
Think of diversity being defined into two funnels: Demographic factors – this is otherwise known as inherent diversity which links to age, gender and health or any other factor which is something that someone is a person. The other funnel is acquired diversity – this is something that is developed over time such as skills, knowledge, values and education.
A diversity recruitment process involves hiring candidates without considering race, gender, or any other factor as a factor in the hiring process.
However, it still is a merit-based process and still seeks to find the best possible candidates, but it is structured to ensure equal opportunity across the board for all applicants, regardless of their background.
Benefits of inclusive recruitment
Here are just some of the benefits of having an inclusive approach to your recruitment process and positive impact on your business.
- Better moral – higher employee engagement
- Wider perspective and insights
- Recruit from a larger talent pool
- Improve business innovation
- Enhances your company reputation
Top tips for Inclusive Recruitment
Hire the right team of recruiters
Partnering with the right recruiters will really help to reach your inclusive recruitment goals. It’s a really great opportunity to understand your recruiters’ understanding of Diversity and Inclusion and the most important aspect is to ensure it reflects your vision. JL Executive Recruitment can support clients with their talent sourcing requirements but equally, we are also finding that more companies are looking for more support with inclusive recruitment techniques as part of their search criteria.
From an internal recruitment department perspective, ensuring a coherent approach and understanding of Diversity and Inclusion is key to improving the hiring process. It is important to educate your team on what biases may look like and dispelling any misinterpretations.
Write an inclusive job description
All companies use their own language but this may not make as much sense to some external candidates. The fist step to success could be to do an audit of your past recruitment adverts and make sure any tweaks you make, communicate to a more diverse range of candidates.
For example, you don’t want any applicants to be confused by jargon or the fact that you may focus your language towards a specific demographic or experience level. Why not consider writing your recruitment adverts with a specific demographic in mind as this may enhance your diversity recruitment strategy? By creating a connection with your target talent pool you are directing a prospective dialogue and why your company could be a good match!
Widen your recruitment search
Using a wide variety of job boards and social media will widen the net of attracting a more diverse range of talent. By adapting the way you advertise roles means you could connect with applicants who may have overlooked your open job position in the past.
Diversify the talent pool
Developing and building a diverse talent pool encourages you to see and understand different perspectives, as well as recognize that experience can come outside of the workforce. Sourcing talent from the same sources means you are more likely to find similar candidates which results in a lack of diversity. Instead, look at alternative resources such as online specialist groups dedicated to something particular – such as women in engineering.
Encourage your diverse employees to refer their connections
There is a very high probability that members of your team have networks of people who have similar backgrounds. It’s a great idea to implement a referral program for diverse candidates to boost your diversity recruitment strategy and demonstrate your organisation’s value of diverse perspectives. This will result in a better level of employee satisfaction and engagement since your company values both their opinions and presence.
Include diversity in your hiring process
As part of the hiring and decision-making process, having a number of number of different individuals can provide different perspectives and opinions for people with different needs and expectations.
Showcase diversity as part of your employer brand
Communicating the importance of diversity and inclusion is the best way to reflect your company’s culture and doing this with the team you are building is the best way to encourage brand authenticity and engagement. Providing an opportunity for employees to talk about the work they do, will help prospects feel that there is a synergy between your culture and where people could belong. Additionally, candidates are more likely to trust stories from people like themselves who they identify with. As you encourage this type of communication, you will naturally develop a brand this is known for placing high importance with valuing diversity.
