You have probably heard about diversity as the current buzzword in HR offices, staffing firms, and even the C-suite. As an employer, you may have also started implementing various initiatives to create a diverse and inclusive workforce.
However, for most managers, the dream of creating a truly diverse workforce is still a far-fetched dream instead of a reality. Inclusivity has become a rather magnanimous concept that remains intangible in its execution and intended results.
But what if we take inclusivity into consideration right at the start of the hiring process? What advantages could it possibly bring?
Inclusive Hiring and its Benefits
In a Glassdoor survey, 76 percent of job seekers and current employees believe that diversity in the workplace is an important factor in assessing job offers. Furthermore, 32 percent of respondents stated they would not consider applying to a company lacking in diversity.1
While these are telling and commanding statistics, this also begs the question of how beneficial diversity is to an organization. Let us count the ways.
1. Diversity Enhances Creativity and Problem Solving in the Workplace.
A diverse workforce brings together people from various backgrounds, possessing a wealth of experiences, skills, and insights. Because of this, you may find your company at the threshold of innovation, creativity, and strategic thinking, as each of your employees can bring out their unique skill sets on the table. Hence, a diverse mix within teams is ideal for workplace collaboration.
2. Diversity Enhances Productivity and Profitability.
By and large, you also stand to increase your revenue by having a diverse workforce.
A McKinsey study revealed that companies that are in the top 25 percent when it comes to having a diverse workforce generated 15 percent more revenue than those ranked lower.2 This is because diversity is directly correlated with increased motivation, engagement, efficiency, and productivity in the workplace.
3. Diversity Reduces Employee Turnover.
Are your employees resigning one after the other?
One of the salient benefits of diversity is that your employees tend to feel safer and more attuned in an inclusive workplace. A recent study pointed out the direct correlation between diversity and employee retention.3 So, if you want your employees to stay longer, creating an inclusive workplace for them should be one of your top priorities.
4. Diversity Improves Your Company’s Reputation.
Building inclusive teams is one of the best ways to propagate a positive company culture both within and outside your organization. It will help attract more job seekers and can do wonders in your talent acquisition. This is because job seekers get to view your company as a more welcoming and safer space for them regardless of their background and gender orientation.
Being Intentional About Inclusive Hiring
As an employer, you cannot simply say that you want diversity and suddenly expect candidates to queue up to your hiring managers. The key to making this happen is to be intentional. You must take the front seat and head out to find these diverse candidates. It has to start in your hiring practices.
Thus, your company’s hiring process must be deliberately equipped to manage diversity recruiting to attract diverse groups and remove unconscious bias in the recruiting process.
Here are three tips on implementing an inclusive job hiring process to attract diversity into your workplace.
1. Make Inclusive Job Descriptions.
Many job seekers are exposed to company vacancies by using ad listings and by visiting job boards. However, you can only truly attract diversity if you know the psychology of how individuals perceive your job ads.
For instance, men are more courageous to apply for jobs, even if they are not 100 percent qualified to fill a certain role. On the other hand, women tend to apply only to roles they feel they are 100 percent qualified to do.
Knowing this, focus on the skillsets that are non-negotiable instead of listing down every skill that a role requires in advertising your company vacancies. Remember that certain “nice-to-have” skills may be learned over time and are not prerequisites to getting one’s foot in the door. In doing this, you encourage more women to apply for a particular vacancy.
2. Make Yourself and a Specific Person Accountable.
If you want to be deliberate about making your company a diverse workplace, assign someone in your organization whose role is to obsess about it.
Having yourself and a diversity manager who can push forward with the goal of creating a diverse workplace allows your company to have measurable targets as you head in that direction. Having a diversity manager also tackles the perennial unconscious bias among many employers or hiring managers.
Unconscious bias refers to a tendency to hire someone who is “just like you,” someone with a similar personality and background, or someone who is perceived to be someone who can easily “fit in.” Unconscious bias is a detriment to inclusive recruitment, and having a diversity manager can help you combat this.
3. Lead with an Open Mind.
From the get-go, it is vital for employers and hiring managers like you to recognize that old stereotypes still linger in the workplace and that old habits tend to die hard.
If you are serious about creating a truly diverse workplace, then acknowledging this should motivate you to revisit your company processes, especially your retention and hiring processes, as well as your company culture.
Do your recruiters and middle managers need a talk on bias training? Do your hiring managers need to revisit your interview questionnaires to give way to a diverse interview process and inclusive recruitment?
This is also an opportune time to revisit what hiring practices can potentially be purveyors of unconscious bias and is detrimental to attracting diverse job candidates. Re-examine how you write job descriptions and if they include the experiences and backgrounds of all potential job candidates. Do your job descriptions promote inclusive language?
Revisiting and overhauling your hiring practices to promote diversity and inclusion may be a lot of work. However, if your organization truly understands the value of diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and if you are looking forward to reaping the benefits of an inclusive workplace, then this would all be worth it.
4. Get the Help of a Staffing Agency Committed to Diversity and Inclusion.
Sometimes, companies are so preoccupied with daily operations and deliverables, such that having someone from within the organization tackle diversity in the workplace already becomes a tall order and unsustainable. Worse, the sheer difficulty of attracting top talent due to the talent shortage and the skills gap can be a bane to your company’s quest for real inclusion and diversity.
In these circumstances, your natural best bet would be to work with a partner who truly understands how you value diversity and how much you need to attract the right talent to your organization.
Consider Strategic Systems as a partner for your staffing and DEI needs. With over two decades of success and an unmatched reputation anywhere else, allow us to be your partner in creating a buoyant company with the right talent and diversity to make you tower above the rest. Talk to us today!
Referances
1 Recruiting a Diverse Workforce | Glassdoor for Employers. https://www.glassdoor.com/employers/blog/diversity/.
2 Hunt, Dame Vivian, et al. “Delivering through Diversity.” McKinsey & Company, McKinsey & Company, 18 Jan. 2018, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/delivering-through-diversity.
3 6 Ways to Boost Morale at Work – Indeed. https://www.indeed.com/hire/c/info/boosting-employee-morale.
