Diversity has been a hot topic as companies are wanting to hire more people of color as well as trans, gay and disabled people. Recruiters are having an influx of requests from companies to help them find a more varied selection of people.
The wave of this current diversity hiring trend has hit every company and job advertisements these days are containing sentences such as “BAME people especially encouraged to apply.”
Studies have suggested that diverse teams can increase company performances by up to 30 percent and also millennials and gen zen proactively seek diverse companies to work for.
Along with high-volume recruiting, recruiters now are also required to maintain the diversity of the volume.
So, you would also be missing out on top talent for your company. This is where it is not just about recruitment with a conscience but recruitment with common sense.
Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)
- Nikky Lyle, a creative recruiter with 10 years of experience in the industry, believes that the D of Diversity is being implemented without the I of Inclusion. Every diversity and inclusion manual mentions external recruiters as one of the solutions to help fill this talent gap.
- As people, we have so many different identities- gender variant, cisgender, working-class, middle class, religious identity, black, white, gay, and more. An identity is just a part of someone but it is our values that are really important. Shared values and integration within society and an organization are essential.
- For companies, it has perhaps become a pick-and-mix recruitment game of all. Companies are significantly missing out on understanding the importance of inclusion as diversity cannot do without it.
- Things like microaggressions and notions wherein other staff members believe that the person was only hired because of skin color or sexual orientation or disability are problematic and could propel the person to leave the company.
- This is expensive as the company has to incur the cost of loss of reputation and financials too when someone leaves. The financials alone can cost up to 200% of that person’s salary in recruitment and training fees.
- Joyce Parks, the advocate of diversity, put it best when she said diversity is not like choking down spoonfuls of oat bran because it is supposedly good for you. It is literally like eating at a wonderful new restaurant every day.
What is Diversity Hiring?
- Diversity and inclusion is a function of an organization or a subfunction within the HR function.
- Diversity in recruitment is called diversity hiring. Diversity hiring is a hiring process that is free from biasedness. The process ensures that an individual is not judged based on age, race, gender, sexual orientation, sexual preferences, or any other characteristics that are irrelevant to the job profile.
- It involves actively hiring candidates from diversified backgrounds and ensuring that their talent and skills are being analyzed instead of their background.
- A more modern take on the idea of diversity has been adopted to encompass other groups, such as women, military veterans, and individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community.
- It involves taking proactive steps and hiring candidates from diversified backgrounds and ensuring that their talent and skills are considered for qualification instead of their background.
Benefits of Diversity Hiring
- Conflict Reduction: It unites people with a common purpose rather than dividing them on the basis of the natural differences of gender, race, age, sexual preferences, etc.
- Increased Confidence: Boosting performance from individual team members.
- Improved Employee Engagement: It increases morale in the office. A report suggests 83% of the Millenials are more engaged if their company has an inclusive culture.
- Wider Range of Ideas: It becomes easier for individuals to express ideas freely and also learn to accept diverse ideological perspectives.
- Builds a Good Company Reputation: Diversity hiring proves to clients that you are inclusive and ethical.
- Simplifies Recruitment: Diversity attracts candidates to your business and makes recruiting easier. 67% of job seekers said diversity is an important factor when reviewing offers.
- Wider Talent Pool: This opens opportunities to choose from a wide array of applications that come from diverse individuals. Consequently, you can choose from a wider pool of talent by using an EEO-compliant Applicant Tracking System.
- Relate to Your Customers Better: A diverse team means broader understanding and it makes you more relatable with your customers as they can connect with you on the common choices and background.
- Reduce Employee Turnover: It is easier to retain employees who feel accepted and valued. Racially diverse companies bring in 15 times more revenue on average.
Challenges of Diversity Hiring
- Communication Barriers: Diverse hiring can sometimes lead to frustration amongst other staff because of language or communication barriers.
- Employee Recruitments: Whether it is a VISA or specific cultural requirements, some hurdles can cause difficulty in recruitment.
- Gender Equality Issues: Individuals if treated unequally can become demotivated.
- Generation Gap: This could potentially hinder discussions on certain subjects or understanding the candidate and vice versa while recruiting.
- Conflicting Beliefs: The differences in religion, political or cultural beliefs might not be acceptable and could lead to conflicts.
- Disability Discrimination: Many offices and recruitment agencies are not equipped with proper facilities to aid the disabled. Such equipment is expensive to implement.
- Isolated Individuals: When groups with similar backgrounds form ‘cliques’ it can lead to some individuals feeling isolated.
- Time Consuming: The process of implementing diversity and inclusion is time-consuming. It involves a lot of research and resources.
- ‘Resistance to Change’ attitude: “This is the way we have always done it” kind of attitude with people clinging to the old ways makes it difficult to bring adaptation and change.
How to Promote Diversity in the Workplace?
- Identify the Problems: Get feedback from diverse individuals in the business and use that to understand and identify the problems.
- Strategize: Develop a clear diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategy through frequent assessments and improve your processes of recruitment.
- Team Inclusion: Regular ‘desk swaps’ that help to prevent ‘cliques’ should be formed.
- Initiate Mentoring Schemes: One of the easiest, most effective, and least costly diversity strategies is to organize mentoring sessions.
- Offer Training Programmes: You can organize training programs like computer lessons to bridge the digital skills gap.
- Hire Bilingual or Multilingual Employees: This would resolve any language barriers and also maintain the diversity in your recruitment.
- Gender Equality Initiatives: Pay equal salaries and offer the same opportunities to everyone regardless of their gender.
- Accommodate disabilities: With disabled access or by allowing service dogs you can accommodate a diverse pool of talent and promote inclusivity.
- Hold People Accountable: Put rules in place and don’t tolerate discrimination.
- Factor in Costs and Time Restraints: This should be done to ensure that your diversity and inclusion plans go ahead smoothly.
While recruiting for a team, along with grit, resilience, and creativity most companies look for a voice that expresses every life experience in the work they do.
The more diverse your recruitment, the greater will be your performance producing groundbreaking progressive work that moves society and the world forward and enriches its cultural narratives and opinions.
You not only need to hire diverse voices but also create a culture where everyone feels empowered to express their ideas and improves candidate experience too. Diversity hiring promotes recruitment wherein you hire for potential and not just experience.