As work-from-home opportunities gained popularity during the pandemic, businesses discovered that having a diverse workforce from different geographical locations was pretty possible. Now, as things normalize once again, these trends are here to stay.
According to a Glassdoor poll, a diverse workplace is one of the most critical aspects potential workers consider when looking for a job. 77% of talent professionals say that diversity is of crucial importance in the future of recruitment.
As of today, companies are highly focused on taking diversity & inclusion initiatives to promote workplace diversity. To achieve that, companies are increasing their pool of diverse employees, educating others on diversity, and building a sense of belonging among all employees.
What is diversity recruitment?
Diversity recruitment is hiring based on merit. Extra attention is given to ensure that the procedures eliminate prejudices relating to a candidate’s age, ethnicity, sex, religious background, sexual orientation, and other personal traits irrelevant to their work performance. Diversity recruiting aims to detect and minimize possible biases in sourcing, screening, and shortlisting applicants for a particular job. Diversity recruitment is the future of all recruitment processes.
“Recruiters have to be able to answer questions pertaining to culture. They have to be able to answer questions about the company’s stance on diversity. They have to teach leaders and managers how to think more broadly about their own choices and coach them to gravitate not toward who they ‘like’ but who adds to the organization,” says Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition at Microsoft, Lauren Gardner.
Navigating fair recruitment – How to increase workplace diversity in 2021
For recruitment to be fair in 2021, your selection of candidates should be diverse and not restricted by cultural boundaries. Many organizations are now considering diversity and inclusion (D&I) in their agendas in 2021.
“When we listen and celebrate what is both common and different, we become wiser, more inclusive, and better as an organization,” says Pat Wadors, Chief Talent Officer at ServiceNow.
Write job descriptions to attract more diverse candidates.
If diversity & inclusion is part of your agenda while recruiting candidates, go for a tone and language that appeals to diverse candidates. It would be best if you omitted any words that might demotivate a set of people and motivate another group. Go for a general approach. Also, offering flexible working hours and a remote working environment will attract a more diverse and talented workforce.
In your job descriptions, you need to highlight how your organization has a D&I plan and strives to achieve social justice while hiring candidates. The candidates need to know that social fairness is a prerequisite for hiring in your organization.
Use personality assessments
Instead of going for the candidates’ educational and previous work background to be your main hiring criteria, go for their personality. In a study of 150 companies, it was found that companies using a personality test in their hiring processes had more racially diverse workforces, according to Smarp.
You need to assess their personality and only then determine whether they are a good fit for the job or not. Using personality traits to judge a person mitigates any biases that might exist in the recruitment process on behalf of the recruiting team.
More Resources on “Diversity Dilemmas & How To Navigate Fair Recruitment In 2021?”
- How corporate America’s diversity initiatives continue to fail Black women – CNBC Make It speaks to diversity leaders and experts about the various ways in which sexism and racism impact Black women’s experiences at work and how corporate America’s diversity and inclusion efforts fail to make a real difference. (cnbc.com)
- For younger job seekers, diversity and inclusion in the workplace – (washingtonpost.com)
- Bias, disrespect, and demotions: Black employees say Amazon has a race problem – Interviews with Black corporate employees reveal microaggressions from colleagues and managers, as well as stalled career growth (vox.com)
- The Costs of Code-Switching – The behavior is necessary for advancement — but it takes a great psychological toll. (hbr.org)
- Navigating Northwestern: Virtual Graduate School Information Sessions: The Graduate School – Northwestern University – Navigating Northwestern is a virtual graduate school information series for prospective students from underrepresented and minoritized populations (URM) and students from minority-serving institutions (MSI). (tgs.northwestern.edu)
- Why Diversity Programs Fail – And what works better (hbr.org)
- Career Fairs Go Virtual in Reaction to Pandemic – Some companies are still hiring during the coronavirus pandemic, and many are turning to virtual career fairs and hiring events to find candidates. (shrm.org)
- Diversity Abroad – Diversity Abroad Network | Where Diversity, Inclusion & Global Education Intersect (diversitynetwork.org)
- Employment and diversity – Discover how Nestlé is promoting employment diversity as we aim to empower people, especially women and young people, through opportunities. (nestle.com)
- 11 Ways to Reduce Hiring Bias – Harver – Reducing hiring bias fosters diversity and inclusion. With diverse workforce, you’ll build a more successful business. Learn how to reduce hiring bias! (harver.com)
- Ten ways to support diversity and inclusion in the workplace – For diversity practices to be successful, you also need to facilitate an inclusive work culture. Here are some ways employers can build or improve upon their diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (ceridian.com)
Related Statistics
- For every 100 men promoted to manager, just 58 Black women are promoted to the same role, according to Lean In . (cnbc.com)
- Additionally, when looking at the experiences of Black transgender women, 47% report being fired, denied a promotion or not hired due to their gender identity. (cnbc.com)
- Additionally, just 26% of Black women say they’ve had equal access to sponsorship and 59% say they’ve never had an informal interaction with a senior leader at their company. (cnbc.com)
- In 2019, 26.5 percent of employees identified as Black. (vox.com)
- Around 11 percent of Amazon managers in 2020 were Black, including both corporate staff and front-line warehouse and physical store positions. (vox.com)
- Black Americans make up 12 percent of the entire private sector workforce across the US, but just 7 percent of managerial roles, according to new research from the consulting firm McKinsey. (vox.com)