HR Trends Part 4- Getting your diversity numbers in hiring right using these techniques(Part 2)
The case for diverse teams has never been louder. With a changing demographic transforming how we view work and play, more companies are investing in their D&I initiatives. Diverse teams have also been directly linked to the profitability and success of companies. Following the first part of this series, we look at more practical ways your hiring team can reach your D&I goals.
“The beauty of the world lies in the diversity of its people”-Unknown
More of the same is less.
“A lot of small tactical things make a much bigger difference than the executive strategy of committing to this big goal by 2020”- Sarah Nahm CEO Lever
Sourcing
Just like with any sales process, the first three stages determine the success of the last 4. From prospecting, and qualifying to needs assessment, your hiring team must consider the kind of talent you wish to bring on board. With special and marginalized groups or any group that you wish to bring on board for that matter, you need to seek a deeper understanding of what their needs, motivations, aspirations, influences, constraints & challenges are. Apart from checking your data to see where they are dropping off in your hiring funnel, you need to get out of the building to interact with these individuals and build a strong rapport with them. As stated earlier in the first post, your employer branding efforts will compound your hiring efforts. Just like in business, the purchase decision is not made when the customer clicks ‘apply’. What do candidates think, say & feel about you? What data is available to us to measure our brand equity across different groups of people? How broad & deep can we go to find real insights? What about online reviews from past employees or public info about us shown through our company website, social media pages, CSR, and Google search results? Could they have gotten a different picture when going through your social media posts filled with all-white young males playing ping pong when you tried to show how cool you are? During their interview preparation, what picture would they get about your salary/compensation & benefits? Do you really offer equal pay? What about perks like baby centers for new mothers? D&I is one of the primary things Gen Z looks for when looking for a job and could be the reason why some applicants don’t apply for your job. Find out.
Does the perception meet reality and vice versa? Go further than posts to hosting ‘open houses’ like companies like Ernest & Young do to get potential candidates a chance to see your premises and interact with employees & hiring managers. You can showcase your culture & EVP even with remote hiring.
“Reality is an illusion. Albeit a very persistent one”- Albert Einstein
You also have to seek to find out what the best sources for your ‘missing talent’ are and sources your ATS may be missing out on. Is it Slack channels, WhatsApp groups, associations, Interns, or specific events? For this, you should veer off the normal job boards and find more innovative ways to source talent such as networking or partnerships. Cast a much wider net to be able to attract a more diverse talent pool. Part 2 of long-term talent sourcing strategies here.
Your company will also attract diverse talent if your language is inclusive. Research on AI bots that are built to track the discriminative language of job descriptions such as https://datapeople.io/ and how appealing or non-appealing some words may be to certain groups. You can't also AB test your job ad with internal employees to get the best job ad you want to be published. And while at it, check to ensure you’re only emphasizing job requirements that are essential to the job and don’t include must-haves that will potentially eliminate the majority of applicants for no good reason. EG in Kenya it's not uncommon to see jobs with must-have age or gender requirements which is actually illegal according to the Employment Act 2007. For more on this, check out our latest piece on job ads.
The best salespeople also build on one fact that recruiters forget- sales is all about relationships. Great sourcers focus on genuinely building great long-term relationships with potential talent. This will ensure that you can successfully reach out to them in the future when jobs open up or even after they leave your company and have a strong diverse candidate pipeline.
Hiring
Monitoring your hiring process end to end allows you to identify weak areas and opportunities to innovate. Numbers hardly lie. It is advised to adopt a service level agreement or other ways to track your hiring goals. Just winging it and wishing more diverse candidates apply won’t work. The entire hiring team has to be committed to the cause which is diverse hiring. Some companies such as Google & Facebook pour more into this by having diversity hiring events and diversity hiring specialists. If your company can afford it, these directed efforts will yield better results than just casting a wider net.
Another thing to note here is the importance of diverse hiring teams. You attract what you show. Apart from training your team on natural biases and how to overcome them, it is important to ensure your hiring teams represent the kind of diversity you’re going for. Having an all-male panel can be intimidating or uncomfortable to some female candidates. It also reinforces certain biases that they may or may not be aware of. For instance, during one interview, a female friend of mine was asked why she was still single at her age. If the group was balanced in terms of age, religion, economic background, gender, political affiliation, tribe, etc, it would help ensure a more inclusive hiring process throughout the selection process. Constantly test the key assumptions you’re making about candidates and managers by talking to as many people as possible in an authentic & sincere manner. More about employer interview etiquette here and here. You can also try different techniques that will reduce bias during the hiring such as Job Auditions(Citadel), Meeting in a casual setting, VR Assessment(Lloyds Banking), Video interviews(KPMG Australia, Unilever)
Culture fit vs Culture add- This is an ongoing debate in the HR Industry about why hiring for culture fit isn’t effective. One of the reasons for this is that some managers use this to discriminate against candidates. A qualified hire may be dismissed because he had dreadlocks or they were ‘too young. Instead of culture fit, the focus is now shifting to culture add. Ask yourself, “What new thing can this person add to our culture & team?” This is also the importance of standardizing hiring instruments throughout the company. Are your questions based on testing the real aspects of the job such as competence, and character & linked to your company values? Cultural fit/add should be tested against your cultural values such as innovation, belonging, or friendliness. Take this case study from Netflix as a great example of great hiring beyond culture fit and this article on how to implement this.
The hiring question then shifts from “What is this person lacking?” to “What can this person bring to the table?”
Reinforcing, Reviewing & Rewarding
Everything that you do post-offer still counts as the employee journey and should be monitored to add to the hiring efforts and not take away from it. For instance, if a candidate accepts a job offer but has a terrible onboarding experience, it will affect employee retention rates and productivity. It’s said 60% of new hires decide to stay or leave within the first 6 months. Culture and leadership play a big role here. Diversity has to be more than a statement on your company website. It has to be clearly visible from how your company operates internally(and externally with other stakeholders like Govt, the customers, shareholders, citizens, and investors) to your new employee that D&I is the norm. You can do this by aligning D&I to your business strategy & goals. And for this to be enforced, the top management has to set the right example including the diversity of top management officials in how they support D&I initiatives in the company. This will all eventually feed into the employer branding efforts and restart the funnel. If you do this, you will not only help retain more candidates but also transform them into brand ambassadors! You should also reward desired behavior. Behavior rewarded is behavior repeated. Openly reward employees and leaders who best embody your D&I values throughout the company and day-to-day. This will also show others that HR is observing & recognizing their character & company values.
Lastly, put it on paper. Include your D&I goals throughout your hiring process and policies. Reinforce them repeatedly throughout the year in all avenues available to you including hiring managers' training. Standardizing your hiring process & tools such as interview questions also helps reduce wide gaps between how hiring is conducted by different departments in the organization. Follow up with managers and employees to ensure clarity & answer questions and identify what isn’t working.
Track your hiring process end to end including onboarding & referral programs, campus recruitment, or diversity programs. Are you achieving what you set out to? And if not, what could be done differently? Acknowledge the barriers to data that are holding back your efforts eg poor quality data. Do not be scared to admit mistakes and try again. People management is a continuous process. Remember, every touchpoint counts and great experiences don’t just happen. They are designed.
Do you have any more ideas on how hiring teams can achieve their D&I goals? Comment below.
Still, looking for more? Check out https://medium.com/jobonics/hr-meets-marketing-part-4-email-campaigns-309d1061b632
