Securing a Diverse workforce: A conversation with IW’s Director of HR & Inclusion
For the November 2018 Cafe Innovation event on 11/15, I sat down with moderator and Innovation Works Director of Human Resources and Inclusion, Kelley Benson, and asked her some questions on the topic of securing a diverse workforce.
What general hiring techniques do you recommend?
The most popular employee recruitment techniques are:
- Recruit internally. Is there someone on your team who would be a great fit for the role?
- Advertise externally including posting the job on your website and sharing with your network on social media.
- Advertise in newspapers. Print is not actually dead.
- Use talent searches. Community organizations and universities have regularly scheduled job fairs.
- Using recruitment agencies.
You will want to make sure that each of these “general” techniques maximize for diversity. Are you advertising in spaces where people outside of your network will see the job posting? Are you using a recruitment agency with a track record of helping folks from different backgrounds?
Should hiring techniques change?
YES! Hiring techniques should change if you are not improving diversity within your company.
Some recommendations:
Make inclusion and diversity part of your corporate culture.
If you are truly committed to improving diversity you will weave the diversity thread into every fabric of your company. Simply put, you will think about how every hire affects your diversity strategic plan. Look at how you define diversity; diversity is more than gender and race. True inclusion considers other types of diversity, which include geography, family status, ability, sexual preference, gender expression, age, etc.
That also means that your job descriptions may need to be changed.
Revising the years of experience allows you to consider an entirely different group of individuals. Ensure that you are not requiring candidates to have experience in certain programs or have attended prestigious universities. This leaves out individuals who could not afford or chose not to attend these types of universities. Recruiting individuals from various universities will also allow your team to have diversity of thought.
Does your job description only appeal to one group of people? Think about the words you use. Competitive, Rock Star, Fast Pace, and Dominant typically appeal to men and sometimes are viewed negatively by women. While words like passion, collaboration, and loyalty sometimes appeal more to women. Your descriptions should be balanced and appeal to a diverse array of individuals.
Companies seeking to improve diversity must think outside of the box.
They have to seek out talent in places that are overlooked. Have you thought about sharing your postings at places of worship? Churches, Synagogues, Mosques are places where you can get your opening to groups of individuals who may never see your job postings. Most religious organizations have bulletin and posting boards and share announcements at some portion of the service. That’s just one example of thinking outside of the box.
To answer your question, hiring techniques should change if you are not getting the result you are seeking to improve securing diverse teams within your company.
Why is it important to have diversity in the workplace? What is the impact?
It is important to have a diverse workforce because companies will not thrive and scale if everyone thinks and behaves in the same manner. Studies show having a diverse workforce that includes people from a variety of racial, social, and educational backgrounds along with a diverse range of ages opens up a wealth of possibilities and helps to enforce creativity and foster innovation. In short, a business will become more profitable when they have diverse teams in the workplace.
Diversity should be more than a buzzword. Diversity holds the key to fostering new ways of thinking and allows you to reach a wider range of customers, which ultimately can scale your business.
Companies cannot thrive and scale if everyone thinks and behaves in the same way. There is a clear competitive advantage when we employ a diverse workforce. A diverse workplace can understand and relate to the needs of a wide range of customers and interact with a broad client base. This allows opportunities to recruit and retain staff in a competitive labor market.
Diversity and Inclusion is necessary and vital to every business!
What are the challenges of diversity in the workplace?
Respect and Acceptance
Training will help employees understand, respect, and work toward acceptance to foster mutual respect.
Accommodation of Beliefs
Diversity in political, spiritual, and cultural beliefs can pose a challenge in a diverse workplace. Employees need to understand that they should not impose their beliefs on others to prevent disputes. Their personal beliefs are independent of their work responsibilities and duties.
Gender Equality
Surveys show that men earn approximately 24.1% higher base pay than women in many positions. The Equal Pay Act has made some changes to those stats, you now have more women in the workplace than in previous years. Employers need to prevent gender discrimination and maintain equality regarding hiring, salary, opportunities, and promotions. We still have some work to do in this area.
Physical and Mental Disabilities
Diversity also includes those who have disabilities. This group often has a difficult time navigating through their workplace because of poor accommodations. Most employers do not consider talking to those who are impacted or experts in this area, therefore, missing the mark unintentionally.
Ageism is a form of discrimination that is not often talked about. How can companies take steps to diversify their teams/companies in terms of age?
Incorporating a multigenerational group into your work teams is imperative. By 2025, millennials will make up 75% of the workforce. Millennials are changing the workplace culture and this may be difficult for other generations to adapt to. It is imperative that when hiring and striving to develop a diverse work team that a diversified age group is incorporated to bring about acceptance and change. This helps with collaboration, open communication, and teamwork. It also allows to bridges the gap between generations.
This needs to be considered in the recruitment process to ensure diversity is considered at every level and not simply when it relates to race and gender.
