No matter where you are in the world, businesses everywhere are trying to find that perfect formula in building the best team they can. In recent years, many employers have come to realize that formula is diversity.
Workplace diversity is the acceptance and embrace of the differences between employees in demographics, education, experience, beliefs, values, personality, skill sets, and more. In other words, how much attention a company puts into promoting acceptance and inclusion no matter the differences in their employees.
Below are just a few of the many benefits of having diversity in the workplace:
- A diverse team includes employees from different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, and points of view. Each member can bring their own unique ideas and stimulate one another to come up with more creative ideas and better innovations. When facing different challenges and obstacles, each member can contribute different possible solutions by looking at all possible angles to tackle problems and leading to a more informed decision-making process.
- When an employer shows that they value diversity, it gives their employees a sense of acceptance, inclusion, equality, and value on that team. When employees have a sense of belonging, they are likely to be more engaged, motivated, happier, and productive. When an employer can create such an environment, it will become much easier to retain their talent.
- The reputation of being a diverse employer also helps with attracting a larger talent pool. With more potential candidates to choose from, there is a greater chance of finding the top available talent in the market.
- Ultimately, when you attract better talent, have better team morale, higher productivity, and overall better employee engagement, it is a win-win for both employers and employee because businesses are making more money, and employees are happier with their jobs.
To enjoy these benefits, employers must evaluate their current recruitment strategies and ensure diversity hiring is at the center of it. You can improve your diversity hiring with the following tips:
1) Diversity must be a part of the corporate culture
Diversity does not happen overnight or by simply hiring people who are just different. It must be engrained within the company’s culture and has the buy in from top to bottom. The sense of inclusion and acceptance is organic and created by every member of the organization on everyday interactions. Employers must promote diversity in workplace and leading their team for long term success.
2) Identifying Hiring Bias and redefine “fit” for the team
Employers must actively engage their team to lookout for any bias when selecting the new member for the team. Are there certain criteria that exclude any groups of individuals based on personal feelings and perceptions, rather than objective requirements for the position? Instead, teams should consider what they currently do not have such as: skills, experiences, personalities, etc. and look to add someone who can fill those gaps, rather than to blend in with the rest of the group.
3) Review recruitment materials and sourcing processes
When reaching out to the job seeker market, employers must ensure that they are actively promoting diversity through their efforts. Review job postings to ensure that it is written in such a way that it is inclusive and attracts a broad range of candidates.
Consider advertising and sourcing talent from different channels and avenues. There are now more and more ways that job seekers are finding new opportunities. Through job boards, social media, networking events, referrals, and more. If employers are just relying on job ads, or strictly hiring through job fairs, they are missing out on a big portion of available talent in the market. It is widely agreed that employee referrals bring some of the best talents to teams, so it is important for employers to encourage employees continue doing so in providing more diverse referrals with incentives.
4) Improve screening and selection processes
When employers go through candidate screening, one technique that can eliminate bias for a more objective selection is the blind review. By removing personal information such as their name, where they got their education, places that they have worked and their locations, it allows for HR or the hiring manager to focus on the experiences and skills, and disregards other distractions.
Employers may also consider using personality assessments to identify key traits, motivations, and skills. Also, a diverse panel of interviewers should be employed in the interview stages to show the company’s commitment to diversity and to get different perspectives on candidates.
5) Put your diversity on display
A big part of what attracts talent to a company is in their Employer Branding. There are many sources of information that people can find about a company and come up with assumptions about them. It is important that employers showcase their diversity in all their branding methods and materials because nothing attracts diversity more than diversity itself.
That means broadcast your commitment to diversity through your company’s website, social media channels, blogs, and more. Anyone outside of the organization should be able to easily recognize diversity within an organization and see recurring theme from that company wherever they look.
For many years, job seekers have stopped looking jobs just for the money and to pay the bills. They are now considering things like work environments, company cultures, job satisfaction, team composition, and more. Companies that do more in caring about their people will ultimately attract more talent than those that simply look at it as a transactional relationship. Diversity and the sense of acceptance and belonging is at the center of it all. Those who pay attention to this will succeed in building the best team because they will attract the best talent.
Contact Us today to speak with one of our Recruitment Specialists and let us help you build your team with talent today!