A Guide To Diversity Hiring: Creating A Culture Of Diversity

Diversity refers to the hiring and recruitment process uncovered by bias related to age, gender, color, sexual orientation, or other characteristics that do not have any bearing on the performance of a job.

Unconscious biases, which are unintentional, automatic, and deeply ingrained in our beliefs, may be overcome through inclusion and diversity hiring.

This forces us to form a belief about a candidate based on their self-expression. In all phases of the recruitment process, unconscious bias can be found that prevents a company from cashing in on the benefits of a diverse workforce.

Diversity is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of traits beyond gender or race. A diverse workforce has a range of education, personalities, experience, skills, and lifestyles.

The moment we discuss diversity in hiring, it is about merit and provides a fair view of the assessment for all the candidates.

Difference Between Diversity Hiring And A ‘Diversity Hire‘

Being the only person of a particular background can be an uncomfortable and isolating experience.

This will be the case if your organization continues to hire for culture fit rather than culture add. Sometimes, being the only person from a community signifies tokenism.
Whatever the case, make it a point that every member of your organization is welcome.

Diversity hiring practices are not about an employee’s day-to-day experience at work. They are about providing accountability at all levels in an organization. This means you may consider it part of your recruitment strategy, as you will not relate it to demographics once you walk in the door.

People consider themselves the same, and they want the best from their work. Hence, it is important to recognize their efforts, accomplishments, and skills for work.

The moment a person feels tokenized, they represent the entire work. Whatever the case, employees are likely to leave their jobs three times when dishing out unfair treatment.

Steps to Hiring More Diverse Candidates

For any HR manager or organization looking to hire diverse employees, the tips mentioned above would be of considerable help.

Set diversity hiring objectives.

Setting diversity hiring goals would make the process easier to navigate. It would force you to evaluate whether your diversity hiring has any shortcomings. Secondly, it would help you prioritize and prepare to achieve your hiring goals.

Thirdly, it would help track the progress of your hiring goals. In due course of time, you can look back and examine the measures that have made a difference. It would also help you identify critical patterns.

Using AI in the hiring process

With the advent of MI and AI, many businesses have incorporated these technologies into the workplace, including hiring and recruitment practices. The traditional hiring process may be burdened with unconscious bias.

So the screening process has to be a balance of human beings and technology. This ensures that both parties can keep things in check to deliver a smooth diversity experience.

Redesigning the employee referral program

The employee referral program may turn out to be a major setback in diversity recruitment efforts.

Research indicates that people like to mix with people like themselves. For this reason, a few recruiting managers are of the opinion that having an employee referral program is terrible when it comes to diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Rather than simple referrals, it is better to ask for diverse referrals. You may attach a bonus to the referrals if a particular candidate is selected. Referrals may also be obtained from people who are not your employees.

A suitable job description must be written.

A job description is the first point of contact with a possible employee. Hence, do not overlook it when it comes to the message of diversity.

The entire hiring process will become obsolete if you fail to include diversity in the hiring process.

A few things, like he or she, are vital components of the hiring process. When it comes to drafting a job description, it needs to have neutral language. Tools can be used to promote the right set of pronouns.

Does The Job Posting Go On To Reach A Diverse Talent Pool?

To attract diverse employees, it is necessary to be aware that the job postings are being delivered to a specific demographic only.

A lot of times, despite trying your best to diversify the hiring process, the targeted audience will not see your hiring process.

You may use social media postings to spread the word about the job postings. Another option you can resort to is posting job ads in various languages so that they are easier for job seekers to understand.

Regulation of the candidate screening process

The screening process is one where various biases are displayed. Make sure you have a fair screening process to choose the right candidates for a job.

To begin, you should choose a pre-assessment test because it will allow candidates to assess their knowledge and skills.

Some blind hiring methods can be used that would hide personal information from the hiring manager, like the candidate’s school or photos.

The interview process is to be regulated.

The final stage is the interview process that a diverse employee has to clear. Sadly, it is the only place where no bias needs to be eliminated.

You may create diverse interview panels that go on to provide different views than your own.

Why Is Diversity In Hiring Important?

Building a diverse workforce is the right thing to do, but it also provides a tangible way to enhance your business results.

An inclusive and diverse business tends to outperform its homogenous competitors in terms of innovation, profit, talent management, or other factors that may lead to long-term growth.

Diversity and inclusion traits would contribute to a positive work experience for your team and your stakeholders.

Greater workplace diversity benefits not only the business but also society as a whole. An increase in organizational diversity begins with understanding the legal parameters for hiring intentional groups or other minorities.

Attracts and retains talent

Eighty-three percent of the candidates state that they consider an organization’s diversity when they accept a role; if this is not the case, an organization will not be able to attract qualified candidates. Ensuring all employees are equally valued as members of a diverse group is key to driving wellness and workplace satisfaction.

Driving innovation

Recent years have demonstrated that a company’s ability to pivot and adapt in a changing environment is critical to success.

A diverse team can draw from a wider range of perspectives that increase organizational ability and foster innovation.

Financial data

There is a vast amount of data to showcase that companies that follow a diverse hiring process tend to be much better than their counterparts.

Companies that have higher gender and ethnic diversity are known to perform much better than their counterparts.

Is Diversity Hiring Legal?

Diversity hiring is completely legal if it is done properly. A testimony to this fact is the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was established to ensure that hiring was done without regard to race, color, age, or disability. Their aim is to promote diversity in the workplace.

A few businesses or recruiters feel that diversity in hiring is discriminatory or racist. The thing they are concerned about at this juncture is reverse discrimination. Now, where is the line between diversity hiring and reverse discrimination?

If the same factors apply to both candidates, a decision can be made to recruit, promote, or hire a protected class member over the other. The problem of reverse discrimination arises if there is a difference in the qualities or qualifications of the candidates based on the person’s status as a protected class member.

Hence, it is perfectly legal to set up inclusion goals when it comes to diversity hiring. You must be cautious in how you phrase the goals and avoid imposing rigid quotas.

For example, we would need to hire ten women for our accounting department. Inclusion targets have to be established to protect groups’ past barriers to opportunity.

Reserving a certain number of places in an executive training program for minority employees until the senior leadership team is a representative of the leadership team or it meets one of the inclusion goals

How Do You Ensure Diversity In The Workplace?

At each and every stage of the hiring process, there are numerous opportunities to increase the diversity of the workforce.

You may start with employee branding, which can go all the way to increasing your employee retention rates, as there are multiple opportunities to cash in on the power of a diverse workforce or an inclusive company.

Obtain a commitment from the leadership.

Steadfast leadership is one of the crucial components in developing a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Successful hiring for diversity extends beyond HR strategies or affirmative action goals. The goal here is to broaden the horizons of organizational leadership so that it is unaware of the biases of organizational leadership.

Leadership ensures diverse candidates join an organization and stay there for years to come.

Exclusion, unconscious bias, and outright discrimination can force an employee to leave an organization.

Aside from the high costs of turnover, losing talent lowers morale and inhibits innovation. Once the recruitment and hiring processes are in place, it encourages diverse employees to thrive in an organization.

Candidate sourcing has to be revamped.

To fill diverse positions, you need to look way beyond traditional hiring methods. This means that you need to source candidates from social media handles or other platforms.

You may collaborate with an affinity organization in shaping your job search. An example is Google’s hiring, which also suggests points of entry.

Still, employee referrals remain one of the best ways to retain talent. The candidates whose employees have recommended are bound to have a high conversion rate along with a higher retention rate.

You may encourage your existing team members to become brand ambassadors and incentivize diverse employee referrals.

Check out the job descriptions.

The way you dish out a job description sends out certain signals that may discourage a potential employee from applying for a job.

For example, “strong” and “competitive” would mean that the female candidates would not apply for the job, as these words are termed “male-specific.” Even the word “sensitive” would prevent a male from submitting an application.

On the other hand, many companies send out a job description containing exhaustive skills needed for the job.

Specifying all the qualifications may turn out to be a hindrance for the candidates who otherwise would have considered themselves to be a good fit.

The point is that you should only list the skills that are necessary for a job.

Merit-based skill testing is to be integrated.

Rather than focusing on hiring for cultural fit, it is better that you focus on a candidate’s capabilities.

Customizing each skill set with the on-the-job simulation mimics the metrics required for the new hire.

The assessment task allows the candidates to perform the job according to necessity and, in the process, showcase their abilities.

You can go a step further by using AI diversity recruitment software to screen candidates for skill rather than having a recruiter rank candidates for the next round.

It may seem obvious that a recruiter could see hundreds of applications for a single job; at this volume, you cannot expect the recruiter to do full justice to their job.

Conclusion

Diversity training should not be a mere box to check; it has to play a major role in a company’s strategy.

Building a diverse workforce is not the responsibility of a single person or team, as it requires a collaborative approach from the HR team, senior leadership, recruiters, and hiring managers.

If there is a strategic approach to diversity hiring that is supported by technology, that would eliminate bias in the interview process. The hiring teams can work together to build a strong and diverse workforce.