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Most recruiters and managers think that a diverse workforce helps businesses be more inventive, creative, and productive. You don’t even need to look at the statistics (and there are plenty) to realize that attracting a diverse pool of candidates leads to higher overall performance.
It seems obvious that having a diverse group of people on your team will help you come up with new and better solutions to challenges and spur innovation. Because of this, businesses all over the world are putting effort into enhancing their diversity recruitment efforts.
However, the importance of diversity goes far beyond the bottom line of a company’s operations. The pursuit of a diverse workforce is an admirable goal for any business. A long-delayed step towards full equality in the workplace is the creation of teams composed of qualified individuals from all backgrounds and affiliations, including gender, color, religion, and sexual orientation.
Learn how to increase the diversity of your workforce before outsourcing human resources in this article. So let’s talk about diversity recruitment and why it’s vital before we start.
The concept of workplace diversity is based on the premise that your staff should reflect the demographics of the community in which you live and operate. Your team should be composed of a diverse group of people from various backgrounds. Gender, experience, socioeconomic status, color, religion, and sexual orientation are all examples of diversity.
Diversification can be either inherent (such as demographic characteristics) or acquired (earned or developed through time). Race, gender, age and every other attribute that comes naturally to a person is a part of inherent diversity. Education, experience, attitudes, abilities, and knowledge all fall under the umbrella of “acquired diversity,” which is more malleable and subject to change over time.
The term “diversity recruiting” refers to the practice of hiring or outsourcing human resources without regard to a candidate’s race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics. Merit-based hiring is still the goal, but the process is set up in such a way that everyone who applies gets an equal shot at success.
Diverse workforces are becoming increasingly popular in business, and for a good reason. As a sound business decision, diversifying one’s workforce has numerous advantages in terms of improved performance, new ideas and productivity. A few of the most well-known benefits are:
1. Your team will have a more diverse set of talents and experience.
2. Increased cultural and linguistic awareness.
3. Candidates from a wider range of backgrounds.
A diverse workforce has been shown to be better at addressing problems, avoiding the “echo chamber” or confirmation bias mentality and driving higher innovation at work because of these benefits. As a result, better judgments are made, and better outcomes are achieved. Diverse points of view help team members debate the merits of various approaches and arrive at the best possible conclusion by utilizing a much larger variety of information.
The outcomes are self-evident:
1. Companies’ revenues rise by 19 percent when their management teams are diversified.
2. More diverse companies are 1.7 times more likely to be the leaders in innovation in their market segments.
3. Almost two-thirds of job searchers believe that a company’s diversity is a key aspect of their decision-making process.
4. 85% of CEOs believe that having a diverse staff positively impacts a company’s bottom lines.
A strong diversity recruiting strategy is a no-brainer when it comes to improving team performance and driving innovation in your business. Now that we’ve looked at the advantages let’s look at how to implement diversity recruiting in outsourcing human resources.
Making your new hires feel at home is one of the most critical things you can do for your business. When it comes to customer retention, building a welcoming environment is typically neglected as the last stage. Candidates from diverse backgrounds are typically in the minority for any office. As a result, new employees may find it difficult to assert their individuality or offer a viewpoint. Everyone at the table has a role to play; therefore, it’s up to you to make them feel at ease.
A diverse workforce isn’t enough to establish your firm as one that embraces inclusion. It’s your job to treat everyone respectfully and foster a work climate where new hires can flourish.
A business football team or boozy Friday evenings may sound like fantastic bonuses to you, but not everyone will enjoy them. Try to present an overview of your firm that communicates to a broader audience rather than highlighting only certain aspects of your company culture for a certain demographic. Additionally, you may discuss your policy on working from home or providing paid parental leave for new parents in addition to these two bonuses.
If you’re serious about hiring a diverse workforce, you can’t just say you have strong principles. You have to demonstrate them regularly. As a result, it has become imperative for companies to implement policies that appeal to a wide range of applicants.
Things like recognizing religious holidays and promoting flexible work schedules help you appeal to a broader pool of potential employees by showing them the benefits of continuing to give back to their communities while working.
Employees should be urged to speak up if they believe particular rules are impeding the company’s commitment to diversity. Individual biases and how they affect the workplace can be difficult to avoid, so it’s crucial to encourage open and honest communication to ensure that everyone is included. Adopting and publicizing policies like these can help your company’s recruitment efforts attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
You can expand the variety of your candidate pool by following the methods outlined above. The next step is to broaden the pool of candidates you’re able to choose from throughout the screening and interview stages. Introduce blind resumes as a good starting point.
Some businesses have been going even further in this direction. They no longer just conduct blind resume reviews but also blind interviews. Instead of arranging a face-to-face meeting, you may send job candidates interview questions by text message.
Keep in mind that this approach only works in the beginning stages of the diversity hiring process, and an in-person interview will also be required. As a result, taking this additional step may help to reduce any favoritism toward a particular candidate or set of candidates.
According to a recent study, your job description may be stifling eligible applicants because it has an unconscious gender bias. There is a gender bias in words like “ninja” and “rockstar,” for example. Other research suggests that women are less likely to apply for jobs for which they are not fully qualified; therefore, it is important to avoid providing a lengthy list of “nice-to-haves” among your job requirements. Men and women have different priorities, so keep that in mind as well. Having a decent boss and finding a work-life balance is crucial to many women, whereas money is the most significant consideration for the majority of males. So, choosing the correct words for your job description is important.
The concept of diversity recruitment refers to the idea that your staff should be a reflection of the society that surrounds you and that your recruitment practices should be devoid of any biases for or against any particular candidate or group of candidates. Your personal diversity recruitment plan might include a variety of tactics, such as obtaining referrals from current employees, providing training and screening CVs.
It is detrimental to your organization if you have a lack of diversity in your personnel and an unconscious prejudice in your decision-making processes. Increase the diversity and inclusion of your team by using our human resources outsourcing services to eliminate unconscious bias in your decision-making.
Building a workplace that values equality, diversity, and inclusion is a lifelong process that should be revisited frequently. Decide on achievable goals that you can track, analyze, and report on. You may then use this information to assess your progress and identify what additional steps need to be taken in order to bring about a change, after which you can begin the measurement, evaluation, and reporting process once more. This should be a never-ending cycle.
Call one of our representatives today to learn more about how Collar Search’s human resources outsourcing and diversity training services can help you improve your workplace.
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