If you asked any recruitment consultant or business manager, “Does having a diverse team positively impact your business?” then the answer would be yes. Many statistics support the fact that diversity recruiting not only helps companies to be more creative and innovative but also to achieve better overall results.
It becomes evident that the more different backgrounds you have on your team, the more perspectives will be accessible to you. This will help you develop more innovative ways to solve problems thanks to more diverse ideas about how to approach things. It should be no surprise that more companies are focusing on a diverse recruiting strategy.
Don’t think that diverse recruiting is just about business performance; it is about so much more than that. Every company strives to be diverse by building teams based on the ability to do the job rather than gender, religion or sexual orientation. It is the only way to drive real workplace equality.
Let’s take a more in-depth look at diversity recruiting and why it is so important:
What is diversity recruiting?
Diversity recruiting is based on the idea that the team within any business should closely reflect the make-up of society in general. Teams should be diverse in terms of experience, gender, race, and religion, and from different backgrounds with different experiences. Diversity tends to be broken down as follows:
- Inherent diversity – tied to age, gender, race (basically any natural characteristic of a person)
- Acquired diversity – things that develop over time, such as education, experience, knowledge, skills and values
When you look at diverse candidates as part of your recruitment process, you ensure that your interview process is bias-free. Talent acquisition nowadays should be about finding the best candidate based on his or her merits, ensuring that all job seekers are given the same opportunity, regardless of their background.
Why is diversity in the workplace important?
Diversity hiring is increasing in popularity in the business world for good reasons. Diversity and inclusion are not only the most moral choice but also provides many business benefits such as innovation, increased performance and productivity. Having a diverse workforce means your business will access the following:
- A broader range of experience and skills
- Increased cultural awareness and language skills
- A larger and more varied talent pool
This access to a wider range of skill sets and diverse talent means your business will be better at solving problems, and you will find that your team will avoid unconscious biases and be more creative and innovative. This will lead to better decisions and, therefore, better results. An increase in diversity also creates opportunities for your team to debate the merits of different methods and come to more informed decisions in the end.
So now you can see how having a diverse workforce can benefit your business and drive innovation. Let’s take a look at how hiring managers can recruit a more diverse workforce:
- Audit your job adverts to ensure your job descriptions speak to the broadest possible range of candidates. Use inclusive language to appeal to a broader range of candidates.
- Ask your existing employees to help promote your company culture within their network – this not only helps your team to feel that you value their input, but it will also increase team engagement and morale.
- Focus on creating an employer brand that values your team’s opinions and people from different backgrounds – and communicates with your team about this. Engrain these values into your company culture and encourage your employees to talk about this part
of your business. - Implement company policies that appeal to diverse candidates and actively promote them throughout your hiring process to ensure your diversity recruiting strategy runs smoothly.
- Use ‘blind’ CVs and interviews to ensure there is no bias. Blind CVs have all personal information (such as name, date of birth and education) removed, blind interviews use text-based questions through a recruitment portal, and candidates answer them anonymously.
As you can see, diversity recruiting has many benefits to offer businesses, and putting a strategy in place is fairly straightforward.
If you need help with any aspect of your recruitment process, don’t hesitate to contact the friendly and experienced team at Agile Recruit. You can contact our Manchester Office at 0161 416 6633 or Milton Keynes at 0203 800 1222 or email us at info@agilerecruit.com.
