We hear a lot about equality, diversity and inclusion in the workplace. But, for businesses to benefit from the differences by employing a wide variety of people with differing backgrounds, it’s essential to do more than talk about it.
Embracing diversity and cultural differences bring businesses closer to true equality in the workplace. So it’s best for your business and should be considered a time-sensitive matter to attend to. The importance of building a diverse workforce through inclusion and inclusion will develop your business into a more innovative and creative space that reaps these benefits. Companies such as Agile Recruit, a leading cloud and data recruitment agency, work with companies and individuals to make this happen.
Creating a diverse workforce means you are open to finding the best candidate for the job. Regardless of their background, you will see candidates and your company thrive from the wealth of ideas and solutions that come forward simply by listening to a diverse and fully inclusive workforce.
What is inclusion, and why does it matter
Inclusion is defined by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development as an environment where people’s differences are valued and managed in such a way as age, gender, race and education, values and skills are valued equally for the benefit they bring to the role and the company as a whole. The inherent and acquired diversity of people worldwide should see companies focus on a hiring process that is free from bias. It gives everyone an equal opportunity to be the best candidate.
How do you make it happen?
To build a diverse workforce, you should look at the whole process.
- Use inclusive language in job ads to attract candidates from various backgrounds and let them know how your company is an excellent fit for them.
- Create a diverse candidate referral programme where employees reach out to their networks for suitable candidates. This will help all employees feel included and build morale.
- Remove candidates’ personal information from submitted CVs so that assumptions and bias don’t bar candidates at the screening stage.
- Use blind interviews to remain free of bias at the early interview stages to decide who to interview further.
- Adopt companywide policies that appeal to a diverse range of candidates. For example, look at your policies on religious holidays, community events and other areas which make your business more inclusive to a broad cultural and behavioural background.
- When choosing who to hire, you will only achieve the diverse workforce that benefits your business if you have the suitable talent pipelines in place to do so. By enlisting the help of diversity aware recruitment consultants and business support available, you can reach those candidates who have not yet felt they would be accepted when applying to your company. Be sure that you are reaching out in the right way to the right people. Your entire business, not just the HR department, must work hard using the diversity you already have and the tools available to ensure that you do more than talk about being inclusive and diverse.
Conclusion
A diverse workforce brings fresh ideas, new ways of working, and innovation, making it easy for those with backgrounds different from those already represented in your business to thrive. This means removing barriers such as age, race, and cultural differences and focussing on the skills the person has, can learn and their ideas and benefit that they are to the company, more than just the numbers adding up. In addition, when your company and its employees are a step closer to the world and its diverse range of inhabitants, you will be better placed to sell to the world, have them listen to you, and value what your business brings.
With a growing number of companies becoming aware of the benefits that just such a move offers them, all companies will need to develop their diversity and inclusivity strategies to keep up.