6 Ways To Hire Smarter with Diversity and Inclusion in Mind

It is no longer enough to say how much value we have for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Instead, industry leaders are now told that it is time to step up and do more. For many businesses who have keyed into making diversity and inclusion a benchmark of their hiring process, evidence shows that with a diverse workforce they are more likely to outperform their industry’s national average.

Prioritizing diversity and inclusion within the hiring process supports a more robust talent pipeline for open positions. Therefore ultimately bringing a spread of experiences and viewpoints into your organization.

So once you recruit for diversity and inclusion, you’ve got an opportunity to assess a broader range of candidates, and you position your organization as a great place to work for diverse candidates.

Benefits of diversity and inclusion in recruitment

Hiring for diversity improves the efficiency and productivity of teams. Recent studies have also shown that diverse teams make better business decisions up to 87 percent of the time, and the decisions made and executed by diverse teams deliver 60 percent better results. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, companies prioritizing diversity and inclusion outperform their peers, therefore achieving almost two and a half times the additional cash flow per employee. Inclusion recruitment also can help you attract candidates, many of whom expect diversity within the hiring process. Especially since diversity and inclusion in the workplace have become a criterion among millennials searching for jobs. Plus, the newest generation in the workforce, Generation Z, expects diversity and inclusion support from their employers. When you demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion in your recruitment practices, you’ll develop a competitive edge in the war for talent and find greater success in hiring. With that being said, let’s look at the 6 ways to hire smarter with diversity and inclusion.

Establish hiring goals based on diversity and inclusion

One of the quickest ways to increase diversity and inclusion in your hiring process is to set measurable goals. When you have set your goals, you can chart your progress over time and take note of areas where you need to improve. Setting diversity hiring goals doesn’t necessarily mean you’re aiming for a specific number of diverse hires or a certain mix of diversity in management positions. However, those sorts of concrete goals are easy to measure and bring clarity to your hiring objectives. In addition, you can also consider other inclusion recruitment goals like improving opportunities for fairness in candidate selection through structured interviews and interviewer training.

Build a diverse talent pipeline

Building a talent pipeline that allows diversity and inclusion require openness in your hiring activities, and it also requires taking specific steps to seek out diverse talent. Additionally, it is possible to seek diverse candidates by posting on diversity and inclusion job boards and targeting affinity groups on college campuses. You should also work with search firms and outside recruiters to identify diverse candidates for open positions.

Show your commitment to diversity and inclusion through your employer branding

To show your commitment to diversity and inclusion in your workplace, you have to match your words with the right actions. To make sure that you stay committed to diversity and inclusion you might have to go beyond the standard “equal employment opportunity employer” language and speak about what diversity means in your organization and hiring process.

Use the right hiring tools

Improvements in your inclusion efforts drill down to the recruiting tools and technology that you use. To see how well your existing tools complement your inclusion hiring efforts, evaluate them for simple use, flexibility, and customization. For instance, ensure your applicant tracking system (ATS) integrates well with a diverse range of job posting platforms, background screening tools, and onboarding software.

Maintain an inclusive culture

In the workplace, inclusive culture can foster better collaboration and team performance among employees. When your organizational culture includes the core values of diversity and inclusion, you stand a better chance to be able to embed those values into your hiring activities.

Provide an inclusive onboarding experience

You can improve the long-term effectiveness of your inclusion recruitment activities with a robust onboarding program. While new hires are being considered, it is essential that you have individuals who can offer them unique and diverse perspectives of your organization. Ensure that your onboarding activities help new hires understand how each employee can make an impact in building an inclusive culture.

In conclusion

We hope that these great tips have given you a pretty clear picture of why it is important to hire with diversity and inclusion in mind. The adoption of a diverse workplace might still be lagging behind, but having an inclusive workplace can be incredibly beneficial for any organization. Take the first step on hiring for diversity and inclusion with the right tool today. EVA-REC is a multi-award-winning hiring platform that helps small businesses to enterprises build skillful workforces and hire top talent at scale. It makes it far easier for recruiters to find, attract, and hire the right people, every time. With world-class integrations and AI features, EVA-REC creates a rich and immersive hiring experience for HR teams and candidates alike. Request a free demo today to get a full grasp of why industry leaders around the globe depend on us to hire the people they can depend on.

Author