Hiring bias has become a massive problem in business. In this day and age, all organizations aspire to make their workplace more diverse in order to have high-performing teams. Studies have proven time and time again that diverse organizations perform better. Therefore, the goal of every organization should be to reduce bias in the talent acquisition process as it may jeopardize the company's retention efforts and its goal to diversify the workplace.
In this article, we're going to examine how companies can move the dial on their diversity strategies and ensure Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in the hiring process.
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Diversity is the presence of differences within a given setting. In the workplace, that can mean differences in gender, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic class, and so on. Diversity can fall into two categories:
Equity is the process of ensuring that practices and programs are impartial, fair, and provide equal opportunities for every individual.
Inclusion is the practice of ensuring that every employee feels comfortable and supported by the organization when it comes to being their authentic selves.
Note: In a recent LinkedIn post, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the largest professional human resources membership association, made a statement regarding their decision to officially remove "Equity" from Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" and leading the effort with Inclusion and Diversity instead moving forward.
When it comes to DEI in hiring, diversity should be the bare minimum. It's not just about hiring different races, genders, etc., it's about ensuring that everyone who applies to your open roles has an equal and fair opportunity. It's also about being critical and unbiased when it comes to your recruiting strategies, ensuring that every step of the process focuses on the quality of the candidate, not their background or how they look.
Diversity hiring is the right thing to do. It's not only an ethical responsibility but also makes sound business sense. Here are some benefits of building diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace environments:
It’s always important to ask the following questions as the first step to improving a part of your business:
Sit down with your hiring team and identify what it is that you want to achieve. Do you want to hire more women into technical roles? Awesome. Gather the exact metrics around how many women you currently employed in those roles, and set a goal of how much you want that to increase. After you have your goals and metrics in mind, let's jump into how to ensure DEI in your recruitment process.
Most employers and recruiting managers make the mistake of designing job descriptions in a way that excludes specific demographics. This often happens through the language used and the demographic targeted. For example, researchers have found that women are much less likely to apply to job descriptions that include 'masculine-coded' language such as "active", "confident", and "driven."
When crafting job descriptions, refrain from using industry or gender-specific language that could deter some of your strongest and most marginalized candidates. Additionally, consider using a 'Company Values' section—an element of a job posting that will help diversify your candidate pool by highlighting your organization's values and welcoming applicants from all backgrounds.
People tend to assume that what they see is what they'll get. For example, if the candidates go through the hiring process without meeting a diverse range of people—from recruiting all the way to their offer letter—they'll assume that the same is true of the entire workplace. As a consequence, candidates are more likely to turn down the offer, reasoning that they won't feel comfortable working in this environment.
Few recruiters are aware that they are operating using heuristics (mental shortcuts) that accidentally benefit some candidates more than others. To combat this, offer fair hiring and bias awareness training to everyone participating in the hiring process, this can help shed light on hiring practices that may be unfair. It should also be conducted regularly with all employees to ensure they are supported and supportive of the DEI-centric work culture. For maximum impact, combine this training with blind hiring, which essentially involves stripping away identifiable characteristics from a resume unrelated to the job or experiences needed for success.
Having some degree of informality during the interview process is a good way to build rapport and get to know your candidates more personally But unstructured interviews can make it harder for you to fairly benchmark candidates, making it more likely that unconscious bias will creep in. Creating a structured process that tests all applicants, in the same way, will ensure they're all assessed against the same markers.
The best way to achieve this is to stick to a standardized set of questions for every candidate—and remember not to diverge from them. This can help reduce subjectivity and allow candidates to be judged against others based on the specific answers they give.
A DEI-centric hiring process is just the first step. To improve employee satisfaction and employee retention, companies need to create an inclusive and positive work environment that gives each employee a unique voice and encourages them to be themselves. Their individual needs are not only met but they are encouraged to take time for personal responsibilities that they believe are important.
Talking with your employees to discover ways you can make your workspace more open to diversity can go a long way. Holding seminars, events, and conferences that help educate employees on the importance of diversity can also create a more inclusive environment.
Awareness through training will go far to eliminate prejudices and ensure a DEI-oriented hiring process. Here are the most common hiring biases:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination against a job applicant or an employee during a variety of work situations including hiring, firing, and wages.
Here are some of the most popular laws in that regard. Note that These laws are the basics of how the EEOC tackles discrimination in the workplace. Court law interpretation and amendments to these laws are evolving.
The key to a successful diverse recruiting strategy lies in acknowledging that inherent biases exist. To overcome bias in hiring decisions, organizations must implement ongoing training on bias and encourage DEI integration in the workplace. Equally as vital is to stay abreast of the laws that prohibit discrimination in the hiring phase and beyond.
If you need help to improve DEI in your hiring process, get in touch with us today to get a comprehensive assessment and customized strategies for your unique needs.