6 Steps To Build A Successful DE&I Strategy From Scratch
Everyone is talking about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) – but why is it so important?
Diverse, fair and inclusive cultures foster connections, increase acceptance and tolerance, create trust and improve morale. All of these are important and beneficial in their own right. But an effective DE&I strategy also improves a business’ bottom line.
Diverse workforces lead to diversity of thought, greater innovation and better business outcomes. How can we create products and services for a multifaceted and complex society with a homogenous workforce which isn’t reflective of buyers? A 2017 study by McKinsey found the most diverse organisations outperform competitors by 33% and are 21% more likely to experience above average profitability. Decision making by diverse teams delivers better outcomes than that of individuals 87% of the time.
How can organisations move the needle on their DE&I initiatives?
Set clear targets and measure progress
Be deliberate and purposeful. Set clear DE&I targets and measure your progress against them. For many organisations, doing this successfully requires improving the capture, storage and protection of data. Support the business with resources and training to increase awareness and help remove bias from talent pooling and the assessment process.
A lot of bias plays out subconsciously, and even when individuals come to the table fully embracing the right attitudes around DE&I, bias is inherent. Set expectations around the behaviours you need to see from the recruiter and hiring manager into policy. For example: every talent pool should have 50:50 split in terms of gender as a basic starting point.
Use internal mobility and alumni to increase diversity
This may seem counter-intuitive. If you're only hiring from within the company or using alumni, doesn’t this increase the likelihood of creating a homogenous workforce, making it harder to move the needle on DE&I?
In speaking with HR leaders, many have raised the challenge of increasing diversity within certain departments (e.g finance, IT and HR). There is an opportunity to build diverse teams by moving current employees across departments.
Organisations have achieved this through candid and honest discussions with business leaders and hiring managers to understand the skills and behaviours needed to ensure quality of hire (rather than focusing on experience). Equally important is ensuring employees know the roles are available, understand the requirements and are encouraged and supported to apply for internal positions.
Clearly define cultural fit
This is harder than it sounds. Studies have shown that hiring someone who is a good cultural fit increases team productivity, job satisfaction, and employee retention which is why hiring managers are so keen on it. But if there’s no clear definition of what makes a candidate a good cultural fit there’s a tendency to hire people similar to yourself. This limits diversity in the workplace. Some organisations are now looking for culture-add. Instead of asking “are they a good cultural fit?” ask “how can they enrich our existing team culture?”
Consider the order of candidates
Did you know the order in which candidates are presented can influence your impression of them? The first candidate may benefit from what is called primacy bias – when listening to a series of informational inputs you remember, or more easily recall, the information you heard first. Whereas the last candidate may benefit from recency bias – you remember what you heard most recently. The attributes of the middle candidates are more likely to blur together.
Strategies to help counter this include ensuring candidates are assessed against relevant criteria, taking notes and ideally having two interviewers present. Relying on memory alone is tricky. Order of candidates is something to take into consideration as you aim to improve your diversity targets. In speaking with HR leaders aiming to improve gender diversity, placing female candidates first in the assessment process has positively influenced outcomes.
Know where and how to target diverse talent
Are your sourcing efforts allowing you to tap into and attract a diverse and talented workforce? Consider your sourcing channels – they are instrumental to helping achieve your goals.
Companies which rely heavily on referrals may be inadvertently reducing diversity, as seen in a company I spoke with which had a very male dominated workforce. The heavy reliance on referrals meant they weren’t achieving their diversity quota even at the top of the funnel applicant stage. Another organisation had success through its ‘family-friendly’ accreditation, which allowed them to post to specific job boards.
Job ads are also important. Create inclusive job descriptions and identify and reduce wording bias (exclusionary terms surrounding gender, age and culture) that may be deterring diverse candidates from applying. . According to a McKinsey study, 39% of candidates reject a role or do not proceed with a job application due to a perceived lack of inclusiveness within the organisation. Semantics matters: Organisations have seen a 40% uplift in indigenous applicants by removing biased language and creating targeted job ads.
Build diverse pipelines of talent
Proactively build diverse talent pools and pipelines, both internally and externally, so you have warm talent at your fingertips. Recruitment Marketing strategies can support organisations to attract, engage and nurture a diverse pool of candidates at-scale. Leading organisations often take the following approach:
Showcase content that is designed to appeal to diverse perspectives with a career site that highlights an organisation’s inclusive employer brand and culture
Build diverse microsites and landing pages that highlight specific DE&I programs or policies
Grow and nurture diverse talent communities with targeted campaigns and nurture flows
For all initiatives put in place, remember to measure against your initial targets, then track and adjust to ensure you’re getting the most value out of your DE&I strategy.