Expanding Recruitment Horizons: A Strategic Approach to Building a Diverse Workforce

Nearly, 8 out of 10 organizations have a formal workforce diversity initiative. However, a majority of them still struggle with expanding their diversity programs and achieving more. It has become evident that DE&I programs are not just a part of social responsibility. They provide valuable benefits like a broader talent pool, greater innovation capabilities, enhanced employee engagement, and more. All of these benefits translate into improved business performance and returns.

To ensure that your organization is not left behind in the endeavor to enhance workforce diversity, you must adopt a strategic approach. Dive in to discover a few simple but effective ways to establish a strategic workforce diversity initiative with the potential to pay rich dividends.

Establish clear diversity goals
Set measurable diversity goals aligned with your company’s values and mission. This gives a proper direction to your program and helps the organization and its people know what is to be achieved. Consider what your company wants to change regarding workforce diversity. Make sure that your goals are specific, measurable, aspirational, relevant, and time-bound. This will motivate your team to work towards achieving results that are realistic and tangible.

Expanding the recruitment horizon with partnerships
Forward-thinking enterprises proactively dismantle traditional barriers that have, in the past, limited the diversity of candidate pools. Engaging with minority-owned businesses, actively participating in diversity-focused job fairs, and optimally leveraging social media to connect with diverse talent are some of the strategies that you can employ. It will also be beneficial to forge partnerships with community forums and other associations that support various underrepresented groups. There are various online job boards and career communities for different minority groups. Engaging them will also help you access diverse talent pools.

Unraveling the threads of unconscious bias
A key roadblock to diversity and inclusion is the pervasive, yet often overlooked, influence of unconscious biases. Recognizing these subtle undercurrents that might skew objective decision-making, staffing agencies are rolling out comprehensive unconscious bias training programs. The aim is to illuminate and address these latent biases that might inadvertently creep into the recruitment process, enabling recruiters to foster a more equitable, unbiased hiring culture. At Compunnel, we utilize a structured process that leverages the best of AI technology and human recruitment expertise to eliminate conscious or unconscious bias. Our ATS, Staffline has built-in anonymizing features to avoid disclosing any identity markers that can trigger a bias. Our recruitment team has to regularly undergo diversity training to ensure they conduct the process as per the diversity hiring best practices.

Cultivating a culture of inclusivity
Beyond the pursuit of diversity, there lies the equally critical objective of fostering inclusion within the organization. Foster an inclusive corporate culture where diversity is celebrated and every voice is valued. This involves designing and implementing diversity and inclusion training programs, creating dedicated employee resource groups to support diverse staff members, and promoting the recognition and celebration of cultural diversity within the workplace. An important point to note is that the program should be for all employees regardless of their designation. Apart from junior staff, you must train and educate leaders on the importance of diversity and inclusion, emphasizing the value of diverse perspectives. This will help in building an inclusive culture across hierarchies, where the decision-makers lead by example to emphasize the value of diverse perspectives

Create employee resource groups and inclusive policies
Encourage the formation of employee resource groups that represent different demographics and provide a platform for workers to share experiences, support one another, and advocate for inclusion. Allocate resources and empower the groups to drive meaningful initiatives. To improve employee trust, regularly assess and update policies to ensure they support diversity and inclusion. This includes offering flexible work arrangements, parental leave policies, and gender-neutral facilities to create an inclusive workplace for all employees.

Implement supplier diversity programs
Establish programs to engage diverse suppliers and contractors. Actively seek partnerships with minority-owned, women-owned, and other underrepresented businesses, promoting economic diversity and inclusion. This will not only help you access diverse talent but also enable you to support businesses owned by people from underrepresented communities.

Regularly track and measure program performance
Implement metrics to track progress and hold relevant people accountable for diversity and inclusion goals. Regularly evaluate and report on the company’s diversity metrics to ensure transparency and facilitate ongoing improvement. Regular performance assessment will help you identify areas of improvement and the necessary corrective measures. This will ensure that your program remains on track to achieve the specified goals.

Conclusion
Approaching DE&I as a strategic program rather than as a generic initiative will enable your organization to significantly improve its workforce diversity. By utilizing the ideas discussed here, you can provide the correct direction to set your program on the path to success.