Inclusive Recruitment: 9 Practices + Infographic

In the last couple of years, it has become evident that providing equal opportunities to people from minority and marginalized groups is of the utmost importance. Prioritizing minority groups not only contributes to society at large but also helps to improve companies.

While the advantages of embracing diversity in a workplace are finally being recognized, implementing the right strategies to promote inclusivity remains a challenge for many business leaders.

This article by Custom-Writing.org will:

• explain what inclusive recruitment is about;
• talk about the importance and benefits of inclusive recruitment;
• introduce 9 effective inclusive hiring practices.

👥 What Is Inclusive Recruitment/Hiring?

You’ve probably heard about practices like interviewing and recruiting people of different backgrounds, ages, and races. These practices are part of inclusive hiring—an approach aimed at creating a diverse team that is pushed to think outside of their comfort zone and come up with inspiring ideas.

Here are some features of inclusive hiring:

It’s not a secret that employers can often be biased and use discriminatory recruiting practices. This approach prevents people from obtaining employment due to their background, race, or gender. It also makes achieving diversity a challenge for many organizations.

Many businesses take inclusivity very seriously. In order to ensure diverse recruiting practices and avoid discrimination, they’ve created special diversity and inclusion jobs. People who work there strive to create an environment in which every employee is valued and has equal opportunities.

Workplace Inclusivity Infographic

Diversity and inclusion help create a welcoming atmosphere for every employee. But that’s not their only benefit. They also provide companies with unique advantages. Want to know more? Check out this infographic:

Diversity and Inclusion in Workplace

Conversations about recruiting often include terms like “diversity” and “inclusion.” To understand what it means to have an inclusive workplace, we first need to figure out the meaning of the word “diversity.” How can we define it?

Diversity is the existence of varied characteristics within a group of people, which make every individual unique. These can be personality traits, cognitive skills, age, or race. When it comes to the workplace, diversity means the inclusion of people from a range of different backgrounds, with different experiences, and of various ages and races.

Inclusion and diversity go hand in hand during the recruiting process. The difference is that while diversity is a set of characteristics, inclusion is the attitude towards these characteristics.

An inclusive workplace empowers and listens to the voices of all its diverse employees. Inclusion is about understanding and respect. It makes every team member feel accepted and encourages them to be part of the decision-making process.

❓ Why Is It Important?

Having diverse teams is especially important in the global world. There are several reasons why inclusivity is a crucial component of the workplace. Keep reading to find out more!

Benefits of Inclusive Recruitment

It’s not a secret that today many modern businesses and organizations strive to be more inclusive and diverse. A policy of inclusion has many benefits that allow companies to succeed. Let’s examine some of them:

⭐	More opportunities to hire talented people. Despite their excellent abilities, creative individuals are often turned down due to their race, gender, or personal characteristics. Reducing prejudice and inequality means that a company will have more opportunities to hire talented individuals who add value to the team.
💭	Diverse viewpoints and approaches. A team that is made of people from different backgrounds will provide a broader range of perspectives. This can help avoid herd mentality and result in more creativity.
🔬	Innovations. When the work environment is friendly, employees are less likely to experience negative emotions like stress. They feel more comfortable and motivated to share their thoughts and opinions. In this way, companies can generate more creative ideas. Studies show that companies with above-average diversity are 19% more innovative than those with below-average diversity.
✊🏿	Empowerment. Including people with disabilities or those from less privileged backgrounds encourages them to pursue opportunities and reduces discrimination in society.
🤝	Promotion of tolerance & acceptance. Organizations that are diverse and inclusive make their employees feel fulfilled and benefit the public at large by promoting equality. This helps to build a more open-minded society.
💵	Better business outcome. It has been proven that in the US, ethnically diverse companies are 33% more likely to outperform less diverse companies in profitability.
😀	Positivity. Inclusivity and equal opportunities for workers help to spread a positive message and encourage diverse thinking. In turn, this creates an environment in which everyone is valued.

Inclusive Hiring: Reducing Bias

Even though inclusivity has many benefits and various organizations try to promote it, not all employers consider diversity during their interviews and assessments. There are times when employees are met with bias due to their personal characteristics, gender, race, or sexuality. This kind of discrimination negatively affects both the company and society at large. It hampers diversity and leads to bad hiring decisions.

Employers can often be biased unconsciously. These biases usually come from a person’s background or experience.

Here are the most common unconscious biases:

Affinity bias	A tendency to prefer people that are similar to you in race, gender, or age.
Confirmation bias	A tendency to look for information that confirms your pre-existing beliefs or stereotypes.
Attribution bias	A tendency to have a different rationale for your own behavior versus others’ actions.
Conformity bias	A tendency for a person to be influenced or pressured by another’s opinion and behavior.
Gender bias	A tendency to prefer one gender over the others.
Racial bias	A tendency to prefer one person over the other because of their race.

It’s true that these biases may be unintentional. However, it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be addressed. Inclusive hiring strategies can help to prevent discrimination during the recruiting process.

👍 9 Proven Inclusive Hiring Practices

Completely avoiding discrimination during the hiring process may seem almost impossible. Indeed, the task is not easy. However, there are some proven and effective strategies that help to prevent bias during interviews and to ensure inclusive recruitment.

1. Write Inclusive Job Descriptions

When it comes to a job description, it’s best to make it as unbiased and inclusive as possible. Using gender-coded words and complicated terminology is counterproductive. Instead, the company should talk about what each worker gains by becoming part of the team. For instance:

• Paternal leave
• Flexible hours
• Remote work
• Sick leave

2. Conduct Blind Resume Reviews

Most organizations are aware of the existence and impact of unconscious bias. To avoid discrimination and make the hiring process more efficient, companies should conduct blind resume reviews. It’s better to remove any information about applicants’ gender, educational institutions, and nationality.

It’s also best if the HR team is diverse and consists of people from different backgrounds. This kind of policy will ensure that every candidate has an equal chance of getting the spot.

3. Use Inclusive Interview Questions

Good interview questions are designed to help find the most suitable candidate for a position. They support inclusivity and allow every potential worker to demonstrate their abilities. It’s best to use gender-neutral questions and ask about personal experience.

Diversity among the interview panels is another important factor that contributes to inclusivity and helps to avoid discrimination.

4. Educate Your Team on Common Biases

Educating employers on common biases is a crucial step in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment. Every member of the recruiting team needs to be aware of their own prejudices and work to overcome them. This will ensure a fair hiring process.

We’ve already talked about the most common hiring biases. Is there a way to combat them? Let’s examine the solutions that can help you avoid common biases:

Bias type	How to avoid it
Affinity bias	Workers could take note of similarities they share with a candidate. This helps to distinguish between the biases recruiters have and the actual skills or experience of the interviewee that could contribute to the team in the future.
Confirmation bias	Asking skill-based questions is key. Questions that talk about the candidate’s characteristics and knowledge help each interviewee to stand out.
Attribution bias	Judging or drawing conclusions too quickly can end up in discrimination. If a candidate is late or nervous, it’s better to ask questions to clarify the situation instead of assuming they have no work ethic.
Conformity bias	Collecting personal opinions of every recruiter is an excellent way to avoid conformity. Each member of the recruiting team needs to have a chance to express their point of view.

5. Create Inclusive Workplace Culture

Inclusivity in itself is great. However, creating a friendly atmosphere where every employee can flourish is even more critical. It takes time and dedication, but it’s not impossible. To create an inclusive workplace culture, it’s best to:

• Encourage collaboration;
• Take everyone’s opinion into consideration;
• Model inclusive language (for instance, use “spouse” or “partner” instead of “wife” or “husband”);
• Reward and recognize everyone’s performance;
• Make sure that your workplace is accessible.

6. Use Inclusive Recruitment Tools

The job advertisement is something that deserves special attention from every employer. Language plays an important role here. Is it inclusive, or does it imply that you are looking for someone from a particular background?

One way to avoid bias is to use proofing tools (such as Ongig’s Text Analyzer) or web crawler software (such as Entelo.) These programs help identify words or phrases that may subconsciously discourage candidates of certain backgrounds from applying to the job.

7. Make an Accessible Career Website

A career website is an important platform for many workers. For that reason, it’s essential to create and optimize the correct design. Simply sharing stock photos of a “diverse” workforce on the webpage may not be enough. It might be helpful to incorporate more videos with subtitles and closed captions for people with hearing disabilities and to use gender-neutral language to ensure that anyone who visits the platform feels included.

8. Widen the Talent Pool

When an organization is hiring for an open position, it often chooses candidates based on a particular set of qualifications. These guidelines can be helpful, but sticking too strictly to them can do more harm than good. There is a chance to lose someone who fits the position perfectly only because they have less experience or a different degree.

Being flexible is important. For example, a company could consider candidates with less experience or with various levels of degrees. Building a diverse talent pool broadens the company’s perspective. Diverse qualifications add value to the team.

9. Express Your Company’s Stance on Diversity

To attract more people from various backgrounds, a company needs to let potential workers know about its stance on inclusivity and diversity. Working on the company’s image is something that takes time but always pays off. When a company posts a job opening, the advertisement needs to speak for itself. It’s best to use inclusive and neutral language in the vacancy description section and mention the company’s inclusive policy.

Making your stance clear is essential. Companies that talk or post articles about diversity get 25% more responses from women than those companies that rarely speak up on the issue.

To sum up, diversity and inclusion in the workplace are two significant factors that affect both employers and employees. Every employer should consider them and provide every candidate with equal opportunities.

We hope that this article was helpful! Make sure to apply our tips and make your workplace more comfortable for everyone.

🔍 References

1. What Does It Really Mean to Be Inclusive in Recruitment?: Page Executive
2. How to Show Candidates You’re Committed to Diversity and Inclusion in Hiring: Monster
3. The Importance of Inclusive Recruitment: Hireology
4. Diverse Hiring: 6 Steps To Hiring More Diverse Candidates: Ideal
5. How to Make Inclusivity More than Just an Office Buzzword: Northwestern University
6. The Business Case for Inclusive Hiring Practices: HireVue
7. 3 Essentials to a More Inclusive Hiring Process: The University of Virginia
8. How to Leverage Inclusive Hiring Practices for Your Business: ADP