Diversity through recruitment

Are you considering a more diverse, inclusive recruitment strategy?

In the CIPD Resourcing and Talent Management Survey for 2020, two in five organisations have recruited a more diverse workforce over the last 12 months, compared with the previous year, however, their findings also suggest that most could improve the inclusivity of their recruitment processes through a more comprehensive approach that includes measures to eliminate bias.

These findings are mirrored by McKinsey & Company, in their third report on a case for Diversity; Diversity wins: How inclusion matters. The report states that they have seen ‘a stronger business case for diversity, but slow progress overall’. Since 2014 the data has seen uplifts from 15-20% on executive team female representation in the US and UK, yet globally, just a one percentage point from 2017 to 2019, with over one third of the companies having no women at all on their executive teams.

Even in those organisations who have adopted and achieved a more diverse board, leadership, or workforce, employee and leadership sentiment provided new insights into how inclusion matters.

The McKinsey data suggests that ‘Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30’ and in the case of ethnic and cultural diversity, their business-case findings are equally compelling, ‘with the likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than for gender.’

As with all business strategies much of the challenge comes down to classical change management. Whilst having targets to achieve improved diversity are a start, without inclusion the numbers can quickly collapse and all the good work to attract a more diverse talent pool and workforce can be lost.

If you are looking to improve your diversity through recruitment, help reduce unconscious bias and have a more inclusive workforce, I might have something that will help, please do get in touch.

Michelle Ansell is a Managing Partner at Douglas Jackson, a high-end retained executive search firm exclusively focused on consumer centric business, delivering high performance, diverse, impactful leadership.

When Exceptional Leadership Matters…

Tel: 0345 620 9720

michelle@douglas-jackson.com

www.douglas-jackson.com