ESG | Diversifying Hiring for Professionals

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Targeting the Social in ESG - Part 2

In this, the second of our articles on the ‘S’ of ESG, we focus on how to couple increased diversity in hiring with improved organisational performance. 

It is now widely known and accepted that greater diversity in the workplace is a business winner: ‘The numbers don’t lie’, wrote Jack Myers for Marketwatch in 2020, ‘Diverse workforces make businesses more money’ [1]. McKinsey’s report, ‘Delivering through Diversity’, in 2018 put stark figures on the contribution the right hires can make to businesses, both in terms of profitability and value creation [2]. In this context and in a competitive talent market, many organisations are beginning to think harder about inclusive recruitment and selection processes: does this role really require a university degree/ does the test we set disadvantage certain groups of applicants, etc. 

This has translated into some progress in diversity hiring – recruiters are increasingly likely to think about job descriptions in the context of protected characteristics, for example. In annual DE&I/ESG reports on talent channels/acquisition, huge strides forward have been made in relation to gender and sexuality, and race/ethnicity, which is very encouraging, and shows the extent of goodwill and impetus in the system.  

Significant Issues in DE&I

However, at the same time, there continue to be many significant issues. As mentioned in our first article, DE&I officers regularly report feeling peripheral to their organisation and speak of a failure to embed DE&I, and there is little faith among executives that their company gets recruitment of the most talented people right. Just as concerning is the fact that a recent survey found that two in five UK businesses do not collect data on the demographic composition of their workforce [3]. In another survey, only just over a half of respondents rated their recruitment and selection processes as ‘effective’ or ‘very effective’ in positively affecting diversity and inclusivity in their company’ [4]. Moreover, there is limited reporting on other things like age and disability/SPLD, and workplace returners/career changers. Even in relation to the commonly reported characteristics, data is rarely especially granular, or cross-segmented (e.g. class and gender), which is a further weakness: more female managers and CEOs is progress, but if they come predominantly from one socio-economic background or are mainly white and heterosexual, other cross-cutting aspects of diversity remain unaddressed. 

So, undeniably one of the most important questions facing executives is how organisations can successfully turn the best intentions into reality in diversity recruitment and ensure performance enhancement. Below, we argue that now is the time to rethink hiring processes more systematically in response to the availability of much more data and increasingly sophisticated digital tools and AI, as well as to the rapidly changing economy and societal values of the 21st century, and new ways of working accelerated by the pandemic.

We set these out in two categories: 

1. Advertising and Publicity 
   
   
2. Application Process 
   

Advertising & Publicity

The process of hiring begins at the point an organisation decides it has a need for a role, followed by how it defines it, and how it goes about advertising it. These are major elements in securing a variety of applicant backgrounds. It has long been known that the bases on which women and men apply for roles differ, with women tending to apply only if they fulfil all or almost all of the requirements. At the same time, the words used in an advertisement can be gendered, racialised, age-biased or seem to exclude people with disabilities; even if this is inadvertent, it can be very damaging. If you don’t get the field, you can’t make your best appointment. 

Some obvious points to consider in the light of this: 

Be clear, concise and open 

• Consider the picture you are presenting of your organisation; this is a sales pitch for the organisation too 

• Explain what you can offer, and ensure to list inclusive benefits 

• Stating salary has become a matter of debate. You may want to avoid a talent price war with competitors, but not disclosing salary (range) is likely to deter some candidates 

• Focus only on necessary skills or experience; place weight (more) heavily on transferable skills 

• Don’t define requirements too narrowly 

• Signal explicitly that you are keen to receive applications from people who have the skills you are looking for, whatever their experience 

• Avoid unnecessary detail 

• Ensure the message is inclusive for under-represented groups: e.g. look at the language you are using and get advice 

• Be explicit about your diversity and inclusion policies. 

Explore new avenues of advertising 

• Consult with organisations representing under-represented groups and seek their advice about how to appeal to a wider range of applicants. 

• If you are recruiting a substantial intake to the same roles each year (e.g. graduate entry jobs), analyse your marketing and recruitment strategies, including types and location of recruitment event, participation 

• Use data analytics to examine how the careers pages of your website could work better, and which social media your applicants are using 

• Don’t assume everyone, or even most applicants, will pick up on your vacancy by visiting your website 

• Consider whether specialist programmes for targeted groups could be a good source of applications [5]

Look at both internal promotions and the full range of possible external hires 

• It is important not to overlook possible internal hires 

• Equally, competition for a role is positive, and not advertising, or relying on referrals, risks perpetuating current hiring patterns and, in worst case scenarios, nepotism. 

Consider how easy you are making it for candidates to apply for the role 

• Many times, to the quiet fury of candidates, they are required to upload their resume and then answer the same questions long-hand all over again, for example. 

• If you are going to buy in IT solutions in this area, take time to look for and eradicate duplications 

• Are you able to offer flexible working? The options you are able to offer will affect your field just as language does. 

Aim to send decisions to all your candidates, with a brief explanation of the general areas in which successful applicants were strong 

• Candidates cannot improve themselves if they have no sense of what they might improve on 

• And your brand will benefit from being one that takes the trouble at least to send someone a rejection rather than to leave them to make a judgement about how long after an application no news turns into bad news. 
  

Your Application Process

Despite so many changes to the way we work, applying for a professional job has largely retained its traditional format. Submission of a resume and covering letter, sometimes a separate application form instead/as well is followed by some form of initial screening, often automated, and often focused on particular words and experiences. Sometimes there is a test too. Then, if people get over these hurdles, interviews are used to make final selections. The interview often remains the most important element, and many organisations give candidates multiple interviews over several days. 

It has long been recognised that the problem with any selection process is the vulnerability of each of its elements to coaching (often at high financial cost), socio-economic advantage, etc. 

To try and mitigate some of the effects of socio-economic and other advantage/bias, growing numbers of organisations are using platforms to provide them about contextual information about the candidates in front of them. This has been a welcome development, but while it is often helpful to outsource collating and analysing this information, it does necessitate some loss of control over data and how it is used. 

Where applicant tests are concerned, many companies have also worked to find formats that are less susceptible to coaching. Unfortunately, however, this is virtually impossible to do. There are long-established problems with ‘intelligence’ or ‘IQ’ testing: 

• It is something that can be coached 

• And, despite efforts by test designers, the tests can be subject to cultural bias. Perhaps the most important point for diversity recruitment is the extent to which IQ tests can keep under-represented groups out of education and employment [6]. This is because, while they are often designed with the best intentions at heart, they tend to serve instead to perpetuate trends that already exist. 

Where companies have decided to adopt a different style of test, or perhaps even a bespoke test, keeping a test secret does not level the playing field, as, except in the very first iteration, there are always people who have sat it, can re-create it or its format, and can go on to sell coaching online to those who can afford it. 

As with IQ tests, companies may therefore find significant disparities when performance is segmented to identify under-represented groups: many may not have begun to analyse this because very little data that would identify such groups is usually collected about candidates at point of application. 

Once a candidate gets to interview, it is their chance to answer relevant questions in person and for the interviewer/s to get a sense of them as a potential colleague (as well as for the interviewee to appraise the organisation and their would-be colleagues themselves). In a recent survey, 65% of employers regarded interviews as the most effective means of identifying the right person for a job [7]. 

Evidentially, this faith in interviews as a selection tool is not easy to substantiate though. In fact, despite how interviews feel to interviewers as a selection tool (there was a real person in front of me saying real things), there are many long-documented issues [8].

It would be naïve to imagine that unfairness can ever be entirely removed from any selection process, but you can attenuate its effects. The major overall message is to use all the information available to you, from the application form to the interview, holistically. Do not view each of these as hurdles on the way to interview and then place all the weight of the final decision on interview outcome. 

Some obvious ways to improve processes: 

Key Takeaway

References

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