Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is not just a ‘nice-to-have’. Rather it is vital for a successful business.
Even before the murder of George Floyd – which sparked public protests and proposals for reform on longstanding hot-button issues such as profiling, racism, and social injustice – statistics showed that a diverse business has as much to do with profit as principles.
A 2020 study by McKinsey found that ethnically and culturally diverse businesses are a good 36 per cent more profitable than the least diverse companies.
More than this, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are cornerstones of the culture that today's employees want to be part of. Don’t just take our word for it though. The Washington Post reported that 76 per cent of job hunters evaluate an organisation’s diversity when considering whether to apply for a job.
Elsewhere a CNBC/SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey revealed that nearly 80 per cent of workers want to work for a company that values diversity, equity and inclusion.
Laura Wronski, a research science manager at SurveyMonkey, explained: “Workers who are satisfied with their company’s efforts on [DEI] issues are actually happier with their jobs.
“They are more likely than others to say that they have good opportunities to advance their careers, and they are more likely to feel paid well for their work.”
Here at Get-Optimal HQ, we have always recognised the importance of a diverse workforce. Only by hiring and developing people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and skills, can companies continue to learn and build inclusive, collaborative, and successful workplaces.
The first step to achieving workplace diversity and inclusion? To promote better hiring. And better hiring starts by creating a bias reduced Job Ad that attracts a large talent pool of qualified individuals.
Recent studies have shown that Job Ads packed with bias can deter certain groups of people from even applying – resulting in an organisation that lacks inclusiveness and diversity.
Yet while we may well all be aware of the need to craft a well-written, highly-optimised Job Ad, with bias reduced, actually doing so is harder than you’d think.
Sure there are now a number of gender decoders on the market that recruiters and TA folk can run their Job Ads through so as to ensure that terms such as ‘tenacious’, ‘fast-paced’, ‘strong’, and ‘driven’ – all of which put women off applying – are removed. But it’s not just gender bias that we need to be aware of when writing Job Ads.
Racial bias – never ever mention race or origin and, if possible, remove names from candidates’ applications and review ‘blind’ – needs to be eliminated as does ageism (avoid phrases like ‘work hard/play hard’).
Companies also need to be inclusive of workers with disabilities – be sure to state clearly that you welcome applications from people with disabilities or impairments.
Put simply, gender decoders don’t take any of the above into consideration or folks from other protected characteristic groups – gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation – who are equally, if not more, excluded by the Job Ad creation, structure, and content process.
Make no mistake: it takes an intentional focus to reduce bias in recruitment processes – using a gender coder for your Job Ads is only the beginning.
If you’re ready to make a real and lasting DE&I impact and stop viewing DE&I as merely a tick box exercise, it’s time to reach out to Get-Optimal today.
We specialise in reducing bias against the nine protected characteristics, and we don’t stop there.
Get-Optimal will also optimise your Job Ads for SEO so as to make them more searchable, in addition to improving their structure and readability. And we can do all of this in as little as 30-minutes!
What can I say? We’re recruitment content marketing specialists and we’re here to help you reduce bias in your recruitment processes.
Working and collaborating with Get-Optimal is about taking control, not giving up control. Make the change, and make the change today.
Daniel Fellows
CEO
Get-Optimal.com
Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is not just a ‘nice-to-have’. Rather it is vital for a successful business.
Even before the murder of George Floyd – which sparked public protests and proposals for reform on longstanding hot-button issues such as profiling, racism, and social injustice – statistics showed that a diverse business has as much to do with profit as principles.
A 2020 study by McKinsey found that ethnically and culturally diverse businesses are a good 36 per cent more profitable than the least diverse companies.
More than this, diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are cornerstones of the culture that today's employees want to be part of. Don’t just take our word for it though. The Washington Post reported that 76 per cent of job hunters evaluate an organisation’s diversity when considering whether to apply for a job.
Elsewhere a CNBC/SurveyMonkey Workforce Survey revealed that nearly 80 per cent of workers want to work for a company that values diversity, equity and inclusion.
Laura Wronski, a research science manager at SurveyMonkey, explained: “Workers who are satisfied with their company’s efforts on [DEI] issues are actually happier with their jobs.
“They are more likely than others to say that they have good opportunities to advance their careers, and they are more likely to feel paid well for their work.”
Here at Get-Optimal HQ, we have always recognised the importance of a diverse workforce. Only by hiring and developing people with a wide range of backgrounds, experiences, and skills, can companies continue to learn and build inclusive, collaborative, and successful workplaces.
The first step to achieving workplace diversity and inclusion? To promote better hiring. And better hiring starts by creating a bias reduced Job Ad that attracts a large talent pool of qualified individuals.
Recent studies have shown that Job Ads packed with bias can deter certain groups of people from even applying – resulting in an organisation that lacks inclusiveness and diversity.
Yet while we may well all be aware of the need to craft a well-written, highly-optimised Job Ad, with bias reduced, actually doing so is harder than you’d think.
Sure there are now a number of gender decoders on the market that recruiters and TA folk can run their Job Ads through so as to ensure that terms such as ‘tenacious’, ‘fast-paced’, ‘strong’, and ‘driven’ – all of which put women off applying – are removed. But it’s not just gender bias that we need to be aware of when writing Job Ads.
Racial bias – never ever mention race or origin and, if possible, remove names from candidates’ applications and review ‘blind’ – needs to be eliminated as does ageism (avoid phrases like ‘work hard/play hard’).
Companies also need to be inclusive of workers with disabilities – be sure to state clearly that you welcome applications from people with disabilities or impairments.
Put simply, gender decoders don’t take any of the above into consideration or folks from other protected characteristic groups – gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation – who are equally, if not more, excluded by the Job Ad creation, structure, and content process.
Make no mistake: it takes an intentional focus to reduce bias in recruitment processes – using a gender coder for your Job Ads is only the beginning.
If you’re ready to make a real and lasting DE&I impact and stop viewing DE&I as merely a tick box exercise, it’s time to reach out to Get-Optimal today.
We specialise in reducing bias against the nine protected characteristics, and we don’t stop there.
Get-Optimal will also optimise your Job Ads for SEO so as to make them more searchable, in addition to improving their structure and readability. And we can do all of this in as little as 30-minutes!
What can I say? We’re recruitment content marketing specialists and we’re here to help you reduce bias in your recruitment processes.
Working and collaborating with Get-Optimal is about taking control, not giving up control. Make the change, and make the change today.
Daniel Fellows
CEO
Get-Optimal.com
