Inclusive Hiring Practices: Attracting Diverse Talent in Asia
Introduction
I was talking with a friend who leads DEI for a semiconductor company in APAC the other day. A manufacturing and technology focused organisation and associated required skillset. The vast majority of employees are men, and the vast majority of job descriptions are catered towards men, given the heavy machinery and lifting requirements prescribed by the job. One common foundational step to inclusive hiring is to have gender-neutral, race-neutral and generally diversity-neutral language within job descriptions. However, this example opens a debate on whether that can truly be the case for all jobs. One would say yes, as I have several women friends who are stronger than the average man, so physically demanding jobs should not preclude women. From the other angle, I know many excellent nurses and veterinary nurses who are men, a job traditionally attributed to one gender. It’s an interesting debate, and I’d be happy to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
In this month’s series, we explore inclusive hiring practices and the impact on organisations. This article starts us off by outlining some approaches you might consider when developing an inclusive recruitment strategy.
The Candidate Journey
Let’s think about the recruitment experience as a journey. Initially, from seeing or receiving a job description, to applying, to being screened by a recruiter. Then, being invited to interview, and meeting the hiring manager and other stakeholders. And, in the final phase of recruitment, the decision, whether that be an offer, or a “we carefully considered your profile and regret to inform you…” email. Onboarding and retention are incredibly important following steps if a candidate is successful, but for the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on the journey prior to that.
Stage 1: The Application
Inclusive job descriptions, as we touched upon above, are a basic first step. Studies have shown that gender-associated and stereotypical wording in job ads leads to gender inequality, for example, use of words like “leader”, “competitive” and “dominant” were found to be perceived as roles for men, whilst words like “support”, “understanding” and “interpersonal” were perceived as roles for women. (Side note: I don’t know about you, but I’d rather work for a company and a boss with the latter traits over the former!). These perceptions reduce women applicants for masculine-worded jobs, thus reviewing job ads for gender neutrality, and utilising AI linguistic tools, can help balance applications.
Expanding talent sourcing beyond traditional channels may also help ensure diverse and inclusive recruitment. For example, partnering with professional associations, internal affinity groups with external connections, and local community organisations can broaden the candidate pool.
Stage 2: The Interview
Thereafter, utilising unseen resume screening and skills-based assessments also helps to reduce unconscious bias.
During the interview process, interview loops or panels should be diverse in themselves, across appropriate axes, including gender, race, language and culture. For my interview loops, I always ensure I have someone who is Japanese, someone who is a woman, someone from a different team, and someone who would be the candidate’s peer at the same job level.
Stage 3: The Offer
In the offer stage, ensure that salaries are based on skills and experience, and gender and race equitable, from the start, before negotiations begin. Studies are varied on whether men or women negotiate more. The common perception is that women are often less likely to negotiate or ask for less when they do negotiate compared to men. However, one study showed that women negotiate up to 30% more often (39% of women negotiate versus 30% of men), but ask for an average of 2.5% less than men. This is the driver for the gender differences in actual salaries.
The best recruiters, who provide the best candidate experience, are those who take the time to have a brief call with the candidate despite not being successful in the interview process. They provide constructive and actionable feedback, including examples from the interview. This is smart from several perspectives. It keeps candidates warm for potential hiring needs in the future. And, it provides positive reinforcement that the company cares about its employees, and treats everyone with respect. The candidate tells their friends about their experience, and they may even have positive brand recall when purchasing a product or service from that industry.
Case Studies
IBM first hired a person with a disability in 1914. The company’s philosophy on hiring people with disabilities focuses on “innovation, society and talent”. Diversity propels new ideas allowing IBM to build products for a wider variety of customers. They state that for society to function properly, all people need to participate equally. An accommodation fund helps people with disabilities access adaptive equipment, transportation and interpretation services.
Alibaba Group’s Jack Ma stated that women are the company’s “secret sauce”. With 49.1% of the workforce and 41.9% of management being women, Alibaba is leading the way in gender diversity within the tech industry. Their inclusive hiring practices focus on fairness and impartiality across recruiting, remuneration and incentives.
SAP has overt inclusive hiring practices that ensures representation across all stages of the recruitment pipeline and process, supported by diversity data and tools. They foster connections with external talent communities, including early talent graduates through campus engagements and internships. Candidate experience is enhanced by connecting potential employees with members of employee resource groups who share similar identities or experiences, for example, the Autism at Work program. Interviewers are trained on biases and prioritise “culture contribution” over “fit”.
Call-to-Action
Consciously bringing diverse talent into the workplace will help build a long-term and sustainably diverse and inclusion environment. As a leader within your organisation, explore AI tools to mitigate unconscious bias in job descriptions and the hiring process. Introduce diversity metrics, track progress and hold leadership accountable. Organise, participate in, and partner with industry and community organisations to seek diverse talent - get out there!
References
Partner, Global Executive Search
5moPanels, skills based assessment and structured interviewing are some of our most powerful tools to ensure candidates are assessed for the role and not individual preferences that are mired in unconscious bias. In recruiting, we are rightfully focused on candidate sourcing but we often miss the opportunity to retain talent further down the funnel. We need to be spending as much time in crafting the interview process as we do in finding candidates. If you can't get your interview process right, you'll spend a disproportionate amount of time at the top of the funnel.