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Inclusion – Not my job. But isn’t it?

As the economy expands and contracts, our teams will typically follow the same pattern, and we expect the skills of our teams to do the same. During boom times we hire staff that possesses more specialized skills. During downturns, our need for specialties decreases, and attrition increases the need for general abilities. One of the biggest challenges we face as employers and team members during these times is the attitude “that’s not my job.” Growing a company is every employee’s job. Diversity and inclusion within a company should be as well.

The economy grows or shrinks

Whether the economy grows or shrinks, one thing is sure, an organization’s diversity and inclusive behavior should be top of mind from the chair of the board down and throughout the company. A definite theme will emerge when diversity is regularly discussed, along with the importance of differences in thinking, background, and reflecting the customer base the company serves. Creating goals based on these themes is not only admirable but has demonstrated benefits to an organization. Different backgrounds produce different points of view, allowing for greater creativity and innovation. What company wouldn’t want this? Companies that practice diversity recruiting efforts and inclusive behaviors are more attractive to job seekers. Wouldn’t a company want to be more attractive to job seekers during this time of unprecedented low unemployment?

More resources and technology available

Companies today have more resources and technology available to them than ever before. However, many companies are partially or wholly stuck in pre-Millenium era business practices. Research has shown that the very words we use can impact how diverse we come across to potential candidates. Our job descriptions speak volumes about our approach to seeking candidates who are either a replica of our current staff or something altogether different. Every team member should insist that the processes a company uses ensure a more diverse outcome during the recruiting and hiring process. Improving this process will increase the diversity among the employee population and in turn, attract more diverse candidates.

Improving the words we use in job descriptions

Improving the words we use in job descriptions is only the tip of the iceberg when planning to improve diversity hiring practices. Hiring stakeholders need to create and commit to goals of increasing diversity and raise the standard for every employee. They need to insist on a fair screening process, so they will act with greater conscious inclusion when screening candidates. One way to do this is through blind resume reviews where a candidate’s PII (personally identifiable information) is redacted. Blind resume reviews ensure the screening process centers on KSAs (knowledge, skills, abilities) rather than a reviewer fixating on a name or university that may denote a race, gender, or ethnicity.

Every employee’s job to grow the company

Just as it is every employee’s job to grow the company, whether, during periods of growth or times of scarcity, it is the responsibility of every employee to insist on fair and equitable diversity and inclusive practices.  Companies that enact meaningful diversity recruiting processes have a better brand perception, better employee engagement, reduced legal exposure, and improved financial returns; it just makes good business sense.

To learn more about how to make your job descriptions and recruitment marketing copy more inclusive and how to digitally perform blind resume reviews, please contact TalVista, the leader in blind resume reviews and scientifically backed job description and marketing copy optimization. www.talvista.com [email protected]