Shifting Your Practices to Attain Your Ideal Team

by Asad Khaja

Hiring practices of companies have become more and more important over the years, and one of those that should be most important to your company is hiring with a diverse workforce in mind. Plus, when your company makes a concerted effort towards advancing diversity in the workplace, you’re opening the company up to a wider talent pool to fill open jobs from. 

One of the big shifts that have been seen over the last 24 months has included major shifts in the workplace of your people being more worried about “we” versus just “me”. Everyone needs a chance to be their own individual in their company and job, but there’s a larger focus on togetherness and community as well.

This is why we have identified 5 ways for your company to build a more diverse workplace for your employees.

Develop inclusive leaders at every level

If your leaders are inclusive, they’ll embrace the needs of their teams, while continuing to invest in creating safe spaces for their teams to feel accepted and empowered. Here at W Talent Solutions, for instance, we as employees have always been empowered to discuss our issues or concerns whenever they may arise. We strive to allow our team to make mistakes as well as develop a plan to rectify mistakes that may happen, creating opportunities for all of us to have ownership of our firm and to feel empowered to lead us forward.

Hold leaders accountable

According to the 2022 Global DE&I Survey by Aon, 74% of respondents said their company has developed a tailored DE&I policy. While having inclusive leaders is important, you need to ensure you have ways to hold them accountable for what is being preached. Creating, implementing, and measuring KPIs is one of the easiest ways to ensure you’re meeting your DE&I goals. Just as you use KPI’s to hold employees accountable for areas of improvement or growth, the same can be done for your leadership in regards to the development of the company.

Partner with community groups

Find ways to partner with community groups that represent the most underrepresented people. This allows people on your team to get outside of their comfort zone, and develop respect for others around them. Here at W Talent Solutions, the story of our founder, Ashley, has led to our involvement with the local YWCA chapter, including monthly volunteer projects. We have also been empowered to make our own connections in the community, which led to my being able to join a committee with the Children’s Advocacy Center of Kent County.

Neutralize job descriptions

Working to reword your job descriptions with more neutral words or having both masculine and feminine words will help you to find a broader talent base to apply. It is also important to work with your hiring managers to get a solid understanding of what they are looking for. The more detail on the experience you’re looking for the better. It removes ambiguity for candidates to ensure they meet the standards you’re looking for. Alternatively, when you’re working with an Executive Recruiting Firm, it allows their team to know exactly the guidelines of experience you need or the background. This allows for a quicker sourcing, and submission process, decreasing back and forth or candidates that don’t have the experience needed. It also will allow your company to fill a role more quickly.

Allow time off for religious/cultural holidays

A more diverse workforce also means that more people will have different holidays they celebrate for religious or cultural purposes. While it may be hard to accommodate every holiday that there might be for every religion, adopting a new time off policy will allow for more inclusivity. This could even be as simple as allowing all employees to have a certain number of days off to use every year for religious holidays they observe. Here at W Talent Solutions, we account for holidays such as Good Friday, as well as extra days around Christmas. Additionally, for employees who may celebrate different holidays, the acceptance that has been fostered allows for easy conversations of needing to take time off for religious reasons to celebrate with family.

Do you need help with your talent strategy? Reach out to one of our talent experts who can help you build your ideal workforce.