9 Things You Need to Know About Inclusive Recruitment

Creating a diverse workforce starts with building an inclusive recruitment process that will attract the widest talent pool and create a culture of belonging.

Introduction

The benefits of a diverse workforce range from an enriched company culture, to increased financial gain. Yet just under 50% of employers have implemented diversity strategies to attract, develop and retain an inclusive workforce, and 45% do not have any means of measuring the diversity of their workforce [1].

The term inclusive recruitment is growing in popularity in the Built Environment but what does it actually mean and how can it be adopted? We sat down with Danna Walker, Founder of Built By Us, to find out.

1. What is inclusive recruitment?

Inclusive recruitment takes place through every stage of your recruitment process. How are you attracting and keeping talent in your business and how do you ensure that the widest talent pool has access to opportunities?

“We are missing out on talent, the diverse talent that does not come into our industry goes out to elsewhere, so they may become Doctors, Lawyers or Tech people”

2. Why does inclusion matter?

The Built Environment as a sector is not particularly inclusive. We do not see a diversity of talent in our industry.  We have very low representation of women, disabled people and racial ethnicities working in it, despite a very diverse UK population. Instead of coming to our industry, the talent is going elsewhere, to medicine, the law, or to tech companies. With serious challenges facing us, such as the climate crisis, we need to ensure that our Built Environment is accessible. We need diverse people with diverse perspectives, skills and ideas to create the innovation to solve problems.

3. How do you start to introduce inclusive recruitment into your company?

First and foremost it’s important to gather the data on your organisation’s diversity because this will support your understanding of where the challenges are and help you to make a change.

“A lack of inclusion can be one of the great pushes for people to leave an organisation”.

4. Once we have adopted the process, what next?

Alongside the process to bring people in you have to think about their experience within the organisation. It’s important to have an inclusive working environment, where leadership sees diversity and inclusion as core and not just a nice-to-have. A lack of inclusion can push talent to leave an organisation. This is something that the pandemic has highlighted and a number of reports show high numbers of people looking to change careers or leave jobs. One of the reasons cited is the lack of work flexibility. Flexibility is linked directly to diversity and inclusion.

5. Can you share a good practice tip for an inclusive recruitment process?

Be transparent about earnings or salaries! Start by disclosing a salary range in your adverts this contributes to having parity of pay.

6. Who should be involved in the process?

From the person receiving the applications to everyone who plays a role in the decision making - all these people should be involved in the process.

7. What are the challenges of implementing inclusive recruitment?

Misperception of what inclusive recruitment is about is a big challenge. It’s not about positive discrimination which, by the way, does not exist in law; but it is about positive action. It’s not about giving some people more opportunities than others, which is the status quo right now; but it is about creating a level playing field. For example, there are disparities in the number of disabled versus so-called able-bodied people who are out of work. We know that many people who declare or share their disability in the recruitment process are unable to access the interview or be shortlisted for the role. It’s about a level playing field, not reverse discrimination.

“The impact of a wider talent pool in work, in our industries and in employment results in getting the greater innovation, a richness of perspective, we are reflecting on societies, we are creating spaces and places which can be used by all.”

8. How do you educate key stakeholders/decision-makers

For many decision-makers, organisations and leaders it is hard to understand the why and how to change things. The impact of a wider talent pool in our industries and in employment results in greater innovation and richness of perspective, which better reflects the society we serve.

If we really want to make a change and challenge equity, we need to make sure everyone has access to opportunity and parity of income in whichever role they occupy. There is a correlation between lower incomes, being from diverse groups, and underrepresentation in our industry. The Rowntree Foundation conducts research focusing on poverty and it is Black people, Asian people, Disabled people, Women and Lone Parents who tend not to generate as much income or wealth. This has an impact on them and their families and it affects their ability to live and thrive in society. To continue down this road of inequity, from my point of view, is socially unsustainable.

9. Where can we find out more about inclusive recruitment and training?

There are lots of ways to find out more. Built By Us offers bespoke industry learning and understanding of equality, diversity and inclusion that fits with our sector.  Inclusive recruitment is a vital part of that learning and understanding. BBU aims to support forward-thinking organisations that want to make a change and positively impact themselves, their workforce, and society too.

For more information on how Built By Us can support your journey to creating a more inclusive business, check out the Built By Us website.

[1] Robert Walters Whitepaper Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment