Recruitment Blog > Diversity, Inclusion & Equality (ED&I) Articles

Why Diversity Matters in the Modern Workplace. Creating a Diverse Workforce

Why Diversity Matters in the Modern Workplace. Creating a Diverse Workforce

“Creating and managing a diverse workforce is a process, not a destination.”

R. Roosevelt Thomas, Jr.

Creating a modern workplace that celebrates diversity is a lesson in belonging.

All UK employees want to feel part of something good. Whether that’s professional success, creative safety, or a secure salary in a supportive career, everyone has the right to feel included, heard and valued at work.

We also live in a time of rapid change - technological, ethical and professional - and diversity sits right at the heart of it all, especially a contemporary tide of ethical progressiveness spurred on by activism and an unapologetic historical awareness.

This, of course, all filters down to the humble workplace, and workers of all stripes need to be aware that “diversity” is more than a marketing ploy for recruiters - diverse workplaces are by every measurable metric better for people and better for business.

But to really understand the how and the why behind diverse workplaces, you need look no further than our recent HR past, and how thought leaders in the HR industry are changing our future.

The history of D&I in the workplace.

The demand for equitable access to opportunity has been a war fought for centuries, and the recent wave of diversity awareness is only the most recent step on the long walk to true equity.

The ethical and professional imperative for workplaces to centre equality, diversity and inclusivity into the workplace is now well established. But this hasn’t always been the case.

From the arrival of the Empire Windrush to the rise of BLM, ideas around who belongs in certain UK workplaces have shifted and osmosed as new generations rise and old generations fall.

ED&I as it stands now - as a reflection on what we see as morally right, as a hiring strategy and as a workplace standard - stands on the shoulders of civil rights, voting rights, and equal rights giants.

  • The UK has a strong historical precedent when it comes to eradicating discriminatory, unsafe or unfair working cultures. Indeed, many modern D&I movements for equal representation have their origins in historical campaigns for basic working and voting rights, such as the labour movement after WW1 (in the case of women being able to work and expanding voting rights) and the acceptance of the 8hr working day and the removal of children from high-risk jobs, a campaign that goes as far back as 1817.

  • In the last 50 years we’ve seen real progress in the form of the Race Relations Act, the Sexual Offences Act, the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act, the founding of Stonewall, the UK Sex Discrimination Act, the equal rights to adopt ruling, the Civil Partnership Act, and the Gender Recognition Act.

  • Spring forward to 2010, and we saw the passing of the Equality Act 2010, which, as per the CIPD, “provides legal protection for nine protected characteristics: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation”.

  • EA10 is the guiding light for fair access to work and opportunity for all and represents the benchmark in the progressive movement to hold biased organisations to account.

However, while the frameworks and foundation for more protected, diverse workplaces have been built by our elders and reinforced by the Government, it still takes a uniquely forward-thinking, hands-on HR team and c-suite leadership team to create a genuinely sustainable diverse workplace.  

The laws need to be acted on, rigorously. This is where D&I is most keenly felt - by the business owners and market leaders who are fastidiously bettering opportunities for all.

D&I in the workplace in 2023.

The last few years have seen a focus on D&I activism, and a rapid uptick in support for a wide-ranging culture of diversity across almost every sector.

On the legal side, Mandatory Gender Pay Gap reporting, and voluntary (but increasingly published) Diversity Policy and Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting has brought to light legacy issues with remuneration equality. It continues to highlight how good, and how bad, some of our biggest employers are at righting a historical wrong.

On the social and activist side, the advent of BLM and the global progressive movement towards learning and equality ushered in by the tragic death of George Floyd has been transformative. The UK has seen some improvements in general equality and representation. But we want to emphasise only some - there are D&I outliers, and there are D&I stragglers.

As the Civilian personnel biannual diversity dashboard report April 2022 shows, there have been marked ED&I macro-improvements in some key areas:

  • Female representation rate on 1 April 2022, 44.5% - a rise of 2.1 percentage points compared with 1 April 2018.

  • Ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities) representation rate on 1 April 2022, 6.0% - a rise of 1.3 percentage points compared with 1 April 2018.

  • Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual (LGB) representation rate on 1 April 2022, 2.8% - a rise of 0.6 percentage points compared with 1 April 2018.

And there have been some statistics trending the wrong way:

  • Disability representation rate on 1 April 2022, 11.4%, this is a fall of 0.7 percentage points compared with 1 April 2018.

  • Part-time personnel representation rate on 1 April 2022, 10.4%, this is a fall of 1.1 percentage points compared with 1 April 2018.

As the country is becoming statistically more diverse, the case for more diversity is moot. Some sectors are taking this more seriously than others, such as mid-market tech, healthcare and education.

 The other end of the spectrum - the companies doing the least for progressive representation - is populated by large tech companies, aviation and farming.

Which employers are making a concerted effort to improve D&I in the workplace?

Inclusive Companies have written a 2022/2023 guide on the most diverse companies in the UK, which includes companies such as CapGemini, Royal Orthopaedic Hospitals NHS Trust, Yorkshire Building Society, Kantar, Direct Line Group and TalkTalk. Other reports - such as ones published by Glassdoor, Learning Pool and PwC  - offer an equality, diversity and inclusion policy deep dive.

All of these reports reflect a wider trend to the good - “more than three-quarters (78%) of UK companies have taken steps to increase their commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), starting last year”. But like we said above, some see diversity as a workplace non-starter.

The business case for diversity.

If the ethical and moral argument has been firmly won by the wave of activism and the shift to better overall workplace representation, the business case for diversity is even more clear.

  • “Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30, and in turn, these companies were more likely to outperform those with even fewer women executives, or none at all”.

  • Diversity and inclusivity improve employee engagement, which in turn increases retention by 19 per cent and collaboration by 57 per cent”.

  • “More than 80% of employees believe that having an openly supportive focus on LGBTQ+ has provided their organisation with wider access to the best talent”.

In short, and without banging the drum too much, if you repeatedly clone your staff and offer a staff training policy that is blinkered and un-diverse, your business will be restricted, and your access to talent will be significantly reduced.

How do you create a diverse talent pipeline?

Diverse hiring best practice is, clearly, more than the sum of equality mandates - the ability to hire from a more diverse talent base takes a full-scale cultural revamping of recruitment processes, recruiting representation and outreach.

Naturally, this doesn’t happen overnight. Below is a selection of best advice on effective, long-term diverse hiring practices:

Write inclusive job listings.

  • One of the first pieces of media a prospective candidate will see is a job advert. So, you need to guarantee the language is as fair, open, unbiased and inclusive as possible, or you’ll immediately minimise your talent pipeline.

  •  “Certain studies show that the languages you use in your job description either encourage diverse applicants to apply for a job or might turn them off from doing the same…you must write a job description without involving any bias in age, gender, race, or other ethnic-coded words”.

Diverse internships and apprenticeships.

  • To create meaningful change, you need to approach diversity from a multi-demographic angle, pivoting diverse network building to school and college leavers to encourage a wider variety of applicants into your workplace.

  • “When firms invest more in better apprenticeship and internship practices, they invest more in their people, thus improving the hiring process. Even further, individuals will feel valued and be more likely to return to your firm”.

The right tools for the right job.

  • You can’t expect your recruiters to make inroads into untravelled networks without the right sort of tools to engage and data capture prospective talent. Whilst this refers somewhat to diversity-focused recruitment tech tools, in the main this means connecting to other recruiters and specialists in the diversity field.

  • “When companies recognise that they need to do more to diversify their workforce, sometimes they’ll partner with external diversity and inclusion recruitment experts to help them find the talent they need”.

Interview structure revamp.

  • A simple but effective diverse hiring technique that requires nothing more than consistency, and it will display to your internal team, clients and candidates that you are effectively mitigating bias during interviews.

  • “Take your ideal candidate profile and build out a structured interview process, in which each candidate goes through the same steps and is asked the same set of questions. This ensures that bias does not creep in, and you create the same conditions for all candidates as you ramp up recruiting diverse talent

The bottom line.

The benefits of hiring a more diverse workforce are clear as day - both the business and ethical positives are hard to ignore.

But diversity cannot be considered a marketing tactic or a short-term hiring strategy. Making a real difference requires consistent application of diverse hiring theories and practice, from c-suite down to intern.

The real mark of a diverse hiring strategy - and the only guarantee of a diverse, thriving workplace - is how authentic and sustainable the methods of connecting to talent are.


ABOUT DIJOBS.co.uk

DIjobs is a pioneering job board that was created to provide employers and recruiters with the opportunity to advertise their job vacancies and connect with a diverse audience of underrepresented candidates from black, asian, ethnic and minority backgrounds. This also includes jobseekers from the LGBTQ+ community and candidates with disabilities.

We strongly believe in creating an equitable workplace for everyone regardless of their age, background, culture, orientation or ability. So, if you’re an employer or recruiter looking for a job board to promote diversity in your workplace, then DIjobs can help you do just that!

CLICK HERE to set up your Employer Profile and start posting your jobs today... 

 


References:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/relations/diversity/factsheet#gref
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-diversity-dashboard-april-2022/civilian-personnel-biannual-diversity-dashboard-report-april-2022#
https://theconversation.com/britain-is-becoming-more-diverse-not-more-segregated-68610
https://www.grantthornton.global/en/insights/articles/mid-market-tech-companies-lead-the-way-on-diversity-and-inclusion/
https://www.wayup.com/guide/top-5-industries-for-workforce-diversity/
https://startupsmagazine.co.uk/article-zoom-identified-worst-company-gender-diversity-boardroom
https://advisorsmith.com/data/most-and-least-diverse-high-paying-professions/
https://news.sky.com/story/why-farming-in-uk-is-predominantly-white-and-whats-being-done-to-increase-diversity-12618103
https://www.inclusivecompanies.co.uk/inclusivetop50/2022rankings/
https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/blog/companies-best-for-diversity-and-inclusion/
https://learningpool.com/diversity-inclusion-five-companies-getting-it-right/
https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/human-resource-services/diversity-inclusion.html
https://employernews.co.uk/news/4-in-5-uk-companies-boosted-their-diversity-and-inclusion-efforts-in-2020/
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusion-matters
https://www.achievers.com/blog/diverse-teams-at-work/
https://www.inclusiveemployers.co.uk/blog/business-case-for-diversity-and-inclusion-a-quick-guide/
https://www.ismartrecruit.com/blog-strategies-for-building-a-diverse-talent-pipeline
https://humancapital.aon.com/insights/articles/2022/five-unconventional-ways-to-build-a-more-diverse-talent-pipeline
https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-acquisition/50-plus-ideas-for-cultivating-diversity-and-inclusion
https://www.lever.co/blog/15-ways-to-build-a-more-diverse-talent-pipeline/