ESG Metric: Gender diversity
Ease of implementation: Medium
Suitable for: All businesses
Suggested functional lead: HR, D and I team
Summary
Recruitment processes can be unconsciously biased through the use of language that suggests gender preference in job descriptions and a lack of diversity in the hiring process. To increase female candidates, we suggest creating inclusive job descriptions without gender preference and working with any head-hunters to incentivise female candidates. When considering potential candidates, we advise to have a diverse interview panel where the interviewers have had unconscious bias training prior to the interview. Lastly, you may want a female employee to call the successful candidate regarding the offer.
Background Information
Whilst gender pronouns are not permitted on job advertisements, gender preferences can still be conveyed. Subtle stereotypes and traits in a job description can create a preference of gender. This may limit the number of women applying to roles as well as influence the person hiring to subconsciously exclude women. A LinkedIn study analysed millions of member profiles across 12 industries, and found that between 2008 and 2016 the technology industry made the biggest increase in female hires by 24.4% annually. Contrastingly, in the finance and insurance sector female hires remained unchanged between 2008 and 2016, with a total increase of only 2.9%. By critically addressing your recruitment practices you can increase female hires just like, Avvo, who set new practices in place similar to the ones outlined below. Within only two years they increased their female hires from 17% to 27%2.
Implementation Steps
Create an inclusive role description
Collaborate with your D&I team or lead to eliminate masculine language and replace with words more universally appealing. Find a list of gender preference words here. You may want to use a tool to check your job descriptions such as Gender Decoder or the Totaljobs Gender Bias Decoder.
Ensuring diverse candidates from head-hunters
Diverse candidates, including women, are often underrepresented in initial long-lists of candidates by head-hunters. It is important to push-back and articulate that a minimum of 1 female candidate is requirement. You may want to offer higher commission on successful female candidates if financially feasible.
Ensure your interview panel is diverse
Ensure the interview panel itself is diverse, not only by gender but by all minority groups.
Organise unconscious bias awareness training
Once you have selected an interview panel, train them on their unconscious bias. Organisations such as Paradigm educate employees on various D&I issues including unconscious bias. Find out more here.
Discuss offers with candidates personally
Appoint a member of the team to call the successful candidate and discuss the role and offer. You may want to pair female partners with female candidates or keep it random/undisclosed.