Tag Archive for: diversity
International Women’s Day, one of the world’s biggest employee engagement days, takes place on 8 March 2022. It is a global opportunity to celebrate and acknowledge the achievements of women across the world.
It also provides a chance to raise awareness of female inequality and discuss what can be done to create gender parity.
#BreakThe Bias
This year, the theme for the day is focused around #breakthebias. The International Women’s Day Website states that, “Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Knowing that bias exists isn’t enough. Action is needed to level the playing field.” Find out more about International Women’s Day.
Still More to Be Done
Each year, more and more employers take part in the celebrations by marking the contributions of their female employees. However, the day also acts as a timely reminder to employers about gender equality and what still needs to be done to address the gender imbalance in the workplace.
Following on from the data published by the Office for National Statistics in October 2021, while the gender pay gap has been declining slowly, there is still significant disparity with regards to equal pay. In addition, women are still more likely to be subjected to sexual harassment and discrimination in the workplace and are also largely underrepresented within executive roles.
It is evident then that more needs to be done to address gender parity and employers should continue to analyse their working practices to ensure that that they are alive to any blind spots and are doing everything they can do create an equal workforce.
If you think you would like to offer you staff some training around unconscious bias, we would be very happy to speak to you about the training we offer. Please contact Sarah Martin in our team on 07799 136 091.
Could certain words in your job adverts be preventing people from applying for your vacancy? We consider what to look out for when writing a job advert to ensure you’re attracting a wide and diverse range of applicants.
Considering Word Choice
The Phoenix Group, which owns Standard Life, is reported to have dropped the word ‘energetic’ from its job adverts because it was concerned that it may put off older people from applying. It is also apparently planning to replace the word ‘innovative’ and replace it with ‘contributing new ideas’ or ‘problem solving’.
Why Has It Made That Decision?
There are two reasons, both related to the pandemic. The first is that there are a substantial number of employers seeking to fill vacancies, the number of job vacancies is currently at a record high as employers are trying to keep up with increased demand as the economy re-opens.
The other reason is explained by Phoenix Group chief executive Andy Briggs, who is the Government’s ‘business champion’ for older workers. He warned in February 2021 that older workers had been disproportionately hit by the pandemic. It was felt that words such as ‘innovative’ may put off older applicants.
What About The Effect on the Gender of Applicants?
A survey conducted in 2019 on behalf of LinkedIn found that 52% of UK women would be put off applying for a job if the workplace was described as ‘aggressive’, compared to just 32% of men. 24% of women surveyed also said they would be put off by the term ‘born leader’ being used in a job advert, compared to just 17% of men.
Despite this, the survey, which polled 1,008 employees and more than 250 hiring managers in the UK, found that two in five (40%) employers never considered gender when writing job adverts, and 44% do not track or measure the gender of those registering interest in job postings.
What Do Your Job Adverts Say?
Reflect very carefully on the wording in your job adverts. You need to be deliberate with the words you are using in job adverts, interviews, social media and in the workplace itself if you wish to attract, build and retain a diverse team.
You could consider testing the job advert wording you propose to use on a range of current staff as a focus group. Also consider whether you are just using your job advert wording because you have used it previously – is that a good enough reason?
It’s also worth getting help from outside your organisation. We have recently run some very well received training courses on recruitment which cover, amongst other things, unconscious bias. Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss that training with us, or how else we can assist you.
If you would like to discuss any way that we can help you with any questions you have about recruitment, please contact Sarah Martin in our team on 07799 136091.
Recent statistics released by the Department for Work and Pensions show that the employment rate for disabled people was 52.7% vs 81% for non-disabled people, there has been a lack of progress made on gender pay gaps, and there is potential introduction of mandatory ethnicity pay reporting.
So it’s completely understandable that businesses will want to focus on their diversity and inclusion practices this year.
Diversity starts at the recruitment stage – yet a recent poll by the Chartered Management Institute found that just under half of managers said their organisations were actively taking steps during the recruitment process to increase the proportion of employees from diverse ethnic groups. Is this enough?
It is useful to remember that diversity and inclusion practises are not simply a tick box exercise, and that encouraging diversity in the workplace has such a positive impact on any business, including greater success, improved performance, ability to share new ideas and motivated employees!
Businesses should not underestimate the advantages that prioritising inclusivity and equality bring.
