The world has changed significantly since 2020, but not all of these changes have been caused by the coronavirus. The Black Lives Matter campaign is still strong, reminding us that these problems are not unique to the US and don’t start or end with police brutality. Conversations about race have also shown how discrimination and a lack of opportunities affect people from ethnic minorities in many parts of their lives, including the workplace. In this article, we are telling the importance of diversity recruitment and how it can be implemented in companies. It is very important for companies to work on diversity recruitment to promote this trend, so no one suffers badly. 

Pay attention to how different people are at work.

This year, there have been several new reports and programs that put the spotlight on diversity recruitment at work. These reports and projects aim to enhance employers’ diversity and inclusion practices:

In 2020, an update to the Review mentioned above found that not much had changed in terms of getting more people from ethnic minorities onto Boards: 37% of FTSE 100 companies and 69% of FTSE 250 companies haven’t reached their goal of having at least one person from an ethnic minority on their Board. The Review has set a new deadline of 2024 to get this done. 

Change the Race Ratio: Several top organizations have started a campaign to get more people of different races and ethnicities on Boards of Directors and in other positions of power. Employers can join the movement and get help changing how many people of each race they hire.

Legal & General is the largest fund manager in the UK and has shares in almost every FTSE 100 company. It has written to FTSE 100 companies to warn them that there will be “voting and investment consequences” if they don’t have at least one black, Asian, or ethnic minority member on their Board by January 2022. Legal & General will vote against not having enough different people.

Things that a boss can do

Diversity recruitment is significant in the workplace and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Studies show that businesses do better when more people work for them. A company with a wide range of employees is also suitable for business. Diversity recruitment also protects against “groupthink,” which can make bad decisions without being questioned. This is especially true at the board level. So, companies that take steps to make their workplaces more diverse and open to everyone can make more money. This blog post’s rest is about what these possible next steps could be.

Responding

Employers should make a clear anti-racism policy and let employees know where to access it. This should explain what kinds of actions are racist and make it clear that the group won’t stand for any of them. Employers should also take the time to hear what people from ethnic minorities have to say about their experiences at work and, if needed, make changes to fix any problems.

Reporting

Part of how an employer handles racial concerns is by making it easy to report discrimination at work. Employers should help create a workplace culture that is open and honest, where people know how to write racism they see at work, either formally or informally, and are sure that it will be taken seriously.

Recruitment

One of the most important things employers can do to make their workplaces more diverse is to look at how they hire people. Employers should think about using anonymous or blind job applications and posting their openings in different places as ways to choose who to hire and encourage diversity recruitment. They could also look at how they let people join their organization to get more people from a broader range of backgrounds to apply. One way to do this would be to give internships to people from ethnic groups that don’t have a lot of people in them. This is an excellent thing to do, and we’ll discuss it below.

Mentoring

Employers could also set up mentoring programs in which upper management team members help train and guide newer employees. A mentor can help them make connections or learn skills they wouldn’t get otherwise. If a person from a minority group has a mentor, they are more likely to move up in their career.

Reverse mentoring is also suitable for employers. This implies top leaders will meet with lower-level staff and ask about their perspectives. This can help people from ethnic minority backgrounds learn more about what might stop them from moving up and what can be done to eliminate these problems and make moving up easier.

Training

Employers can also try to create more open and diverse workplaces by giving all of their workers training. Unconscious bias training may help employees recognize their unconscious biases and make fewer biased decisions at work. Some have questioned whether unconscious bias training changes people’s behavior. Employers should think carefully about how it’s done to ensure it’s not just a way to check a box.

Good things to do

When will you do something good? The Equality Act of 2010 says that employers can stop racial discrimination at work by taking “positive action” in the areas of “encouragement and training” and “recruitment and training.” In our blog, we give employers a full explanation of what positive action is and how it can be used to encourage diversity recruitment.  

Conclusion

The Black Lives Matter movement and the slow progress toward promoting diversity recruitment in the workplace have made it more critical for companies to take action to speed up change. In the end, there’s no one way to make a workplace more diverse; it won’t happen overnight. Employers will need to make a long-term commitment to promoting equality and inclusion and work on diversity recruitment. But organizations can help ensure everyone has the same opportunities, no matter their race, background, or other personal traits, by having open and honest conversations about inequality and taking proactive steps like the ones above.