Partner Article

4 Ways to Increase Workplace Diversity

We are almost a quarter of a way into the year 2016 and if diversity isn’t on your agenda as a business owner then the warning bells should start ringing. Immediately. Last year we saw some ground breaking changes when it comes to the acknowledgement and acceptance of those that had perhaps been side-lined in society. However, it is widely recognised that in the world of business the same level of welcoming to those from all walks of life isn’t perhaps demonstrated. Whether that’s through sheer ignorance or because draconian policies are yet to be updated is irrelevant – the issue is still prevalent.

Amir Kabel, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at Green Park gives his opinion, “No-one is doing diversity right and there is still a vacancy when it comes to truly reflecting the diverse culture that 2016 has to offer! Paying lip service to the issue purely to promote the fact that you are complying with initiatives, ‘political correctness or’ doing the minimum requirements is no longer adequate, and actually - is entirely transparent. Diversity within a business should be a holistic energy, an experience. It should be about a unified team with a diverse collection of thoughts, who communicate on different levels, who bring different energy to the business, promising a perpetual cycle of learning, inspiration and discovery”.

So just how do you go about introducing a truly diverse workplace culture?

Top Down Approach

As well as being true ambassadors for a diverse workplace culture that trickles down through the company, those on the board should represent both the employees and the client base. Currently, if we are honest with ourselves; most boards consist of middle aged white men, hardly a reflection of the diverse global community.

A recent article in HR Review put this into perspective, “At the moment one in six of the working population in the UK is from an ethnic minority or non-white background. Collectively they boast a spending power of £300 billion, making it clear to see just how much a brand could lose if their recruitment process is not engaging and inclusive of all cultures and beliefs.”

Denise Keating, chief executive of the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion explains the issue further, “Unfortunately, the attack on predominately white middle aged men in boardrooms has only served to deepen their resolve – they don’t even have to overtly discriminate – just exclude people through their behaviours,” she said, “It is not enough to put one or two women non-executive directors on the board; there has to be a pipeline of diverse talent developed that will support executive positions on both executive committees and boards”.

Move away from HR Tick Boxes

Your policy may be well-intentioned, but is it genuine in its resolve? As Amir previously touched upon, diversity is so much more than a HR ‘to-do’ – it should be ingrained in the very essence of the business. For instance, a business that was authentic in its care and attention to creating an equal and diverse workforce would perhaps look at its working hours and spaces – are they too rigid to accommodate people from all walks of life?

In 2011, the Equality Human Rights Commission‘s Sex and Power survey reported that one of the greatest barriers to women being employed in senior roles was “outdated working patterns and inflexible organisations”. Let’s be very clear on this, there is absolutely no reason why a woman should fail from having a successful career in ANY position whilst being an attentive mother – unless you the employer are not removing the barriers.

Royal Mail offer themselves as a perfect example for this workforce transformation. Thanks to a government grant of £25,000 (plus a further £30,000 they added) they were able to renovate their shift systems to be covered with flexible working. They appointed 9 female and 8 male part time managers to work 16-24 hours over either 3 or 5 days, removing barriers that prevented parents from entering these positions.

When it comes to recruitment , ‘Big data’ has found a route in. There are a number of technology platforms that support blind recruiting and competency testing. Using a digital system that works to increase workplace diversity by anonymising the process, any ingrained biases can be side stepped – driving actionable change.

Embrace Apprenticeships

Offering apprenticeship schemes is a forward thinking way to start recruiting talent from a range of diverse backgrounds, whilst breeding new talent. Shockingly, currently only 9% of apprentice applicants come from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds.

If women and those from BAME are underrepresented within your business, how can you say that you have full access to the talent pool?

By implementing apprenticeships, you line your business with diverse talent and fresh motivation and are attacking the lack of diversity from both ends of the business. However barriers to these schemes from the supply side include lack of support, lack of mentors and direct/indirect discrimination.

This report goes into further details on the challenges around attracting diverse apprenticeship applicants.

Offer Mentoring Schemes

Whether you employ this solely within the business, or extend the practice to working with young people in schools or relevant schemes/foundations it will have a positive impact.

Mentoring schemes is an innovative offering that quickly become invaluable to a business and their potential to attract future talent. Mentors are able to guide and support their muses in a number of ways;

• Advise them when it comes to strategizing their future career moves
• Polish skills
• Encourage progression
• Broaden their horizons by exposing them to career choices they may not have previously considered
• Supporting aspirations on both a practical and emotional level
• Shapes candidates into effective leaders by indirectly teaching them to tap into others wisdom and implement it

In order to increase diversity, being guided by those who have already navigated through the waters is essential. This again underpins the fact that diversity must be approached at BOTH the board level and the lower rungs of the ladder, to those embarking on their careers. One way to do this is to look at creating a central role within the business to sit at board level that explicitly focuses tackling diversity, equality and inclusion. There have been numerous reports on the benefits of workplace diversity that include increased productivity, innovation resulting in higher growth but I think that the bigger picture has been overlooked. I put it to you that unemployment rates among women and BAME would significantly decrease if workplace culture and processes were combined to create the holistic energy needed to truly embrace diversity. Ultimately benefiting the economy as a whole and paving a way for the next generation.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Rebecca Moore .