The Route to Diverse Hiring

Having been in recruitment for 9 years, I have seen the struggle to hire and retain people from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, my personal experience has shown me one of the major reasons why - the lack of diversity in HR departments themselves. 

I have always enjoyed being around people, especially people different from me, so choosing HR was an easy career choice. I believe that HR, alongside Exec Leadership, are the pillars of every company. The need for diversity of thought is important in leadership but even more so in HR. 

My career began in the financial services industry - I did a summer internship at age 18, and it was the start of a great journey until I reached Business Partner level. There was a clear difference in the effort taken to find an HR Administrative role in comparison to a Lead/Business Partner role. It was very easy for me to secure admin roles I wanted but when interviewing for roles with more seniority and responsibility, I struggled because I wasn’t given the opportunity. I was made to feel like I could only do junior positions. My interviewers were also rarely from diverse backgrounds. People from diverse backgrounds often face a challenge to reach the next level but at times the challenge to even be considered for an opportunity.

Despite not being an HR Business Partner, I often found that people of colour would come to me with their issues and not my white colleagues. While this doesn't seem right they were seeking out someone with whom they had a connection, whom they knew would understand. It is proof that representation matters in companies.

There are many reports on the slow progression of diversity and inclusion within the tech industry and it is simply not good enough. It is time to focus on accountability, focus on people and ultimately focus on what works. I believe many leaders still do not know what to do, so here are some questions to ask and ideas that will help guide your organisation down the correct path:

• What does your HR team look like?
• Are your HR Business Partners and recruiters from diverse social-economic backgrounds, different ethnicities, a range of ages, genders, abilities etc.? Focus on building a diverse HR team that reflects the kind of organisation you want to see – a capable smart integrated one.
• Make sure your recruiters are sourcing people from diverse backgrounds and enforce diverse interview panels instead of quotas. Make it a natural part of your recruitment process.
• Stop asking for current salary data and ensure your recruiters are only asking for salary expectations. People from diverse backgrounds are often underpaid, therefore stop using previous salaries to determine the right package - you already know the salary banding and market rate, let this be the baseline.
• Ensure that people in comparative roles are paid the same. Rewards for performance are a separate topic. Base salaries should be aligned. During the review process, you will find women are paid less - men do not hesitate to negotiate while women do. It is important the team responsible for agreeing offers does their research and ensures the package is fair and consistent with peers. This is something I learnt from my managers at the GSMA and I believe all HR departments should do it. It is a complex task but one that is needed to close pay gaps and build trust amongst staff. Gather data across all areas of diversity, on ethnicity and disability too, to ensure there are no hidden gaps. If you focus on gender only, you miss the pay challenges people of colour, sexual orientation and disabilities face.
• When in need of ideas, get people from the business involved. The work above is for HR to do, but the voice and face of diversity should be people from the business, your diversity leads and the HR team should not be working in silos. Make it a collective effort, make sure they know what the plans are and get them to do the talking, make them the project leads and reward them for it.

Unfortunately, this topic is treated and can be seen as a trend, a fluffy-nice-to-have but it is a very real issue. When people are overlooked for opportunities their finances are impacted, the life they want to offer their families remains a distant dream, and companies may lose talented and able but now disillusioned employees. 

If not much is changing, it is because you do not want it to. Be intentional with your hiring for 2020, and you will see results worth reporting on and a happy and loyal workforce. 

This article was written for Career Moves Group leadership quarterly newsletter.