16.04.2019

Three quick changes you can make now to boost diversity

By Alexandra Anders, Talent Director at Cornerstone OnDemand

Thousands of British firms rushed to publish their gender pay gap figures this April and the results showed that almost eight in 10 UK firms were found to pay men significantly more than women and the overall gender pay gap amongst UK firms widened compared to last year.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to diversity and equality. In fact, a recent survey from Cornerstone OnDemand pointed out that only 25% of organisations included diversity in their top three priorities when recruiting. It’s clear that companies aren’t doing enough to induce equality and diversity in the workplace.

A diverse workforce can bring fresh thinking to an organisation. It can provide a new perspective on topics that can benefit the business as a whole, as well as open the minds of those who have been stuck in traditional ways of working. So, what practical steps can companies take to ensure that they’re building and, more importantly, maintaining a diverse workforce?

Scrutinise the way you present yourself to a candidate

Recruiting adverts and applications forms are the first contact a candidate will have with their future employer, so it’s important that your organisation is presented as an inclusive workplace.

For example, does the language show true opportunities for an inclusive atmosphere, or do you just have the same statement about equal opportunities within each application form? Stating points like specific education qualifications might be a desirable attribute from a candidate, but requesting them on job applications makes the company look like they only consider a specific pool of candidates.

To help you decide whether you’ve got the right messaging, get some external perspectives, ideally from contacts with diverse backgrounds. Ask them to be critical or simply get them to describe the type of organisation they think you are when reading your ads and application forms. Then you can decide if this rings true.

Decide pay based on job function, not what a candidate may be satisfied with

The problem with the gender pay gap reports is that many companies will publish them, make a statement about addressing it and then think that’s the job done. To truly address a pay gap, you need to make tough decisions which can impact short term retention of staff but will set your standard long term.

For example, if you have a male candidate who asks for £90K per year and a woman who asks for £40K per year, but both of them are happy with those respective salaries – should your company accept that? If you do, there will always be a pay gap between those two people as they work and grow, so it’s better to review the appropriate pay for that job function and level.

Train to change

Changing the way you attract a more diverse workforce is just the first step, when you start building this workforce you’ve got to retain them and part of that comes down to training. Managers who might have previously worked in male-dominated teams, for example, may not have experience in dealing with diversity and inclusion issues before and it’s up to the HR departments to take into account managers’ previous experiences and proactively push to change their current mindset on diversity.

There are huge opportunities to be had from building a happy and diverse workforce. It’s important to remember that it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Start with the small changes first and ensure that you document your progress and let the rest of the company know your plans so that you can all tackle diversity together.

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