Understanding Inclusive Recruitment

Wed, September 05, 2018

Inclusive recruitment is the process of attracting, selecting and appointing potential employees from the widest pool possible with due regard for diverse talent, accessibility, fairness and legislative requirements.

How do you define best hire? Why is the investment industry behind other sectors? Why is inclusive recruitment important? What are the barriers to recruiting from a diverse talent pool? How can you mitigate bias? You can request a copy of our white paper to find out more.

Why is inclusive recruitment important?

Legislation - whilst there is no onus the investment industry to adopt minimum standards around ensuring fairness for all by capturing diversity data for all Protected Characteristics (PC’s) it is felt it would be useful to change this position.Capturing a more diverse array of information will to inform what, when and where an inclusive recruitment strategy would be beneficial.
Diversity - tapping into new talent. The supportive data helps to inform a useful discussion around how the industry could look to adopt more innovative recruitment practices. Tracking data through of all stages of the process enables firms to diagnose challenges and create actions. Microsoft and IBM actively recruiting people who are autistic to ensure higher levels of neuro-diversity. What are the opportunities for the investment industry to do something similar?

Define. Develop. Inspire.

Recruiting from a broader pool requires careful planning and actions must connect to your overall diversity and inclusion strategy. Firms are trying to navigate how the ideal can be realised in practice. Of course balancing an ideal state against the real state is extremely complex and there is disconnect between organisational and stakeholder aspirations versus actual action. How can you navigate this imbalance?

Request a copy of our white paper and talk to us more about you can create your organisations inclusive recruitment ecosystem.

Matt Cameron, Managing Director - matt@theoceanpartnership.com

Peter M. Hall, Diversity & Inclusion Director - peter@theoceanpartnership.com

Are you An Inclusive Leader? Ocean's 10.

Decide if you are an inclusive leader by answering the following 10 questions:

Do you sponsor someone with high potential who is from a group currently under-represented in leadership to support them in realising their career aspirations?

Do you ask those you manage or lead for feedback on the impact of your style and approach in supporting them to perform well and/or progress their careers?

Do you know the different values and drivers that motivate those you manage or lead and do you leverage these to help improve performance?

Do you challenge others if their behaviour or actions do not support inclusion and diversity?

Are you aware of the stereotypes, assumptions and judgements you make about different groups (unconscious bias) and what you can do to minimise the potential negative impact of these?

Do you involve and encourage those you manage or lead to identify problems early on, come up with solutions and improvement ideas?

Does your team reflect diversity in its demographic make-up, background and perspectives and do you leverage this to avoid group think?

Are you clear how inclusion and diversity can help you meet your own and the wider organisation’s business goals?

Do you help those you manage or lead understand the bigger organisational and strategic picture and their role within this?

Do you mentor others, including women and people from minority backgrounds and check that your approach meets their specific needs?

D&I Metrics

What gets measured gets done. That is why we collect diversity metrics on both our candidates and clients in line with the Data Protection and Equality Acts. This allows us to identify areas requiring additional focus and also to measure progress across the industry. With biases prevalence through the employee lifecycle we actively utilize our diversity data to demonstrate where barriers exist and to create solutions to overcome them.