A quick summary:
Last week we held our July event for the Wellness Warriors at Work community on “How to attract and retain diverse talent”. Our panelists, Jenna Follett (EMEA & APAC Head of Talent Acquisition at Bloomberg), Emily Wood (Chief of Staff at Talis Capital) and Amanda Watton (EMEA Recruitment Manager at Yext) shared their experiences and advice on this topic. These are only some of the valuable takeaways from the session, as well as the tools which the panelists recommended.
What role do employee benefits play in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce?
It is necessary to offer diverse benefits to retain diverse talent, as there is no one size fits all. Parental leave, for example, has traditionally been associated with maternity leave only, while it should also consider same-sex marriages, adoption leave, etc. It is also important for employee wellness benefits to be integrated within the working day, given that anything that requires additional time may discourage diversity, as people have different responsibilities and availability based on their families (eg. need to care for children) and/ or religion (eg. sabbath norms).
How can we ensure diversity is central to our recruitment approach?
This often requires long-term investment to build relationships with the right talent pools and it is important to widen the funnel and expand the audience you reach. LinkedIn, for instance, has its limitations, as any recruitment advert is likely to reach people in your circle only, with a similar demographic (try this: ask hiring managers to go into their LinkedIn profile and look at their contacts- they’ll soon recognise a commonality in their connections). Another way of ensuring diversity is central to your recruitment approach is to encourage everyone in the organisation to question the hiring process and have a voice to change things that are not fully inclusive.
What has been the impact of COVID on inclusion and diversity at the workplace?
Covid has had a mixed impact on diversity at the workplace. On one hand, it has reduced the diversity in talent pools, as it restricted travel, visas and mobilisation in general. On the other hand, Covid has led to widespread remote working, which makes it feasible for certain companies and industries to recruit global talent.
How can global leaders create inclusive teams when managing across countries?
The most important thing is for leaders to try to consider, as best as they can, what the situation/circumstances are for each of their employees (including the current covid restrictions at their location). This can be done by getting to know the team closely, asking questions, checking in, building trust and importantly, taking part in leadership training. Simply being available and being open to hearing people’s different opinions will encourage employees to voice their opinions and start creating a more inclusive culture.
Tools mentioned:
- Textio app: Scans content such as job posts, email, career sites, etc. to ensure they are inclusive
- LinkedIn Talent Insights
- Applied: Helps overcome systemic biases and uses data to predict the best candidates.
Topics discussed:
- What role do employee benefits play in attracting and retaining a diverse workforce?
- What are some of the main challenges you’ve faced in recruiting diverse talent?
- How can we ensure diversity is central to our recruitment approach?
- What has been the impact of COVID on inclusion and diversity at the workplace?
- How can global leaders create inclusive teams when managing across countries?
- What can individual employees in the company do to encourage diversity? How can leaders facilitate this?
- What role does social mobility play in enabling diversity?
- How can we measure and monitor diversity at the workplace?
To get access to the event recording, click here.
To attend a live event and have the opportunity to ask questions and network with like-minded professionals, register for one of our upcoming sessions here.
About Heka events:
Heka is on a mission to make employees feel valued and we know that organisational change starts at the top. This is why we’ve created the Wellness Warriors at Work community, the UK’s first professional community providing the tools, knowledge and inspiration to human-focused leaders who prioritise employee health and wellbeing.
Our monthly events are part of our efforts to change the narrative of traditional, “box-ticking” benefits, and truly start inspiring happier, healthier humans.
