5 Unfair Hiring Practices to Avoid to Increase Workplace Diversity - [Video Included]
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When it comes to inclusive hiring, many HR and/or recruitment articles focus on illegal hiring practices and how to avoid discrimination in recruitment, but today’s article pushes beyond this conversation. In this week’s article, I want to share some hiring practices that may not ALL be illegal, but they are inequitable and all help to preserve a hiring system designed to maintain underrepresentation of marginalized populations.
This article is based on classic video published on our Diversity Recruiter Central YouTube Channel: 5 Unfair Hiring Practices Diversity Recruiters Should Avoid.
Are you in a hurry and unable to watch the full video? Below is a summary for you:
Unfair Hiring Practice #1: Homogenous hiring. This refers to hiring a person like the person who just left the role. When was the last time you heard a hiring manager say, “hire someone just like [INSERT NAME].” If you continue to hire the same “type” of person to fill your positions, you will find yourself with a team who likely thinks alike and considers (or forgets to consider) the same things too. Also, as a bonus tip, be cautious of hiring for favoritism, cronyism, and/or nepotism.
Unfair Hiring Practice #2: Not making positions (that are open) visible to all employees. Can you recall a time where an announcement was published that someone received a promotion for a new role that was never posted? Opportunities should always be posted, and qualified employees should be able to apply to them and be assessed for them. When you do not post positions, it creates ambiguity in one’s ability to get a new opportunity.
Unfair Hiring Practice #3: Too many unnecessary qualifications listed in the job description. All basic qualifications listed in a role should be connected to the ability to deliver upon the essential functions of the role. That’s it. The more qualifications you add to a role, the smaller the candidate pool becomes. The smaller candidate pools are, the more likely it is to be less diverse.
Unfair Hiring Practice #4: No diversity within conversion programs. Lack of diversity in your talent pipeline programs converts to lack of diversity into your workplace. Conversion programs are where we take short term positions, like internships and contingent worker programs, and we convert individuals to regular full-time employees. Make sure to analyze the demographic data of these programs to ensure diversity. Don’t forget to do the same for your referral programs as well.
Unfair Hiring Practice #5: Using exclusionary job titles and descriptions. In addition to monitoring your qualifications (like in practice #3), also pay attention to the wording within your job description. When you are describing the role, avoid specifying that you are looking for only millennials or graduates from ivy league universities, for example. This can be discriminatory and can exclude a lot of populations who would have otherwise applied (and have been qualified) for this role.
According to a recent study at BCG, diverse companies report higher innovation revenue, by 45%!
Therefore, addressing these unfair hiring practices and focusing on increasing diversity and inclusion is crucial to positively impact competitive advantage and bottom line. Furthermore, when you implement diversity recruitment best practices, you move in the right direction to build a more inclusive workplace, decrease racial hiring discrimination, and enhance equal employment opportunity. The benefits are truly endless!
Share with us in the comments section: What hiring practices would you add to this list? What are you going to do today to make a difference in diversity recruitment?
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