Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM AUGUST 2020 62 F or the average small business, diversity is a powerful factor, but when it comes to thinking about creating a more diverse workforce, it can seem overly complicated and littered with opportunities for missteps. In truth, systematically improving diversity for your business can be easier – and far more impactful – than you think. An inclusive company culture promotes innovation, reduced turnover and faster problem-solving. And as research from Mckinsey and Harvard points out, from a purely business perspective it can give you a powerful competitive advantage. Below are some simple tips for adapting your hiring process to support greater diversity in your organization, whether you're small and family- owned or a local powerhouse with multiple locations. • Be aware of your language: The language you use makes a big difference, and it's easy for job postings to contain language that invokes bias or might influence an applicant to look elsewhere. Taking time to remove bias from your job descriptions is an easy way to contribute to a less-skewed applicant pool. Job descriptions that are free of gender-specific wording have been proven to generate a much higher level of response from applicants. • Are you using gender-biased words? — Common words associated with masculinity: Dominate, workforce, lead, competitive, confident, outspoken, decisive, determined, drive — Common words associated with femininity: Supportive, collaborative, committed, cooperative, honest, understanding, loyal — Neutral words: Strong, sound, steady, steer, energize, inspire, pioneer, grow, thoughtful, trusted • Be proactive with recruitment: First, "always be hiring." By adopting this mindset, you ensure that your business will always have a diverse spread of applicants in the pipeline. But also make an effort to expand your recruitment strategy to include a wider range of locations, geographic areas, and schools with diverse enrollments. Making connections with trade schools, community colleges, and institutions beyond traditional four-year colleges can drastically improve the diversity of your applicant pool. • Collaborate with a diverse hiring team: Combat unconscious bias by diversifying your hiring team. Include leaders of different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and genders to help identify and overcome blind spots. Use a hiring tool that empowers collaboration to make communicating with your hiring team efficient and effective. • Achieve diversity through uniformity (of your process): Systems and processes that are well established within the hiring journey ensure that each candidate is walked through the same interview process, regardless of background. An applicant tracking system and hiring workflow will help you stay accountable to who is coming down the pipeline, and how their application is managed. • Cut back on "required" qualifications (but not your standards): Studies show that while men are likely to apply for jobs for which they meet 60% of the qualifications, women are much more likely to hesitate unless they meet 100% of the listed requirements. With this in mind, do you really need to include that laundry list of required qualifications? Cutting your requirements to the bare essentials will help ensure a more diverse blend of applicants. • Emphasize your company's commitment to diversity and inclusion: You don't have to be a major company making a bold public statement to remind applicants that diversity matters to you. Yet a tired old statement like "We are an equal opportunity employer" won't do you any favors. Consider customizing it to something more personal: "Our company is wholeheartedly committed to creating a diverse working environment and proudly does everything possible to ensure that we continue to be an equal opportunity employer. As you consider applying to work with us, we promise that every applicant will receive the same consideration and process regardless of race, religion, color, gender identity, veteran status, disability or sexual orientation." Read more at: www.savings4members.com/business/6-ways-to- encourage-greater-diversity-with-your-hiring-process. Please visit www.UnitedServicers.com for more information. This article is courtesy of our partner, Savings4Members. The Savings4Members team provides members across the country with access to business resources and tools focused on growth. To access your member benefits, visit www.myS4M.com/UASA. S E R V I C E D E P A R T M E N T RO 6 WAYS TO ENCOURAGE GREATER DIVERSITY WITH YOUR HIRING PROCESS

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