Diversity in hourly recruitment is essential for business. It impacts both the ethical and business aspects of an organization. A workforce made of individuals from various backgrounds brings a wide range of perspectives and ideas and allows for creativity and innovation, as employees are exposed to different viewpoints and problem-solving approaches.
While having a more diverse team is part of a company's ethical and social responsibility, it can also improve the happiness of other employees, lead to better decision-making, and have great financial benefits. However, sometimes onboarding a more diverse team is easier said than done. Many people are filled with personal biases whether or not they are aware of it, and oftentimes this has an impact on who companies hire. Luckily, with automated recruitment technology, companies are able to remove most of these biases and create a more diverse candidate pool.
Introduction to Diversity in Hourly Recruitment
There are many key factors for diversity in hourly recruitment. Diversity in hourly recruitment means attracting and retaining diverse talent and recruiting talent based on their skillsets, not any external biases. This is crucial for modern businesses. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, workplace diversity has nine dimensions. The two primary dimensions are gender and nationality. Below that are age, marital and parental status, and native language. The last four dimensions are disability, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and gender identity.
Having a diverse workforce comes with many benefits, including enhanced creativity, better problem-solving, and improved company reputation. Studies have also found that having more diversity in a company increases the likelihood of bringing in above-average profits, and improves retention, employee engagement, and innovation.
Additionally, diversity helps companies better understand and serve a wider range of customers. This drives market growth and allows for more effective marketing strategies. A diverse team can also attract top talent from different backgrounds because many employees are often drawn to inclusive workplaces. Overall, companies with diverse workforces are more likely to adapt to global markets and changing demographics. This helps companies achieve more long-term business sustainability and success.
The Role of Technology in Promoting Diversity
Technology plays a large role in promoting diversity. One major way is through automated recruitment systems. This is because even if it is unconscious, hiring biases often still do take place. Automated recruitment systems help reduce this bias by standardizing the screening process and focusing on candidates' skills and qualifications rather than their backgrounds.
Algorithms for recruitment automation make pain points like diversity easier to address. Unlike with manual evaluations, there is no chance for biases to creep in. Instead, all candidates are looked at based directly on their skills, qualifications, and other factors, such as location and availability, that would make them a good match for the company. Automated recruitment systems quickly perform skill matching without biases. These systems automatically sift through candidates to identify the most qualified talent for open positions. This gives recruiters the information they need quickly to make better-informed hiring decisions based strictly on data and candidates' skill sets.
Advanced Candidate Sourcing Tools
Automated recruitment technology can be used to access a broader and more diverse candidate pool. Programmatic algorithms have the ability to analyze large amounts of data in order to strategically position job advertisements where they have the highest chance of reaching a wide range of candidates. These algorithms can focus on specific demographics, locations, and online communities that may not be well-represented in traditional hiring methods. For instance, ad algorithms can identify specialized job boards, social media platforms, or online forums that are frequently visited by diverse talent pools and make sure the job postings are on these platforms.
Because automated recruitment is online, it also enables hiring staff to reach a broader geographic area. This, in turn, helps them reach more diverse demographics. Even for non-remote work, recruitment platforms are often accessible by phone and can help rake in a larger candidate pool because of their more easily accessible application process. Some applicants from lower income areas may not have regular access to a computer system, and having job opportunities that can be applied to from a mobile device can help reach those candidates. Additionally, advanced analytics tools can help track and analyze the diversity of candidate pools during the hiring process. This data can provide insights into recruitment patterns and challenges, enabling organizations to make data-driven decisions to enhance diversity hiring as well as meeting compliance best practices.
Blind Hiring Features
To make sure the hiring process is as fair as possible, recruitment software supports blind hiring processes. These hiring processes can make candidate information, such as names, gender, age, and ethnicity, anonymous. “Blind auditions” to remove subconscious biases and promote more equal opportunities for candidates.
Blind hiring features work by singling out information in job applications and resumes that could potentially lead to biases in their hiring. These pieces of information are then removed before review so that certain groups are not unfairly favored over others. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, some often overlooked unconscious biases include name, address, dates for educational milestones, hobbies or interests, volunteer work, and the name of the candidate's college. For example, studies have shown that names that are “black-sounding” often get fewer callbacks than those that are “white-sounding.”
An address can also be traced to the general income of the area. Dates indicate the age of the person, interests or hobbies could also indicate age or religion, and volunteer work could show religion, race, or political affiliation. Using a blind hiring process helps eliminate these often overlooked biases. By encouraging a diverse working environment, companies drive innovation and enrich their company culture. It also allows them to maintain regulatory standards and protect their company’s identity more easily.
Data-Driven Decision Making
Data collection through automated systems can help companies get a better understanding of their current hiring practices and find areas where they can improve to enhance their diversity. Digital recruitment methods are backed by a lot of key data, including proprietary insights, real-time data analytics, predictive analytics, candidate qualification and recruiter performance insights, and workforce predictability.
The data-driven insights of automated recruitment systems offer clear ideas of the number of candidates needed for hire, budget, campaign effectiveness, response rates, candidate conversion times, and more. These analytics also help companies get a more in-depth view of what takes place at each stage of their pipeline and offer insights into where adjustments can be made to their recruitment strategy to improve diversity. Key metrics like campaign performance, response rates, and candidate conversion times are all tracked to better meet hiring goals.
Recruitment automation also comes with built-in compliance and regulation features. According to the Pew Research Center, about 61% of businesses have Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies for hiring, pay, or promotions. Recruitment automation ensures the hiring process follows those policies. This helps companies ensure they are adhering to legal requirements and industry standards. With these more inclusive hiring practices, factors like biases and nepotism can be avoided altogether.
Improving Accessibility
Mobile recruitment solutions ensure that job postings are accessible to a wider range of applicants, including those with disabilities. Recruitment automation works with mobile-optimized applications and websites making it easier for those without computer access and giving more convenient application options. For example, at AppyHere, we offer a user-friendly mobile app that allows candidates to create profiles and apply for jobs in less than two minutes. We help match applicants with jobs in retail, transportation, warehousing and distribution, food service, logistics, manufacturing, and more.
Every application submitted receives fast, real-time updates. Additionally, the platform offers easy-to-use communication channels and allows for in-app interviews for both employer and candidate convenience. This is a huge advantage to organizations with high-volume and hourly recruiting. These accessibility features allow candidates to have more opportunities than ever before while also giving employers a greater reach to a more diverse population.
Improving Diversity with Recruitment Automation
Using technology to enhance diversity in hourly recruitment brings many benefits. Automated systems reduce biases by focusing on candidates' skills and qualifications, standardizing the screening process, and ensuring compliance with legal and industry standards. Advanced candidate sourcing tools also expand the reach to diverse talent pools, while blind hiring features remove identifying information that could lead to unconscious biases.
Recruitment automation is all backed by data-driven insights. Data-driven decision-making provides insights into recruitment practices and highlights areas for improvement, helping companies create a more inclusive hiring process. Ultimately, mobile recruitment solutions improve accessibility, making it easier for a wider range of candidates to apply.
By integrating recruitment automation tools like AppyHere, HR professionals and business leaders can achieve more inclusive hiring results. Creating a more diverse workforce drives innovation, enhances creativity, and improves the company's reputation. Embracing these technologies not only helps meet diversity goals but also supports a fairer and more effective recruitment process. Talk with one of our experts today for more information!
