Organisations need to employ a workforce that is reflective of the communities they work with. Unfortunately, many organisations have a traditional bias model where they recruit the same demographic over and over again, which prevents them from recruiting such diverse teams. Curbing these unconscious biases opens doors to unlimited possibilities aside from just ensuring fairness. In this blog, we will discuss about how removing bias can improve the recruitment process.
Understanding Bias in Recruitment
A common practice in most organisations is to have a biased approach towards recruitment that comes from preconceived ideas or preferences towards the new hires. For instance, personal beliefs can affect how job descriptions are written, resumes are selected, or interviews are conducted. Some of the well-known forms of bias are:
Affinity Bias: Giving priority to prospective employees who have similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences.
Confirmation Bias: Judging previously held beliefs and approaches as accurate while refusing to look at authentic evidence.
Gender or Racial Bias: Basing decisions on myths and stereotypes instead of relying on the abilities and skills of the employees.
This list is not exhaustive, but it does highlight some of the reasons organisations lack diverse thinking, whether due to intentional or unintentional biases.
Why Removing Bias Matters
1. Leveling the Play Field for Everyone
Every individual has the right to be presented without any preconceived notions and instead on the basis of their skills and experience. Eliminating bias from the process ensures that all candidates are judged solely on merit.
2. Fosters Variety in the Workforce
A diverse diverse workforce enhances creativity, innovation, and problem-solving capacity. A more open approach allows organisations to source talent from a broad range of cultures, allowing the team to tackle problems from various angles.
3. Promotes A Good Organisation Reputation
If an organisation practices fair and neutral recruitment, it becomes appealing to competent people who seek job opportunities. More and more people are seeking job offers from organisations that focus on having a more balanced workforce.
4. Increased Business Productivity
Research has repeatedly proven that diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams. Some of the main benefits are better decision-making, higher customer satisfaction, and more profit.
5. Reduced Legal and Ethical Threats
Biased recruitment practices can lead to discrimination lawsuits, which can damage the company’s image and result in penalties. The best and recommended way to ensure compliance with such practices is to adopt non-biased recruiting standards.
Guidelines to Balance Recruitment Processes
1. Adopt the Use of Structured Interviews
You must set some standard questions to help rate all applicants. This will reduce the chances of personal biases affecting the decision.
2. Use Anonymous Resumes
Anonymising resumes by deleting names, photographs, and addresses can limit gender, ethnicity, or social class biases.
3. Incorporating Technology
AI-enabled platforms can help scan resumes alongside matching candidates with job profiles based on their skills and qualifications. But, make sure that the algorithms have no embedded bias from the historical data.
4. Conducting Bias Training
Assist selection managers as well as recruitment teams in developing the potential to identify and mitigate unintended biases. Conducting routine training can create conscientiousness and foster inclusiveness.
5. Broadening the Recruiting Group
A broad recruitment team incorporates various views, which minimises the chances of vertical thinking.
6. Conducting a Review of Job Descriptions
Make sure that the job adverts are non-discriminatory and are devoid of anything that would be deemed feminine. Emphasise your support for DI by stating that you are trying to reach a greater audience.
Moving Ahead
Removing bias from the recruitment process is not just about doing the right thing. There is a fierce business argument for using diversity and innovation to gain a competitive edge.
Companies that advocate for diversity in recruitment are sending an important message to their employees, customers, and stakeholders that they are championing social justice. This is how an equal opportunity society is built so everyone has the chance to excel and warm the hopes of the business and society.
First and foremost, are you ready for performance-based gifted recruitment? If not, audit your processes and make adjustments where necessary to ensure neutrality and inclusion. You will see the impact.
