Monthly DEI Tip: Incorporating DEI while hiring

Written by Jeannine Watanabe, Director of Network Operations at Cox Communications

As a hiring manager and leader, have you ever stayed up at night thinking about how to hire the right people to improve your business results? You are not alone. The worst thing any leader can do is hire people just like them-look like them, who are from the same background, have the same assumptions and biases, or possess the exact same skill sets. You may click with them during conversations, but will they challenge ideas or provide a different view on challenges that arise? Probably not.

To be successful in your business, you need to create psychological safety, where people are willing to speak up, thus encouraging a free flow of ideas to resolve the challenge that faces your team at that moment.

According to a survey by Glassdoor, “more than 3 in 4 employees and job seekers (76%) report a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers.” And, “about 1 in 3 employees and job seekers (32%) would not apply to a job at a company where there is a lack of diversity among its workforce.”

As you think about diversity, equity, and inclusion in your hiring, here are some points to consider:

• Do you have a culture where people feel safe to speak up and can be their authentic selves?  If not you risk missing the diversity in thought that you intentionally hired for.  One idea is to have brainstorming sessions where no idea is off the table and then work collectively towards a solution.
• Do you have diversity on your interview panel? If people see someone who they can relate to from a similar background, the candidate will feel they can be successful in your organization.
• Do you use standard questions for all candidates for a specific role and track the results of their answers in a spreadsheet? If so, you can look across the interview panel to see if there may be bias towards certain candidates based on diversity.
• Evaluate your job description for biases, including gender. The use of “he” versus “the candidate.” Or does a leadership candidate need to lift 80 pounds, or has that just been a requirement that has been in the job description for years and needs to be reviewed prior to posting?
• Consider removing candidate’s names from resumes as you share them with your hiring managers and identifying them with numbers or letters. Ethnic names on resumes traditionally get fewer callbacks and interviews.
• Have you joined community organizations or charitable organizations to broaden your view and relationships with people within your community to look for new avenues to bring talent into your organization? Or mentored at local colleges or joined their recruiting days to share information about your company to pull in younger employees?

As employee attrition is on the rise, it has serious impacts on your core business; training people you have hired is expensive. It takes about 6 months to get a person up to speed in their new role, and it also costs time for your current employees who are helping to train them. As rushed as it feels to hire someone, it is best to pause, take a deep breath and ensure that you find the best candidate possible.