The role of human resources in promoting diversity hiring practices

Hiring Diversity

Introduction
There are many reasons why any organization should want to hire for diversity. There are commonly cited reasons, such as those companies that sell to consumers benefit from having people in the company who mirror the target market, as this makes it easier to sell to a variety of different audiences. The underlying logic of that alone makes sense when applied more broadly because the core concept is that a diverse staff has a diverse range of opinions, views, and experiences. Diversity of thought allows ideas to be surfaced that might not be surfaced in a monochrome company. Further, these ideas are given a meaningful voice, because instead of being the view of one outsider, the organization is adapted to hearing different and unique views. Such approaches reduce groupthink and allow ideas to be vetted more effectively.
There is another reason why hiring for diversity matters, and that is a more pragmatic one. There is only so much talent to go around. Unemployment is presently at very low levels, and for many skilled roles, finding quality candidates can be downright impossible. In any company where human capital plays a critical role in the organization’s success – which is to say, all of them – then no stone should be left unturned in the quest for talent. To find the best people, attract them, and retain them, it is important that human resources departments do not rule out any candidate simply because they appear on the surface to be an unconventional candidate. Hiring for diversity, when done well, serves to eliminate the conscious and unconscious biases that govern hiring practices, and replace them with a model that accepts unconventional candidates for the skills and attributes that they bring. Diversity is not about filling quotas; it’s about removing biases from hiring so that the best possible candidates are not only hired, but feel comfortable in applying in the first place.
Human resources departments essentially serve as gatekeepers for diversity hiring, because they design the systems for attracting talent, and because it is their job to learn about the biases that govern hiring practices. In a perfect world, all hiring managers would understand these issues, but this is not a perfect world, and HR must serve as an effective check on hiring managers, interjecting their expertise into the hiring process wherever possible, to ensure that diversity issues are integrated into the hiring practices, regardless of whoever the hiring manager is (Villegas, et al, 2019).
Human resources departments end up being the subject matter experts who can inform hiring managers, as those tend to be the people with the final say on hiring decisions. Furthermore, the human resources department as an educator for hiring managers is in a valuable role because once somebody is hired, if there are any issues or accommodations, HR’s role in educating hiring managers can help the managers to integrate the new hire into the team, rather than have them be as an outsider. In many cases, this might not be necessary, but there are definitely situations where it might be, and somebody with the skills to do the job does not last. Hiring for diversity, after all, is a critical step but it is not the only step. Being able to retain employees, and help them to thrive also matters. Diversity Recruiting Diversity recruiting is defined as the practice of recruiting via practices that seek to eliminate biases. By and large, diversity recruiting is considered to be an active process, meaning that it will not happen in a passive way. Diversity recruiting is the result of understanding how biases influence recruiting and hiring at all stages of the talent acquisition process, and structuring the process specifically to eliminating those biases.
There are several components to diversity recruiting. First, the company needs to look for candidates in the places where those candidates are looking for work. It is often natural for an HR department to assume that everybody looks for work in the same way, or to hire only via certain channels that are convenient. But it is important for the HR department to analyze whether these channels and means of recruiting are truly giving them access to a diverse group of people.
The recruiting process also has to take into account different variables that might create a bias in terms of who applies. For example, stating upfront that the company has a specific diversity hiring policy is important, but in a world where most companies say this, it is important to be able to showcase this. If your “Leadership” page on the company website is populated exclusively with fifty-something white males, a lot of people will get the impression that the company might not be as committed to diversity as it claims to be, especially if it is in an industry that has a reputation for lacking diversity.
Hiring processes that require considerable time and expenditure for candidates might needlessly exclude candidates who are from more disadvantaged groups. It might be understandable that somebody who is being considered for an executive role can afford to fly to corporate HQ for an in-person meeting, but that is not everybody’s reality. Another example would be a hiring practice that involves in-person, video or other visual contacts too early in the process. Biases can definitely creep into the process in this way, before the candidate has been given due time to prove themselves. Indeed, it may be beneficial to leave names off of resumes submitted to hiring managers to avoid any unconscious biases, and even years of things like graduation to avoid age bias. A company in a state that has at-will employment could miss out on candidates who simply cannot afford the insecurity that comes with the company having the right to dismiss them at any time for any reason.
Company policies can influence whether certain candidates might apply. A company that does not expressly have a policy about religious headgear could find themselves attracting fewer Muslim, Jewish or Sikh candidates, for example. Companies that wear their religion openly (Chick Fil A being one example) might be limiting their candidate pool to those who have socially conservative values, and this could end up being a detriment to the company. Founders, owners, and CEOs have in many cases expressed views that made their companies toxic to some potential employees. To use an example that is not in contravention of any law, the found of lululemon once stated that their clothes aren’t made for certain body types, needlessly discouraging overweight candidates from applying. It was an utterly pointless statement, but could easily have cost the company access to exceptional senior talent.
Thus, diversity recruiting benefits from having a diverse group of people working in human resources, who can understand some of the issues and triggers that might influence the company’s employer brand. This is something a lot of potential employees look for, especially good ones who want a place where they can grow and thrive. Attention to detail on the culture, on advancement opportunities, Even specific wording during the recruitment process about “pro-global diversity values” have an influence on perceived person-organization fit, organizational attractiveness and job pursuit intentions (Gully, Phillips & Castellano, 2017).
By understanding what diverse candidates look for in an organization, HR is in an advantageous position to put those things into place. It’s not just about words on the company website. There are many things, whether it is setting up accommodations for persons with disabilities, or building out mentorship programs for women and minorities, that a human resources department can do in order to better attract diverse candidates, and then to ensure that not only remain with the company but thrive.
There is also the organizational culture that matters in those terms. A lot of candidates only have superficial access to the corporate culture during the application process. If they know somebody within the company they can gain greater insight, but if they do not then they only have the company’s social media accounts, Glassdoor reviews and website, and two of those three are really just controlled by the marketing department. That can actually be a plus if HR engages the marketing department in creating an employer brand. In doing that, they can leverage the expertise of trained communicators to ensure that the intended audience receives the intended message. If HR trains the marketing team on what they need to do in order to build an employer brand, such an initiative could fully support hiring a more diverse team.
Furthermore, if diversity is baked into the core values of the company, then candidates are likely to see that and respond favorably. HR can ensure that its voice is heard and that it contributes to creating a culture that fully supports a diverse environment. If diversity is not among the stated core values, it will be more difficult to convey any diversity message to candidates – it might seem disingenuous if the diversity message does not come from the highest levels of the company. Building Diverse Talent Pipelines One of the issues that most companies will state they struggle with is that there aren’t enough good candidates to go around, and therefore they take talent when they find it. The reality, however, is that they don’t always know where to look for talent, and underrepresented communities are often given fewer opportunities. Yet, there is raw potential in those workforces, and companies that can successfully tap into that potential will have an easier time finding managerial and executive talent later on.
Part of the process begins with the job ads themselves. As noted above, language that specifically includes and promotes the company’s diversity strategy is more likely to positively influence job application intentions, among everybody but especially among underrepresented communities. Audits of job postings can be carried out by somebody who is specially trained in diversity in order to examine the language to ensure that it is fully inclusive and that there is nothing in the posting that might convince somebody not to apply. A person from a given community might actually be in the best position to do this, knowing what sorts of language that the community responds to, and in what way. There is also the issue of where jobs are posted. In marketing, it is known that when you want to sell something to somebody, you have to go where they are. The same holds true for recruiting. As an example, if a company makes a point to recruit at a historically black and women’s college, it will attract more candidates from those groups than a company that ignores recruiting at such institutions. Even when doing college recruiting, the demographic makeup of the people doing the recruiting makes a difference as well – it should reflect the workforce that the company wants to have, rather than the one it does.
In many cases, there are programs and community groups that seek to help members of those communities to find work opportunities and those community groups can serve as important intermediaries. For example, a talented high schooler from a poor family might have some decent computer programming skills but not have money for college nor the sorts of connections that would get them into a good company. Companies that work with intermediary groups can gain access to such talent. In that sense, hiring for diversity in underrepresented groups can often by a process where the company is actively searching, rather than passively waiting for the candidates to apply.
Internal recruiting is another way that many companies hire, but in that case, internal referrals are often similar to the people who are doing the referring, as they naturally travel in the same circles. Still, there is a role to play using internal referrals to build a more diverse workforce. Employees already with the company are far more likely to recommend it as a place to work, and if the current employees are able to convey to their circles of friends and acquaintances that the company has a strong commitment to diversity and the sort of environment where anybody can thrive, that is a message that will resonate. It is also worth remembering that whatever employees are saying to their friends and acquaintances is the same thing they’ll be saying on LinkedIn and Glassdoor, so the same strategy the company uses to gain internal referrals is going to have impacts elsewhere on the recruiting process as well.
Another area of interest is in building the internal talent pipeline. For example, suppose an underrepresented community lacks quality candidates for managerial roles. But suppose that the same community can provide raw talent in entry-level positions. Recruiting from that community for entry-level positions might allow more people from that community to build careers. Companies that provide training and education to entry-level workers are more likely to build an internal pipeline where somebody might not be especially well-qualified when they first apply, but eventually, their talent is given an opportunity to showcase itself, and down the road, the company has far more members of underrepresented groups in management roles than it otherwise would have had, not because they worked harder to find these people, but because they worked harder to develop them. Candidates with Disabilities Discrimination against candidates on the basis of disabilities is governed by the Americans with Disabilities Act, which forbids outright discrimination and governs things like what constitutes a reasonable accommodation. Companies that understand some of the issues that people with disabilities face are more likely to handle accommodations easily, and therefore be more open to such candidates. An example might be a company that has its office in a heritage building that is not especially wheelchair accessible – or it would be impossible for a wheelchair-bound employee to exit in event of a fire. If that company has a work from home policy, that employee might need to spend little time in the office, a reasonable accommodation. Without the work from home policy, that employee would not even apply. The same can be said for employees who might need more time off for medical reasons – if policies are rigid with respect to working hours, but don’t need to be, then the company is doing itself and the prospective employees a disservice.
There are also emerging issues where employees with disabilities are concerned. One issue that has been identified is the proliferation of personality testing. Studies have shown that because normative personality and personality disorders exist on a continuum that the use of standard personality tests can rule out otherwise high-quality candidates, simply for not fitting into a narrow interpretation of normative personality (Melson et al, 2019).
One of the best ways to signal that a company is willing to make accommodations for disabled job candidates is that they will signal this by making accommodations for disabled customers. Starbucks has deaf-friendly stores, for example, and that sends a message of their inclusiveness that the deaf community will recognize even if others do not. Advertising can be another means of communicating this as well – if a company advertised with a deaf couple and subtitles that would send a clear message to all disabled communities about a commitment to inclusiveness because the company is willing to take risks to showcase this.
The same strategy that is utilized with underrepresented groups can also make a difference with disabled groups. There is a substantial employment gap for people with disabilities, and that employment gap can mean that there are fewer quality candidates, and that when someone who is disabled is hired they are hired at a lower level because they don’t have the same experience. By providing specific training, mentorship and other pathways to growth that are specifically targeted to people with disabilities, a company can create an environment where they aren’t just relying on their ability to recruit talent, but they are grooming it as well, creating a virtuous cycle where more people with disabilities are attracted to work for the company.
Highly visible programs can also be of value. JP Morgan’s Autism at Work program is a good example of this, not just for the fact that it creates opportunities for a group that might otherwise not have them, but it also sends a clear signal to all groups that the company is willing and putting resources into creating an environment where people with disabilities can flourish. Initiatives like this are definitely noticed by the communities that are most affected by them, again, even when the initiatives are otherwise not noticed by people in the mainstream of society.
Recruitment methods that are specific would include developing specific accommodations for the more common conditions, and then ensuring that HR personnel adequately train hiring managers on those accommodations. In many cases, a hiring manager might simply prefer to overlook a person with disabilities on the thought that the person would be more trouble than an equivalent candidate without a disability. One of the important roles that HR can play is to show how that is not the case, and there is no added burden or cost to hiring someone with a disability. This goes back to the role that human resources plays in training hiring managers and helping them to remove bias from their hiring practice. Felon-Friendly Employers There are significant employment barriers for persons with criminal histories. For those individuals, such problems are perpetuating, in that without access to meaningful employment, they will never be able to fully re-integrate into society. While some persons with criminal histories are not truly reformed, many are and can prove to be a valuable source of talent for companies.
Criminal justice reform is starting to work with the idea that once somebody has exited the criminal justice system, not only have they “served their debt to society” but that they should be put in the best possible situation to succeed. Recidivism rates are lower for ex-cons who are given some sort of job training while incarcerated, but would be higher still if felons were able to attain gainful employment and build careers. This is especially true of people who were incarcerated at a young age, and have matured. Yet, most hiring managers have indicated that they would not hire a person with a criminal background, for example citing an increased likelihood of workplace violence or other criminal activity; in other words a belief that the person has not been effectively rehabilitated (Mosley, 2019).
For people working on helping felons gain employment, there are a number of tactics and proposals in place. One is generating a certificate of rehabilitation that would demonstrate to potential employers that somebody has rehabilitated and is unlikely to re-offend, directly challenging the common perception that the individual will be of increased risk to re-offend (Rich, 2016).
One of the proposals in place is “ban the box”, meaning that many job applications will have a checkbox that asks if someone has been convicted of a criminal offense (Reed, 2016). Ban the box initiatives seek to eliminate that question upfront, allowing the candidate to be evaluated on their merits first and foremost. Ban the box might not do enough, in the sense that it might not eliminate the bias that hiring managers have, but it is a starting point, especially because that box might rule out a perfectly good candidate on the basis of some offense in the distant past, or some offense that was not that serious. A good example would be somebody who served time for a cannabis-related offense, which may have been a violation of the law but is an act that is actually legal in many states and probably does not harm anybody.
From the perspective of a human resources department, knowing that many hiring managers have biases that would prohibit them from ever hiring a person with a criminal history creates an opportunity. HR departments should take the chance to create a clear and set policy on the matter. For example, it might define things like types of crimes, or how long ago the offense was committed, in order to provide some guidance for hiring managers. Such a policy would obviously be better than not having one, but would still provide hiring managers the discretion to avoid candidates who committed serious crimes, or who might not have been re-habilitated.
Human resources departments can also take the lead in screening applications, and being the filter for the application of the policy. This may not work as well as intended, but it remains an option that the HR department can let candidates whose crimes were long ago, or minor, get through and then not inform the hiring manager until much later, when the candidate has been evaluated on the basis of their actual skills, abilities, and knowledge.
Furthermore, HR leaders can play a role in working with the different stakeholders in the criminal justice system to identify what they might need to convince them to hire more ex-cons. In some cases, this might be financial incentives to offset the theoretically higher risk that the company would face. In other instances, it might be something like the federal certificate of rehabilitation. It is also possible that the HR department simply wants to see a greater emphasis on skills training. It might say, for example, that it can hire felons for certain jobs, and that correctional institutions should focus their efforts on delivering those particular skills. Making sure that the skills felons exit the correctional system with are the same ones that employers would hire them for is important. Hiring Veterans Hiring veterans is another area where HR departments can contribute positively. Often, a company needs to prioritize the hiring of veterans in order to provide opportunities for veterans to re-enter the workforce when their service is finished. Sometimes, these tactics align with other tactics, like being better equipped to accommodate disabilities, with which veterans will have a disproportionate amount. In other instances, investing in mental health services might allow a company to get the most out of veteran workers, or minimize perceived risk.
There are certainly exceptions. FedEx was founded by a Marine who served in Vietnam and has always had a progressive policy towards hiring veterans as a result. Veterans know this and seek out companies that have an understanding of their needs at the highest level. For other companies, the role of communicating a willingness to hire veterans is something that should come from HR. The Human Resources department will be in a better position not just to understand and accommodate the needs of veterans. The company can, for example, advertise positions in media that veterans consume, and through their different organizations.
One of the issues that contributes to a higher level of veteran unemployment is the perceived fit between the skills that a veteran has and the skills that are needed in the private sector. Furthermore, there are often concerns about organizational culture fit that can harm a veteran’s employment chances (Stone & Stone, 2015).
To overcome this barrier to veteran employment, one of the tactics a Human Resource department can undertake is to become more trained and educated in the transferability of skills from the military to civilian employment. Many civilian HR practitioners are unaware of the diverse array of skills that military personnel acquires, and as such underrate ex-military candidates in terms of their abilities. Having greater knowledge of what people do in their military roles will definitely help HR to find the best fits for ex-military personnel (Davis & Minnis, 2016).
In addition, HR departments should ensure that they are trained to inquire about a candidate’s military experience. Even if they did not learn specific transferable skills, they might have gained valuable leadership experience, management skills, and other soft skills that could otherwise be overlooked. Plus, the ability to learn, to follow instructions and to fit in with a team are attributes that are important for one in any workplace, civilian or otherwise. For an HR practitioner looking for a specific employment pathway in the civilian world, it is important to be able to translate a military service record to equivalent skills in the civilian world.
As with other groups, HR can also ensure that its messaging is tailored to attract the military audience. Personnel who have experienced bias before might be wary unless a company specifically signals that it wants military personnel. For example, in a company where organizational culture fit is a huge concern, ex-military are unlikely to be hired, but that ends up perpetuating the culture fit, rather than encouraging diversity. A company that specifically encourages diversity is more likely to be accepting of other viewpoints and other life experiences. By accommodating for those and specifically stating a desire to hire ex-military, in addition to having trained HR practitioners who are equipped to translate military experience into civilian equivalent skills and attributes, there is a much greater chance of appealing to the military market for labor.
Many hiring managers have particular prejudices about military personnel, so there is a role for HR in either dispelling the falsehoods or when the prejudices are founded in reality, encouraging hiring managers that the company has means of mitigating any downside risk. Hiring managers need to be trained by human resources. For example, if a hiring manager expresses concern that military-style leadership experience is not transferable to a company where decisions are made collectively, the hiring manager can start to unpack that issue. In that sense, the Human Resources department is in a position to work with hiring managers to dispel some of their biases and work with them to integrate ex-military. Just because somebody comes from one type of organization does not mean that they would be a poor fit in another type of organization.
By tapping into the labor pool of veterans, a company does itself a favor, too. As with other diversity initiatives, it can be evaluated from a strictly selfish perspective that in condition s of a tight labor market, tapping into diverse pools of labor will ultimately strengthen the company. From a social justice perspective, of course, the benefits are as with any diversity initiative. By providing an opportunity to people who might otherwise not have it, the organization would be strengthening not only itself but all of society. Conclusions There are many things that human resources departments can do in order to encourage diversity within their organizations. The value of diversity is well-known and documented in dozens of studies, so the first thing HR can do is to communicate the benefits of diversity to all of the senior leaders throughout the company. This puts diversity on the radar and lends it a business case as well. Having a business case can be quite powerful because once senior leadership buy-in occurs, HR will have a mandate to utilize resources in the service of building a more diverse organization. Furthermore, diversity can be put on the list of core values of the organization, formalizing its value for everybody in the company, including the hiring managers who might otherwise be challenged by some of diversity’s precepts.
A key role that HR plays in terms of diversity is with training, as the department is in the right position to train hiring managers about diversity issues. There are many different groups that can fall under the category of diversity, and each has its own unique requirements. The training role that HR plays can ensure that hiring managers are able to understand what those are, and know that the organization is committed to eliminating those barriers. Knowing that diversity is viewed as a core value and that HR is committed to helping alleviate the fears, irrational biases and barriers for the hiring managers go a long way to getting hiring manager buy-in.
HR also designs the means by which candidates are attracted to the organization. Eliminating names from resumes might reduce the influence of bias and focus managers on the specific skills and experiences of candidates. Eliminating the box might help more felons have more opportunities in a company. Working with community groups to identify talent from underrepresented groups can be beneficial as well, because it would allow the company to onboard more talent from those groups and get those individuals into a pathway that would allow them to grow within the company, creating a virtuous cycle where members of underrepresented groups can end up in managerial roles and ultimately can end up as mentors. These are just a few examples of how HR departments can influence the degree of diversity within an organization.
HR is also in the best position to understand how different groups can be attracted to the organization. It can be difficult for others who are inside the organization to have the best perspective as to what folks outside the organization see and feel about it. As the first point of contact, HR can actually ask job seekers directly what their perceptions of the company are, and even broach the topic of diversity at that point. HR can also track applicants. Let’s say that hiring lacks diversity, but the diversity of applicants shows a trend; information like that can pinpoint issues to address. For example, maybe the organization isn’t attracting enough diverse candidates, but maybe it is and they aren’t sufficiently qualified for the jobs they are seeking, or that hiring managers are passing them over and therefore there’s a need for greater training of hiring managers. Perhaps the organization is successful at diversity hiring but underperforms on diversity retention and promotion. Being on the front lines of all of these issues gives human resources departments unique visibility into the issue of diversity.
All told, organizations have a big opportunity to increase their talent bases by tapping into diverse markets where people may not have as much opportunity. From veterans to minorities to felons, there are groups who can contribute to a company’s labor pool. In times like this, with very low unemployment rates and constant struggles to fill open positions, firms should be pulling out all the stops to eliminate barriers to hiring, and that can start with outreach and engagement to diverse communities, creating an organizational culture that truly values diversity and puts resources into it, and by doing that the organization can help itself, while also performing a valuable service to society by getting people into the roles for which they are best suited, but may have otherwise struggled to attain because of the biases that stifle diversity on many teams.

References Davis, V. & Minnis, S. (2016) Military veterans’ transferrable skills: An HRD practitioner dilemma. Advances in Developing Human Resources. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422316682961 Gully, S., Phillips, J. & Castellano, B. (2017) Recruiting to enhance and support global diversity. Academy of Management Proceedings. Vol. 2017 (1) Melson, A., Harris, A., Shoenfelt, E. & Miller, J. (2019) Personality testing and the Americans with Disabilities Act: Cause for concern as normal and abnormal personality models are integrated. Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Vol. 12 (2) 119-132. Mosley, L. (2019) The impact of felony criminal history on the perceptions of hiring managers. Walden University Scholarly Works Retrieved November 2, 2019 from https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8209&context=dissertations Reed, M. (2016) Banning the box in Tennessee: Embracing fair chance hiring policies for ex-offenders. University of Memphis Law Review. Vol. 47 (2016) 391-429. Rich, L. (2016) A federal certificate of rehabilitation program: Providing federal ex-offenders more opportunity for successful re-entry. Texas A&M Law Scholarship. Retrieved November 2, 2019 from https://scholarship.law.tamu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1869&context=facscholar Stone, C. & Stone, D. (2015) Factors affecting hiring decisions about veterans. Human Resource Management Review Vol. 25 (2015) 68-79. Villegas, S., Lloyd, R., Tritt, A. & Vengrouskie, E. (2019) Human resources as ethical gatekeepers: Hiring ethics and employee selection. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics. Vol. 16 (2) 80-88.