Diversity & Inclusion 

Meeting held 20 October 2022

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With recruitment and retention still proving to be a major challenge for many businesses, we’ve partnered with specialist contact centre recruiters, Tyson Wilson to give our members access to industry insight. Each session has focused on a different topic, the latest of which was Diversity and Inclusion.

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Figures from the 2021 census revealed that just over 3% of the population in Northern Ireland (around 65,600 people), belong to ethnic minority groups. The latest figures were double of that in 2011 (1.8%) and showed Northern Ireland to be the least ethnically diverse nation of the United Kingdom.

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CEO and founder of Tyson Wilson, Michelle Tyson reinforced this point and asked an important question to our attendees: “To what extent is Diversity & Inclusion a part of the key business imperatives of your company?” A successful D&I strategy needs to be embedded with in a company’s foundations.

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Michelle said: “Businesses that have a clear vision on D&I and regularly communicate this to employees at all levels of the organisation are more likely to meet their D&I goals.

We recommend a top-down approach, making leaders role models of inclusive behaviour and motivate others to take responsibility for D&I initiatives.

 

Holding leaders to account for delivering on Diversity and Inclusion KPI’s across recruitment, learning and developments, reward and succession helps place it at the core of an organisation.”

 

Our members discussed how they’d changed their recruitment processes in particular to make them more inclusive, recognising that succeeding in diversity and inclusion starts at the beginning of an employee’s journey.

 

From reviewing the language of job adverts to restructuring interviews to make them less focused on a scoring matrix and more about whether the candidate is suitable for the role or not.

 

One member commented that they are actively being asked about their diversity and inclusion policies at the interview stage, highlighting the importance of inclusivity among applicants.

 

Many organisations reported significant investment in their workplace facilities to accommodate multiculturalism, accessibility for disabled people and to prioritise mental health. This ranged from creating safe spaces within the workplace for people to prayer to appointing dedicated members of staff to engage with minority groups in the community.

 

A key take away was the importance of collating feedback and utilising this to drive change. One company that regularly includes questions on diversity and inclusion in their Global People Survey said it scores highest in this topic across the business.

 

Listening to and acting on employee feedback has seen our members establish dedicated initiatives for multi culturalism, mental health, disability and LGBTQ+.

 

In turn, businesses can convey their culture in recruitment and advertising which is helping them to reach and attract minority groups.

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Another member reported that: “word spreads that you are an inclusive employer, and your staff will start to refer other people from their community.”

 

It was agreed that there was still work to be done to improve D&I, not just within but across the wider infrastructure in the region.

 

Tyson Wilson are currently offering a free Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment Audit. Contact Michelle directly to book yours. Email: info@tysonwilsonrecruitment.co.uk

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The next Recruitment and Retention Workshop will take place on Thursday 12 January 2023, 11:00-12:15. Topic: How to Find Key Talent.

 

To book a place email info@ccnni.com

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