Improving Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Your Workplace

Creating an inclusive workplace is a critical element to business success in the long run. Nowadays employers need to adapt and diversify in order to meet the specific needs of their customers and employees, therefore a sound equality, diversity and inclusion strategy are a must.  

By promoting equality, diversity and inclusion practices, organisations can benefit from the unique perspectives and experiences of a varied and diverse workforce. This can result in better decision-making and more innovative solutions to business challenges.

Additionally, when employees feel valued and included in your business, they are more likely to be engaged and productive, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and reduced staff turnover.

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Why is Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Important?

Equality, diversity, and inclusion aren’t just business buzzwords. For modern organisations they are critical components of long-term success. To understand why they are so important to businesses, we must first understand what they mean.

The term equality refers to the process of ensuring every person has equal access to opportunities, regardless of their race, gender, age, religion, cultural background or sexual orientation. Subsequently, for your workforce to be considered as diverse, it should also include a range of individuals that are different to one another. Finally, to maintain an inclusive organisation your workforce must feel valued, respected, and able to participate fully in any activities.

Promoting equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace benefits everyone. A diverse workforce can provide unique perspectives, experiences, and skills, which can lead to better decision-making and problem-solving. An inclusive working culture can also have a positive impact on your employee's satisfaction, engagement, and retention. Similarly, it can also assist businesses to attract a larger and more diverse pool of candidates to its roles. Which is extremely important in supporting business growth and long-term success.

In recent times there has been a plethora of research that supports the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion within a business context. For example, a study conducted by Deloitte revealed that a diverse workforce is 30% more likely to spot and recognise mistakes. This demonstrate how promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace is not just a matter of ethics but also a strategic business move.

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Reasonable Adjustments Within the Recruitment Process

In order to develop and maintain a diverse workforce, it’s imperative that your recruitment process is accessible and inclusive to all. Whilst this may sound difficult, all it takes is a few adjustments to ensure that you accommodate candidates with disabilities and those from different cultural backgrounds or underrepresented groups.

The goal of implementing these reasonable adjustments is to ensure that every candidate has equal access to your opportunities and to remove any barriers that may stop or dissuade an individual from applying.

Here are some examples of reasonable adjustments that organisations can make to create a more inclusive recruitment process:

Utilise accessibility tools

Accessibility tools are a great all in one feature that can help make your recruitment process more inclusive to those that require basic reasonable adjustments. Fortunately, Tazio offers a variety of accessibility options within its platform thanks to the Recite Me toolbar. You can learn more about this toolbar here.

Utilise gender-neutral language

When creating your job descriptions and advertisements it's important to consider the use of gender-neutral terms, ensuring that your positions are inclusive to all. For instance, instead of using words like "salesman" or "chairman," use gender-neutral terms like "sales representative" or "chairperson."

Providing accessible job application forms

Your job application forms should be accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. To ensure that your organisation caters to all candidates, you should consider providing your job applications and descriptions in alternative formats. This can include options such audio or large print, or allowing candidates to submit their applications through different channels, such as email or video.

Offering flexible working arrangements

If it’s possible, organisations should offer flexible working arrangements, such as part-time or remote working, to accommodate candidates who may have caring responsibilities or disabilities. In addition to this, flexible working arrangements can help to attract a wider range of candidates and create a more inclusive workplace.

Using online assessment centres

By taking advantage of virtual assessment centres, you can remove a lot of the barriers faced in traditional assessment centre set ups. Firstly, online assessment centres can be accessed remotely, reducing travel costs and time commitments.  Additionally, they can also be designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities.  

To learn more about Tazio's virtual assessment centres click here.

By considering the points mentioned above, organisations such as yours can create an inclusive recruitment process. It's important to implement as many reasonable adjustments as possible, in turn removing the barriers to application for many candidates. By doing so, you'll be able to attract a wider range of talent and create a more diverse workforce.

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The Benefits of Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace

Fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace has many benefits, including increased employee satisfaction and productivity. Research has shown that racially diverse teams perform better than non-diverse teams by 35%. This is because a diverse workforce brings different ideas and perspectives, resulting in improved creativity and innovation.

Below are some of the most significant advantages identified by the Tazio team:

Increased creativity and innovation

Creating a diverse workforce is a great way to introduce new perspectives and experiences to your team, which can lead to a boost to your organisation's creativity and innovation. With a more diverse team, you'll benefit from a range of backgrounds and skillsets that can help overcome organisational problems and drive better decision making.

Improved decision-making

As mentioned above, diverse teams can present varied skillsets and approaches to decision making. Often this can result in better solutions to your organisational problems and a further understanding of any potential risks and opportunities.

Increased employee satisfaction and retention

By strengthening your organisations diversity and inclusion strategies you can significantly increase your employee satisfaction and retention. By showing your employees that they are valued and included in your business, they are likely to be more motivated and satisfied with their role and in turn more inclined to remain a part of your team.  

Improved customer relations

Throughout your business you are likely to be working with customers that come from diverse backgrounds. Therefore, having a diverse workforce can help to improve your customer relations. It's important to understand and meet the needs of your different customers. By building a team that understand the needs and preferences of different groups, your organisation can be one step ahead.

Better financial performance

Research has shown that organisations with more diverse workforces tend to perform better financially. A study by McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.

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How Can Tazio Help?

To ensure that your organisation is making the most of its equality, diversity and inclusion strategies, the Tazio platform offers a variety of tools and integrations that can support your efforts. As mentioned, previously our platform offers an accessibility tool known as Recite Me.  

This web-based software can help you to create an inclusive online experience by providing accessibility and language options that enables everyone to customise your assessments in a way that works for them. Visit the Tazio website and click the “accessibility tools” feature to see the Recite Me tool bar in action.

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Time To Summarise

In conclusion, fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace offers numerous benefits, including increased employee satisfaction, better decision-making, and innovation. By promoting diversity and inclusion, organisations can create a work culture that values and respects the unique perspectives of all employees, leading to a more positive environment and higher productivity. Employers can implement reasonable adjustments within the recruitment process, ensuring all candidates have an equal opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities.

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Get in Touch

If you’d like to learn more about how Tazio’s recruitment solutions can help your business to improve its equality, diversity, and inclusion practices, get in touch with one of our friendly experts by using the details below.

02922 331 888

www.tazio.io/contact-us

jennifer.davies@tazio.co.uk

Or to learn more about our recruitment solutions, use the links below:

• Assessment Centre Software
• Virtual Assessment Centres
• Video and Audio Interviews
• Realistic Job Previews
• Situational Judgement Tests

• Psychometric Testing

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