Long before the term DEI was invented, early diversity hiring practices began to take shape in the 1960s. With the Equal Pay Act of 1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, laws were established to protect employees from discrimination based on gender, race, color, religion, and national origin.

Mostly informed by the ideas around affirmative action, DEI hiring practices strive to create a workplace that is representative of society and build a level playing field for all employees. This means actively looking to hire from all walks of life and creating environments that are conducive to their success.

Fast forward to today’s workplace; diversity hiring has evolved into a strategic advantage for companies. As organizations increasingly recognize the value of diverse perspectives in order to remain competitive, many are turning to inclusive recruitment practices to achieve this.

Inclusive recruitment is about more than simply increasing the number of underrepresented groups in your workforce, it’s about creating an environment where different perspectives come together to bring innovative ideas and increase innovation. This kind of hiring requires a dedicated DEI hiring strategy that looks at identifying and removing any potential biases or prejudices that might be present in the recruitment process.

When it comes to DEI hiring strategies, there are a number of best practices that organizations can employ- we'll dive into these in the next section. We've seen DEI make tremendous strides in the last 5 years, as more organizations are making intentional efforts to create and foster an inclusive workplace. This shift towards greater DEI awareness has resulted in proactive hiring practices such as creating criteria for evaluating applicants that look beyond traditional qualifications and actively recruiting from various underrepresented groups.

We've also seen some challenges arise. Ai-powered hiring tools by several big corporations have shown bias in hiring, affirmative action is under attack, and the impact of COVID-19 is still being felt in many workplaces. These and other challenges need to be addressed for a truly inclusive workplace to exist.

All-in-all, we have a more diverse workforce than at any previous point in history, and organizations have the opportunity to capitalize on this by implementing DEI hiring practices that are well thought out and tailored to their needs. In addition, it’s important for companies to track the success of these initiatives in order to continually refine their strategies for maximum ROI.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring goes beyond being a passing trend; it is vital for any rapidly expanding company. This is precisely why Pillar developed its interview intelligence software - to assist you in making better hiring decisions.

Diversity Hiring Practices

There are many diversity hiring best practices. To effectively implement a diversity and inclusion hiring strategy you'll need an internal champion, some frameworks, and the tools to measure success. In particular, here are some tips and practices to help you implement a successful diversity recruiting strategy:

1. Develop a clear mission statement: Start by laying out your business’s goals for DEI hiring in order to create an effective strategy that can be communicated internally and externally. This will ensure everyone is on the same page and working towards the same end goal.

2. Recruit from underrepresented groups: Actively seek out candidates from different backgrounds to apply for positions. This can be done through targeted job postings, recruitment campaigns, and outreach events in your local community.

3. Evaluate applicants beyond traditional qualifications: When evaluating potential hires, consider more than just their experience or education. Look for other skills such as empathy, cultural fit, and understanding of diversity issues that can help them excel in your organization.

4. Create a pipeline of diverse candidates: Develop a strong network of potential candidates with different backgrounds who you can tap into when there is an opening. This will ensure that you are bringing the best talent to your company and creating a more diverse workforce.

5. Measure for success: In order to track progress, it’s essential to have metrics in place that measure diversity and inclusion initiatives such as hiring goals or applicant data. This can provide valuable insight into how successful your DEI strategy is and where it needs improvement.

6. Foster an inclusive workplace culture: Finally, ensure you are creating a workplace culture that is conducive to the success of your diverse team. This includes providing tools, resources, and support for employees from all backgrounds.

These are just some of the many diversity hiring best practices organizations can use when developing a DEI strategy. By understanding the importance of DEI in the workplace and taking advantage of these tips and strategies, companies can create a diverse and inclusive environment that is beneficial to everyone.

Successful diversity recruitment strategy examples can help you as an employer better understand how to create and implement a strong DEI initiative. Examples of successful diversity recruitment strategies we’ve seen include companies like Microsoft, which created the Microsoft Inclusive Hiring Lab to give customers the tools they need to reach qualified candidates from underrepresented groups. Another example is Salesforce, which has a 9-month mentorship program for women in tech. These are just a few examples of how companies can use DEI hiring practices to create an equitable and inclusive workplace.

DEI Hiring Strategy

Inclusive hiring practices only work if they have a strategy in place to guide them. To create an effective DEI hiring strategy, organizations need to set clear goals and have the right tools and resources in place.

The first step for any successful DEI hiring strategy should be setting specific recruiting goals that are tailored to the organization’s needs. This could include targeting a certain number of hires from different backgrounds, establishing benchmarks, or creating a more diverse interview panel. Once these DEI recruiting goals are established, organizations need to have the proper tools in place to interview for the right candidates, track progress, and measure success. This can be done with software such as Pillar’s Interview Intelligence solution, which helps companies create tailored candidate questionnaires and provides real-time insights into applicant performance.

Once you have the right tools in place setting DEI recruiting goals becomes much easier. With the right technology, organizations can quickly and easily track progress and measure success in order to refine their DEI hiring strategies for maximum ROI. Additionally, having these systems in place ensures that companies are able to remain competitive in an increasingly diverse job market.

One of the reasons you begin with an internal champion is that DEI hiring requires a soft heart and a vigilant eye. A soft heart because it’s vital to create policies and practices that are designed to make everyone feel welcome in the workplace and a vigilant eye because it helps keep track of progress and measure success.

With solutions like Pillar's video interview platform, your internal champion can be armed with candidate scoring tools, interviewer coaching tools, and other resources to help ensure success in your DEI hiring strategy. From creating interview questions to enabling feedback and collaboration among the team, Pillar's tools can empower your internal champion to make more informed decisions and create an equitable recruitment process.

Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment

Let's talk about the middle letter in DEI, equity. Equitable hiring practices have been misunderstood as a goal for fairness when in actuality they are designed to create meaningful opportunities for people from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds. Equitable hiring practices acknowledge that some applicants may have lower qualifications than others, but their differences should not be a disadvantage.

Inclusive hiring training should account for these factors and include them in best hiring practices, such as considering a broader range of qualifications, diversifying interview panels, and creating an environment that is conducive to interviewing a diverse candidate pool. Additionally, organizations should ensure they have access to networks outside their traditional circles in order to source the best talent from different backgrounds.

In addition to equitable recruiting practices, diversity and inclusion (D&I) strategies need to be woven into the fabric of every organization. This includes developing initiatives that actively promote diversity and inclusion in recruitment, career progression, workplace culture, and beyond. For instance, organizations can conduct unconscious bias training to equip employees with the awareness of how their own biases may impact their decisions.

By taking an active role in fostering diverse and inclusive recruitment, organizations can create a more equitable workplace and level the playing field for all applicants. This is not only important for improving representation in the workplace but is also a valuable competitive advantage as companies increasingly prioritize diversity and inclusion in their hiring practices.

If you'd like to see how Ai-powered interview intelligence software can help your team lower hiring costs, shorten time-to-hire, and decrease employee turnover by up to 50% schedule your demo to chat with someone on the Pillar team. We'd love to show you how simple it is to create a more equitable workplace with Pillar.