DEI between the strategy| companies want to recruit multiplely, but are afraid of being misunderstood and discriminated against? Reduce unconscious bias, HR can do just that

Have you ever heard such a statement? "There are too few girls in the team, we have to recruit girls." "There are so few men on the team, so when men come to the interview, they can consider extra points."

In some areas, the number of female/or ethnically specific workers is low. Organizations that are gender-conscious or want to recruit diverse talent may inadvertently take the approach of filtering out the resumes of other groups with a stronger number (traditionally may be male, or specific skin colors), screening only the resumes of relatively disadvantaged groups, and conducting interviews, hoping to increase the diversity of talents and perspectives for the organization.

According to Taiwan's current laws and regulations, this actually has doubts about violating the law, and it may also cause disguised discrimination, making it difficult to achieve real protection (Note).

When the means or process are unfair, it is difficult to have a fair effect on the results produced and the follow-up. On the other hand, no one of any gender or ethnicity wants to be chosen because of gender/or other ethnic background.

This is also why the concept of D&I, in recent years, has increased equity), becoming DEI - a fair stage and resources that consider the needs of different ethnic groups, so that each talent can do the most, is the purpose of diversity and inclusion.

The "curriculum vitae screening" practice, which mistakenly believes that "screening out vulnerable resumes is to protect diversity", although the starting point is the beauty of diversity and inclusion, is not really fair.

Photo | Photo by Fast & Slow on PIXTA

If you want to recruit diverse talents, how to do the best?

The right direction to deal with the lack of gender/ethnic diversity in recruitment is to try to eliminate the possibility of various biases in the interview.

However, prejudice is often "unconscious", and this kind of "unconscious prejudice" originates from the stereotypes that people have been instilled in society in the process of growing up. Unconscious bias, each of us has. There are some simple ways to reduce the impact of unconscious bias on recruitment:

• The easiest way is to make the resume not show gender or race, class, etc., so that no ethnic group will be suppressed.
• Second, do not make assumptions based on gender/ethnicity in the interview, such as not presupping that women must marry and have children, or that men do not need to take care of their families and take parental leave to interrupt their careers.
• In addition, a pluralistic interview team or recruitment committee can be formed to interview people with different perspectives, eliminating unconscious bias and unconscious personal inference or bias based on background information such as gender and ethnicity.
• Finally, it is the interviewer's self-challenge to imagine whether you will have different views and perspectives if the person in front of you is replaced by another gender, ethnic group, etc. background.

Some teams go more thoroughly, removing identity information and photos from their resumes to avoid unconscious bias and allowing interviewers to assess their work experience and abilities purely.

However, if gender and other ethnic groups are still recruited without revealing gender and other ethnic information in the curriculum vitae, it is necessary to further find the root cause of the problem and make more systematic changes, including resources for pluralistic policies, institutions and equity.

Photo | Photo by Fast & Slow on PIXTA

After recruiting diverse talents, how to make all ethnic groups play fairly?  

The concept of fairness in DEI (Diversity Pluralism, Equity Fairness, Inclusion Inclusion) does not refer to equality, but to enable all people to have the corresponding resources and support to "maximize their talents".

According to the principle of fairness, providing resources corresponding to a specific minority group so that people can reach their full potential is not "protection" or discrimination, but "fair" practices. These resources include the Employee Resources Group (ERG), the Metorship Program mentorship system, employment coaching, scholarships, sponsorships, etc., all of which are ways to not violate the regulations and can substantially assist the target audience.

In addition to the new resources, we can also examine the existing systems and benefits one by one: Does the current corporate environment meet the needs of different ethnic groups?

In the first quarter of 2022, women fans did the DEI workplace culture survey, and nearly 2,000 people said in the questionnaire survey that whether the company has a DEI cultural policy is a key decision-making factor to consider whether to join the company, accounting for 96% of the questionnaire.

The survey reached 2.13 million people, and there were positive reports from 33 media outlets, including Huashi News, Economic Daily, Lianhe Bao, Yahoo News, ETtoday News Cloud, etc.

More than two million people look forward to seeing specific corporate policies and want to trust companies to systematically promote a culture of pluralism, fairness and inclusion, because all of this is the reason why a company is strong.

In September 2022, Women Fans will hold the DEI Diversified Fair inclusion certification award to help companies better communicate talent development policies and help talents better find trustworthy employer brands.

To learn more, head to the women's dei Ally global allies, or download the White Paper on Diversity and Inclusion, subscribe to the DEI monthly report, and do the right thing together on this path.