Business in the Community (BITC) has brought together 310 Sheffield-based businesses at the launch of its ‘Opening Doors’ programme in Sheffield. Opening Doors is BITC’s flagship inclusive recruitment campaign, aiming to make two million jobs more accessible to diverse talent by supporting employers to make changes to their recruitment practices. The launch of the campaign in Sheffield aims to encourage 100s of Sheffield-based employers to sign up.
In Sheffield, one in four 16-64-year-olds are economically inactive – significantly higher than the economic inactivity rates in England (21.1%) and the UK (21.5%). In addition, 15.6% of economically inactive people in Sheffield want a job.
Employers signed up to the campaign are asked to commit to at least three actions to implement into their recruitment strategies, from the following keys:
Create partnerships that connect untapped talent to your jobs: Partner with organisations that support underrepresented groups into work.
Show candidates that you are committed to inclusion: advertise vacancies through a range of channels, provide inclusive recruitment training and engage suppliers, publish diversity pledges, and use diverse images and role models in public-facing communications.
Use comprehensive job descriptions with inclusive language: remove jargon and use neutral language, include all essential information in job descriptions, provide information about HR policies such as flexible working, set out the day-to-day activities of the job, and set out the different stages of the application process.
Focus on the essential skills needed for the job: ask for skills rather than formal experience and qualifications, only ask for the skills that are really needed at the level required by the role, recognise non-traditional or informal work experience, consider whether you can accept non-UK equivalents, and ensure that each stage of the application process is appropriate for assessing a candidate’s skills and capabilities.
Prioritise accessibility and eliminate bias: remove the criminal conviction tick box from application forms, include diverse colleagues in interview panels, ask all candidates if they need any adjustments at every stage of the process, advertise and accept applications across different media, specify any flexibility offered, provide information in an accessible format, make the application process mobile-friendly, and collect diversity data at the application stage to ensure you can identify any potential barriers for diverse candidates.
Ola Kolade, Employment and Skills Director at Business in the Community, said:
“We are delighted to be launching our Opening Doors programme in Sheffield, encouraging Sheffield-based businesses to open their doors to underrepresented talent. Inclusion should be a priority in all businesses, and it’s essential that it is embedded into all parts of the organisational strategy from recruitment to progression in work. Inclusive workplaces are proven to be more productive and have more engaged workforce, so embedding inclusive recruitment strategies into the workplace isn’t just the right thing to do; it makes business sense.”
For more information head to www.bitc.org.uk.
