Examining How Executive Search Firms Can Help Promote Diversity And Inclusion

D&I (diversity and inclusion) are still hotly contested topics. This may be a matter of corporate social responsibility (CSR) or legal requirements for certain businesses. Some individuals see it as a drawback, while others see it as a chance. Companies with more diverse personnel do better than those with fewer.

The fact that equality in hiring procedures is a major priority for businesses and that diversity and inclusion are at the top of the corporate agenda should not come as a surprise. What significance do you assign to CEO search firms' efforts as a result?

Context of the Global Survey

Invenias, an executive search service, wanted to discover whether it could assist companies looking to hire more diversely locate competent applicants. Executive search professionals from across the globe were polled by Invenias and MIX Diversity Developers, a boutique consultancy focused on D&I, to predict how diversity will effect their practices and tactics in the next years.

D&I is expected to be a high concern for companies in 2019, according to more than two-thirds of respondents who think it will be "very vital" to their customers in 2019. The report then dives into the challenges that search organizations face when it comes to diversity on behalf of their clients, as well as some possible solutions.

Current Research Findings

Because of the value their clients put on diversity and inclusion, more than half of executive search consultants said they had a duty to advise clients to choose a diverse short list of candidates.

More than half of respondents said they often get requests for diverse long lists from customers that place a high importance on diversity and inclusion (whether on the record or off). In one research, when asked to create a lengthy list, participants were equally divided between men and girls 51% of the time. After receiving the huge list, more than half of the participants believed they could assist their client by giving them advice on how to create a small list that was sufficient in its reflection. This is a positive trend, especially given how tough it can be to have these conversations with customers.

Although attitudes are shifting, it is still more challenging for women and members of underrepresented groups to be nominated for executive boards and senior management positions (such as Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups).

Without initially developing a strategy to deal with the problem of a lack of diversity in the workforce over the long term, businesses cannot advance toward a varied and inviting workplace culture. Before business achieves the kind of diversity that we would want to see, particularly on corporate boards, there is still a long way to go. Nearly two thirds of those surveyed said that it is harder to recommend a woman for a job in senior management or on an executive board, but they also thought that views were changing. When it came to BAME candidates, over 40% of respondents thought this was the case, while 30% said attitudes still needed to change.

Greater inclusiveness is hampered by unconscious discrimination and a lack of candidates from diverse backgrounds.

There are a number of variables at work here, but among them, over 55% of respondents blame unconscious prejudice for the challenges in choosing diverse applicants. By challenging the outcomes of any short-listing attempts, executive search consultants are able to serve as trustworthy counsel to their clients on inclusive recruitment procedures. Executive search firms may have a direct impact on this statistic. In addition, a staggering 46% of respondents blame a lack of diverse candidates for the absence of diverse C-Suite hires.

To ensure that everyone benefits, we need to put intentional processes, interventions, and checks in place rather than merely hoping for more diversity and inclusion.

Executive search consultants will need to provide a more comprehensive response to the topic of how to assist their customers in promoting inclusive hiring processes and diversity. 65 percent of those polled believed it would be simpler to develop diverse shortlists if clients were more open to hiring individuals from a range of industry sectors and gave less weight to prior employment history in favor of looking for individuals with the right skills and underlying competencies. The way we think has to change. As one respondent put it, "getting customers out of their comfortable comfort zone" is challenging.

It is clear that certain initiatives are picking up steam in the drive for a more diverse workforce. More than half of those polled claimed to use gender-neutral language in job advertisements and descriptions; more than a third claimed to take measures to lessen the effects of unconscious bias; and more than a third claimed to use resumes that have been scrubbed of identifying information like names and demographic information (with a third of those surveyed already employing this method).

In order to better serve their clients, executive search companies are expanding their expertise of diversity and inclusion.

Since more than 80% of respondents to a recent poll indicated a desire for diversity in the interview process, it is obvious that certain executive search firms are making use of best practices to promote diversity. As part of the bidding process, more search firms will need to show their commitment to diversity and inclusion (39 percent ).

Despite these difficulties, executive search firms see vast prospects.

With D&I, executive recruiters may positively impact their customers' businesses in a variety of ways, including by fostering the development of future leaders. Some companies leverage their capacity to counsel customers on less apparent options as a source of competitive advantage, even going so far as to provide clients advice on how to identify, hire, and keep a diverse staff. In a nutshell, as one responder put it, "diversity makes businesses more successful." The success of our customers represents our greatest potential.