T e recent introduction of degree apprenticeships – which combine both the academic study of conventional university training with on-the-job work experience – is a good start in preparing tomorrow’s workforce with the skills needed for the modern workplace.
Improving inherent diversity Improving diversity in talent recruitment is clearly the gateway to establishing a more diverse workplace and workplace culture, overall. It’s on employers to seek out a more diverse range of applicants, whether that be racial, gender or sexuality-based diversity. To do so, there are several key things employers should be looking to do (if they’re not already). T ese include: - Revisit and, if necessary, revise your job advertisements. As an SME, if you’re putting out formulaic and bland job advertisements, then don’t be surprised when the applications you receive are equally uninspired. To attract diverse talent, you need to do exactly that - attract them. - Examine unconscious biases within the recruitment team. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all carry unconscious biases; these may be related to age, gender, weight, race and any other number of factors. Helping your recruitment team understand and unpick their own unconscious
biases will mean they’re less likely to influence them during the recruiting process. T is, in turn, means that recruitment becomes as close as possible to being purely skill/talent-based, which is exactly how it should be. And when that’s the case, you’ll fi nd you naturally end up with a more diverse workforce.
Improving acquired diversity A diverse workplace doesn’t just refer to inherent traits such as race and gender, however - although this is obviously an integral part of it - it also refers to diversity on a broader level; in this instance, we’re referring to the idea of what’s known as acquired diversity. Acquired diversity refers to traits and skills ‘acquired’ through
experience; a good example of this would be an increased understanding of cultural and diff erences/nuances that stem from having worked in many other countries.
Talent acquisition through diversity Talent acquisition is core to your workforce development and one that will only be achieved through diversity. A truly diverse workforce is one that recognises and incorporates both inherent and acquired diversity as keystones of their recruitment policies. At the Bedfordshire Chamber of Commerce, we are continually
looking at ways we can better incentivise and support businesses to invest in recruitment and the development of its people. We work with our members to help them identify, articulate and plan their skills needs.
To fi nd out more about the work we are doing to fi ll the skills gap and how we can support you, contact us at
info@chamber-business.com
ALL THINGS BUSINESS
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