People manager guide: Inclusive recruitment
Practical guidance for managers to create an inclusive environment, avoid bias and ensure an inclusive recruitment process.
Practical guidance for managers to create an inclusive environment, avoid bias and ensure an inclusive recruitment process.
Managers have a crucial role in supporting inclusive recruitment. Recruitment is about getting the most suitable candidate into a role, and it is critical for employers to deliver their goals, as well as for employees to find jobs that suit them. However, it is not always clear what makes a candidate ‘suitable’, and there is potential for bias to creep in when making these decisions.
Nobody is immune to unconscious bias. Even those of us who strive to make fair and objective decisions are affected by implicit biases, and increasing awareness of the biases that affect recruitment is unfortunately not enough to reduce their impact. Instead, recruitment processes should be redesigned to reduce the influence of bias.
This guide provides actionable steps to attract diverse candidates and ensure an unbiased and inclusive recruitment process. We provide recommendations for the four main stages of recruitment, including: role design and the job advert, attracting diverse candidates, the application process and how candidates are selected.
In larger organisations, some of the actions described may be the responsibility of HR, while in smaller organisations they may fall to the line manager. This guide covers all of the relevant actions so that managers are aware of the rationale behind these and can contribute to inclusive recruitment as relevant.
In designing the role and advertising it, managers should seek to provide knowledge, clarity and guidance by setting clear expectations, providing guidance where appropriate, and by understanding their own and employees’ roles.
Building and sustaining relationships with employees begins with showing concern and consideration for candidates, particularly those from marginalised groups.
When it comes to selecting candidates, people managers have a critical role to play in ensuring they are being open, fair and consistent to the candidates in order to support getting the right person into the right role.
Tackling barriers to work today whilst creating inclusive workplaces of tomorrow.
Discover our practice guidance and recommendations to tackle bullying and harassment in the workplace.
Implications and recommendations for HR teams on the trends and developments in gender pay gap reporting in Britain
Read our latest Labour Market Outlook report for analysis on employers’ recruitment, redundancy and pay intentions
Explore the CIPD’s point of view on religion and belief, including actions for Government and recommendations for employers
Explore the CIPD’s point of view on age diversity in the workplace, including recommendations for employers and actions for the UK Government
Outlines the main legal requirements surrounding TUPE transfers, and the essential steps involved in managing them
This guide offers advice on assessing skills, planning skills development and deploying and redeploying staff
Practical guidance on helping employees adapt and thrive when faced with workplace stress
Advice and tips on how HR professionals can support organisational and individual resilience