Inclusion & Diversity
Inclusive recruitment is the measures, processes and practices involved in attracting, assessing and appointing candidates within organisations, to maximise the diversity of successful appointments.
This is a vital element of any organisation’s diversity and inclusion strategy because it is the most effective way to increase diversity across all protected characteristics.
Diversity can mean different things to different people and companies. If our clients have any diversity related requirements for their assignment then we will discuss these with them and agree the approach to take to achieve this; keeping in mind legal requirements and inclusion.
Our vision is to build a secure, socially responsible and sustainable organisation of international acclaim.
We recognise that to achieve our vision we need to build inclusive and diverse workplaces for ourselves and our clients. Our employees, and anyone we assist in a recruitment search, need to feel welcomed, valued for their perspective and contribution, and engaged to deliver great value everyday. We strive to treat everyone as an individual, with dignity and respect and do not tolerate discrimination or harassment.
To help us do this, we will question any client requests against the following four criteria:
1. Instructions from clients that indicate an intention to unlawfully discriminate, will be respectfully challenged.
2. If a client identifies an underrepresented group(s) we can suggest and/or recruit using Positive Action methods. We will not recruit with Positive Discrimination because all applicants who could satisfy the role criteria will be considered.
3. Any assessment or selection process should be as objective as possible with information relevant to the role being considered. Candidates should consistently be assessed based on merit, experience, qualification and ability to perform relevant duties required, with the risk of personal bias mitigated as much as possible.
4. We want every candidate to be their authentic selves and be successful in their employment. It is our duty to help each individual in our candidate pool to show the best version of themselves within our process.
We will adopt this approach because we have a responsibility to protect our clients, candidates and ourselves.
We take clients’ needs to improve diversity very seriously so we will work closely with you to help achieve this.
We will actively focus on improving inclusion and diversity during the recruitment campaign:
- We recruit from a wide pool of qualified candidates and our recruitment consultants actively research the talent pool and approach people with clients’ specific E&D characteristics in mind.
- We have close links with groups, networks and referral partners relating to people with protected characteristics. E.g. Disability Network, ethnicity networks, LGBTQ+ networks, etc.
- We utilise a diverse range of online and offline job marketing media and can utilise specialist online equality job sites to advertise to jobseekers with protected characteristics.
- We ensure that employment opportunities are open and accessible to all based on their individual qualities and personal merit.
- Where required we will use positive action to aid our selection criteria and recruitment process.
- Wherever appropriate and necessary, lawful exemptions (genuine occupational requirements) will be used to recruit suitable staff to meet the special needs of particular groups.
- All our recruitment consultants are trained in, and aware of, requirements not to discriminate and to prevent unconscious bias so will act accordingly when assessing diverse candidates. This is part of the Nigel Wright culture, rather than ‘merely’ reliant upon attending training sessions.
We understand the importance of recording and monitoring equality and diversity data of candidates throughout the process. We can utilise our equality and diversity monitoring questionnaire (which we can tailor if desired) that we will ask all candidates to complete. We can then produce a diversity summary report for active and passive candidates.
This report may be anonymised to protect individual candidate’s personal data in line with their wishes and GDPR legislation.
How our core values underpin our approach to diversity
Integrity – We believe in doing the right thing for all stakeholders. We need to operate in a lawful manner and be able to explore client requests.
Teamwork – Working as one team requires us to be inclusive. We adopt client requirements when they require us to address particular diversity objectives within the recruitment process.
Service Excellence – Providing excellent service includes advising clients on complex issues. Having a company standpoint gives consultants the platform to do this.
Passion for winning – Succeeding in this area requires us to stake a claim, rather than follow the crowd. We prefer to work together with clients to protect them, us and our candidates.
Case Study: Addressing gender diversity on the Board
Gentoo Group is a social housing association. Its Board consisted of ten males and two females, though the female members had only recently been appointed. The agency that delivered the last Board Level search failed to identify many female candidates during the process.
Gentoo recognised the opportunity to increase Board members and enhance their gender diversity. They selected Nigel Wright Group to deliver the recruitment of two NEDs and trusted us to ‘live’ our Equality and Diversity policy to ensure a truly diverse recruitment process. They wanted a diverse and gender-balanced shortlist and instructed Nigel Wright to take positive action to encourage potential female NEDs to apply for these opportunities, without compromising the quality of the shortlisted candidates.
Over 100 people were assessed during this project. Five people were interviewed, of which four were female. The result was two NED appointments, both female who brought significant capability and a mix of public and private sector experience to the Gentoo Board.
