Avoiding Diversity & Inclusion Tokenism | @PhilipMarks on The #SocialRecruiting Show

Diversity & Inclusion (Communication!)

As the world focuses on the Black Lives Matter movement, there is an opportunity to embrace and define new actions. For example, actions that can impact diversity and inclusion (D&I) policies in the workplace. This week’s Guest, Philip Marks, joins us to discuss his experiences of introducing D&I when working with software companies. Software Companies that are largely Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) funded.

In no way shying away from the topic, we ask Phil to define tokenism.

“It’s organisations purposely displaying, for the sake of it, so they look like they are ticking boxes”.

He acknowledges this is a challenge for enterprise-scale companies. As they require structure and statistics to underpin policy. However, he notes that “you have to introduce a bit of reality or it does look quite obvious that you are overcompensating”.

For companies trying to figure out where to start in terms of their overall approach to D&I.  Phil offers a simple piece of advice, “communication!”. He is optimistic that the progression of robust D&I policies will lead to better outcomes and reflected on his time in recruitment and said, “it’s getting better!”.

Stronger outcomes for businesses!

Discussing Phil’s thoughts on companies need to ensure a diverse culture.

“It’s been empirically been proven that if you bring together individuals from different types of backgrounds and cultures, you get a stronger outcome in several aspects of the business”.

In conclusion, talking directly about his own role as a recruiter, he says, “I really do encourage it and promote it [diversity and inclusion]. I get excited by it and it’s been a big achievement. We’ve had some fantastic diversity come into the business”.

If that wasn’t enough, below you’ll hear Philip talk about:

• Unconscious bias in the CV review process
• Anonymised screening processes 
• Educating Hiring Managers to deliver better hiring decisions
• Are we still hiring in our own image?  
• Do companies understand neuro-diversity? 
• Educating your recruitment teams

  Thank you to our fabulous sponsor EnterpriseAlumni