As research continues to show that diverse teams outperform their counterparts, companies are beginning to realise how important variety can be when it comes to recruiting a technology team.
While it is logical to instruct your specialist technology recruitment agency to help you find employees that have the right attitude, skill-set, or cultural fit for your role, it is essential to make sure you are drawing in applications from a range of backgrounds.
After all, as the technology world grows more broad, with disruptive technologies like IoT, and A.I. leading the way, the companies with the most diversity will be the ones prepared to stay ahead of the curve.
A broader collection of mindsets leads the way to better thinking, more significant innovation, and a better opportunity to overcome stale, outdated ways of thinking. So, how can you implement better variance in your team?
1. Understand What “Diversity” Really Means
The first step in building a healthy and diverse working environment is understanding what you are trying to accomplish in your organisation. Diversity is not only about having an equal share of women and men in the boardroom.
Real diversity and the benefits that come with requires consideration of more than just gender. Employers also need to think about age, culture, race, religion, sexual orientation, and even different thinking patterns.
2. Know the Value of Real Diversity
Once you have got to grips on which segments you need to look at to broaden your hiring experience, it is time to get everyone in your leadership team on board, with an insight into the benefits of a diverse workforce. Looking at the benefits can make it easier to determine why you need to make diversity an integral part of your mission statement:
- Extend your recruitment reach: If your recruitment company knows that you are willing to accept various candidates, they will have an easier time finding you the talent you need from previously-untouched or under served groups.
- Improve your employer brand: Technology experts like to know that they will be accepted in a team for who they are. Demonstrating the inclusive nature of your business is a great way to make your company more appealing to new hires.
- Increase innovation and creativity: New people with different experiences and backgrounds bring new perspectives into the decision-making process. With the right diversity, you can demolish ingenuity roadblocks.
3. Find Opportunities to Diversify
Creating a diverse brand is not always easy. Often, you will need to look for ways to reach out to new cultures and groups that don’t typically find their way to your door. Speak to your professional recruitment agency about what they can do to help you connect with a broader range of hires. For instance, they might recommend that you offer internships for recent graduates or include specific terms in your job description to attract other groups.
Your recruitment partner can also give you suggestions on which benefits you can offer to make your roles more appealing. For instance, more opportunities for remote working, or the chance to take days off on religious holidays are great ways to show that you are willing to be more diverse.
4. Make Diversity Part of the Company Culture
For your expansion to be successful, you will need to incorporate a culture of diversity into everything you do, addressing individual and common differences throughout the employee lifecycle.
For instance, after you have hired someone new, ask them how they would prefer to approach the onboarding process. Regularly question each of your employees to find out what kind of benefits they are looking for, and what they need to perform their job as well as possible. At its core, embracing diversity is simply about treating each of the people in your business as an individual.
If you are willing to reach out and make a connection with your hires and discover their unique differences, then you will begin to see the benefits in the form of more dedicated workers, better delegation, and improved retention.
5. Make Everyone Feel Like Part of the Team
While a quest for diversity pushes employers to treat each of their candidates in a personal, unique way, it is worth noting that people still like to feel as though they are part of a team. Though your hires might want to be recognised as an individual, they also want to be included as part of your business dynamic.
Build bonds between your staff members as early as possible, giving them ways to communicate both in-person and through technology too. Many tech professionals will feel more comfortable connecting with their co-workers over instant-messaging platforms and social media, and this can be a good way to break the ice.
Providing a venue for mentoring, networking, and socialising will help to transform your team of diverse employees into a group of happy staff, ready to support each other, and your business on the road to success.
About Resource On Demand
Resource on Demand is Europe’s first specialist Salesforce Recruitment Company, now also focusing on growth Cloud markets.
We assist innovative and disruptive organisations to grow their technology teams. Supporting companies to fill Cloud roles that span across, Digital Marketing, Marketing Automation, Human Capital Management and the growing Salesforce.com suite of skills.
The team at Resource on Demand have access to an extensive database of key talent, registering over 8000 Cloud professionals each year.
To find out how we can support you call us on +44 20 8123 7769