DRAW as Changemakers: Our continued EDI Education and Training

To continue our journey to improve equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) we recently partnered with Jacqui Barrett at Wider Thinking and the DRAW team all completed the Wider Thinking learning plan. Wider Thinking can help businesses improve and grow by embedding social responsibility into the core of their practice to attract, develop and retain staff.

Our team now has an even greater understanding of the many benefits that come from integrating improved EDI practices into recruitment, and business generally. More and more clients see improved EDI practices as a strategic move offering numerous benefits in addition to the undoubted moral and ethical dimensions. Recruitment is a great way to introduce these practices and embed genuine inclusivity into your business.

Broadening the Talent Pool

Finding the right candidates is always a challenge. Recognising, then actively eliminating, any potential narrowed vision in the search process expands the pool of suitable candidates – making finding that perfect fit more likely. This can involve questioning unspoken candidate ‘requirements’, such as experience in particular institutions, sectors, or career paths. A good way to do this is to consciously challenge your unconscious bias (discussed below). At DRAW, we aim to look outside the ‘traditional’ channels, and champion more ‘unconventional’ candidates who will be the best fit for your vacancy.

Enhancing Organisational Reputation

There is growing evidence that inclusive workplaces result in enhanced organisational reputations. Being considered a good place to work in terms of EDI makes your company more attractive not just to candidates, but also potential clients and customers, who factor these values into their decision making on where to take their business.

Reducing Unconscious Bias

We all have unconscious biases –  it’s part of how our brains have evolved; we make judgements about other people (both positive and negative) based on easily perceived traits. Gender, race, sexuality and disability are obvious traits, but so too are educational attainment and institutions, accent, and previous positions (there are many more; humans have over 100 kinds of bias processes). Unconscious bias can cloud our judgement when assessing candidates, reducing our ability to choose the best fit for the role. EDI training can help us recognise these unconscious biases, and provides strategies to challenge them. By working to reduce and eliminate unconscious bias from the recruitment process, and therefore company practice, you gain access to a far wider range of talent, which can then thrive and perform well.

Improving Employee Retention and Satisfaction

Companies whose recruitment and culture are truly inclusive have greater employee satisfaction and retention. Employees will perform better when they feel safe, heard, valued, and able to reveal their authentic selves. They are more likely to stay and be invested in the success of the company. Given the high cost of poor staff retention, fostering and embodying these values is good strategic sense for every company. One striking example our partnership with Wider Thinking revealed was a bank with a programme to employ more people with autism – the accommodations made for these employees (such as clear, explicit, written instructions and timelines) had the net effect of increasing productivity and reducing miscommunication across the global, multilingual team. It’s worth thinking through and drawing up these policies before they are needed. A simple but eye-opening thought experiment is how would your company cope if a person with a hearing impairment was to start tomorrow. Accommodations need not be onerous or difficult, but they pay dividends – we are on hand to help draw up such policies.

Fostering Creativity and Innovation

Greater diversity is goes hand in hand with greater innovation and creativity. Companies with strong EDI indexes and values show greater enacted innovation and creative thinking. Robust EDI practices and a diverse workforce, who feel safe to challenge the status quo without fear, typically come up with creative ideas and new solutions to the current challenges, and adapt well to new situations. In our fast paced, global industry being able to innovate and remain agile is the best way to retain existing business and attract new custom.

Reflecting the Global Marketplace

The art market and its businesses are truly global, and so is the top talent. It makes sense for all companies to reflect this for reputational and strategic business reasons. Collectors and customers who know that they will be seen and understood by your staff are more likely to give you their custom than a company that does not reflect or hold space for them.

Legal and Ethical Compliance

There are legal frameworks in place to give you a foundation in these practices – for example the 2010 Equalities Act, which explains your minimum legal responsibilities and lays out the legally protected characteristics. We are on hand to put such practices into place both through recruitment and your company policies.

Conclusion

EDI training, integration and practice are a strong business decision, as well as a moral obligation. Recognising, then actively reducing and eliminating bias, and fostering true inclusivity are wholly beneficial steps for your business can take – and DRAW is here to help you.

Please reach out to us to learn more about how you can improve and deepen your business’ EDI practices. Our bespoke HR consulting options along with our recruitment and executive search methods, can help with this.