- Written by Fujitsu's Sascha Jäger
Fujitsu is committed to diversity and inclusion, with a detailed strategy and multiple initiatives for building a diverse and empowered team supported within an inclusive environment.
Over the last few years, we’ve put a real focus on making our recruitment process as equitable as possible, helping us to address the gender imbalance and increase the number of women joining us, especially in technology roles.
A diverse workforce begins with inclusive recruitment, and that starts with the job specification. This might sound obvious, but there’s some serious science involved in achieving gender neutrality. We talked to research and language specialists, and found that what we suspected was true: men and women will respond differently to the way a recruiting ad is worded.
For example, a man is more likely to apply for a role if he feels he can tick off around 50% of the requirements in a bulleted list. A woman is more likely to be cautious, holding back unless she thinks she can match 90%. Although these research findings are averages, they are valuable pointers for companies wanting to make sure that their ads are as fair as possible.
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Since we’ve been testing our ads before publication, adjusting them for gender neutrality, and adding relevant information to appeal to women as well as men (such as the fact that we offer flexible working from day one of employment and that we are an inclusive employer), we’ve seen a significant increase in the diversity of respondents.
Unconscious bias is a form of short-cut that our brains use to simplify and process the vast amount of information that we take in each day. Our brains are designed to look for clues, identify patterns and organise things into groups, usually based on experience and prior knowledge. We make assumptions every day at a subconscious level, picking up on clues to help us make decisions and – yes – make judgments about people and situations that will determine our reactions and behaviours.
Unfortunately, at best, the assumptions we make are based on averages and generalisations. At worst, they can come from inaccurate information, such as propaganda, gossip or dated stereotypes.
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We’ve been supporting our own managers and external recruiting partners in eliminating unconscious bias in the recruitment process, largely through awareness, self-testing and training. As a result, we are now seeing diverse and inclusive shortlists of candidates for interview – and it’s easy to see the change in mindset in the business.
Fujitsu’s Inclusive Recruitment and Mobility pack sets out nine simple steps for inclusive recruitment:
We also run workshops on using recruitment tools, and proactively engage with our teams and external recruiting partners to promote this approach. Our leadership team has played a valuable role in modelling the change and demonstrating our new ways of working, as the example for everyone to follow.
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Finally, we all know that complacency can become the beginning of the end for any kind of best practice, so it’s important to keep the subject of unconscious bias on the agenda, and part of the manager review process, so that it stays a priority for achieving and maintaining diverse, inclusive and balanced workforce.
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