From: Bryant Dickson <you@inova.

com>
Date: Wednesday September 26, 2018
To: Hiring in Leadership Committee
Subject: Hiring Practices Recommendation

Hello,

Summary:
It’s clear to see that we have an issue with a lack of diversity at iNova. Our current diversity
profile reflects a male dominant workplace with a 76% male gender population to just 24%
female. It also displays a predominantly white workplace with 73 of our 103 employees being
white. If we hope to increase diversity in the company, we must put certain hiring practices into
effect. These procedures will help to bring in new clients in the future as well as to improve
decision-making within the company. Some hiring procedures that can be implemented
include: Employing a diverse cast of interviewers, using software to remove biases in recruiting,
and rewording our job postings.

Discussion:
A lack of ethnic diversity is something that many companies struggle with. Our 70% white racial
population needs to be addressed. There are a multitude of ways this can happen. I am
confident that the procedures and policies I have recommended will help to create a more
balanced and diverse workplace here at iNova.

Ethnic Diversity:
If we as a company plan to grow by about 15% in the next few years, it is important that we
increase the amount of ethnic diversity. Studies show that a greater ethnic diversity produces
fresh ideas and can produce better decision making within a company. It can also improve
employee performance. While researching this issue I came across an article from Ideal.com
written by Ji-A Min that wrote about the idea of employing interviewers of different ethnicities
and backgrounds. Min writes about improving workplace diversity overall and states that
software tools can be used to remove any biases in the recruiting process. Removing bias helps
to erase any existing patterns used when it came to the interviewing and hiring process.
Software would be used to replace manual screening “with a system that objectively and
consistently applies screening criteria across all candidates” (Min, 2017). Technology like this
already exists and can be put in place easily and quickly. This AI dives into our existing database
and uses this to filter through the stronger applicants. This removes all human bias. (Min, 2017)

When interviewing for a position at a company, the applicant pays attention to the people
conducting the interview. When an African-American candidate’s interview is conducted by
someone from a diverse background, they may feel more comfortable working for the
company. It only makes sense that people want to be surrounded by people that they can
relate to. So, when I found an article written by Maynard Webb from Forbes.com, I realized
that this is a common understanding. The article suggested that employing a diverse set of
interviewers could improve both ethnic and gender diversity in a workplace. Having a person of
Bryant Dickson 2
September 26, 2018
Hiring in Leadership Committee

similar background can improve the chances of the candidate accepting the job. (Webb, 2017)
“In fact, experts say, one of the biggest deciding factors on whether or not a female candidate
accepts a job is if there was a woman on the interview panel” (Webb, 2017). Therefore, training
already existing members of the company that have a diverse background should be a strong
possibility. This may also bring about new viewpoints.

Women in the Tech Industry:

The technology industry is male dominant but that doesn’t necessarily mean that our company
must follow the norm. I firmly believe that we can make this company a balanced place to work
for both men and women. While researching the issue of women in the tech industry, I found
an article from CIO of the International Data Group that discussed just how badly women are
represented in the technology work. According to the Department of Labor, only 11% of
engineers are women. In addition, only 26% of American computer programmers are women
(Schoellkopf). Here at iNova, we should strive to improve our 24% female employment rate
drastically. A solution the article suggested was to re-evaluate our job postings. In the article,
Schoellkopf found that the way ads are written can have negative effect on applicants who
were thinking about applying. Using words like “dominant”, “strong”, “competitive”, and
“superior” are seen as more masculine traits. They can also be seen as negative traits for
women. We should aim to use more inviting words like “team”, “relationships”, “committed”,
and “understanding”.

Recommendation:
As we look to the future, we must recognize that we have to make improvements with diversity
in our company. In hopes of decreasing the ratio between men and women, we should re-
evaluate our job postings to make them more appealing toward women. Erasure of threatening
words like “dominant” and “strong” is a must. This should bring about more equality for
applicants. To bring about more ethnic diversity, implementing a software tool that can help to
remove any previous biases is an idea I highly recommend. This would erase any existing hiring
patterns and should bring more balance with those hired. In addition, expanding our
interviewing cast to include people from diverse backgrounds would increase job acceptance
rates from multiple ethnicities. These steps are just a few of many solutions to our diversity
problem. If you have any questions or ideas, please feel free to contact me via email or phone.

Regards,

Bryant Dickson
Bryant Dickson 3
September 26, 2018
Hiring in Leadership Committee

Reference List:

Min, J. (2017, October 16). 5 Recruiting Tips To Increase Diversity In the Workplace. Retrieved
from https://ideal.com/diversity-in-the-workplace/

Schoellkopf, K. (n.d.). Hire More Women In Tech. Retrieved from

https://www.hiremorewomenintech.com/

Scorsone, G., & IDG Contributor Network. (2018, March 26). Women in tech: How to increase
gender diversity. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/article/3266205/hiring-and-
staffing/women-in-tech-how-to-increase-gender-diversity.html

Webb, M. (2017, October 30). How To Alter Your Hiring Practices To Increase Diversity.
Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/maynardwebb/2017/10/29/how-to-alter-your-
hiring-practices-to-increase-diversity/#662aae9c2029