Background
Recruitment and leadership services company Harvey Nash has been on a 10-year journey to develop a culture of diversity and inclusion.
In 2017, a team of leadership consultants, internal D&I specialists and recruitment consultants across the country volunteered their time to launch an initiative called Inclusion360 promoting D&I excellence in Attraction, Selection and Onboarding. Their 360° approach facilitates knowledge sharing, raising awareness internally and embedding good practice in recruiting and developing Harvey Nash’s own talent.
"At Harvey Nash, diversity and inclusion has moved from HR policy to daily conversation"
Approach
Inclusion360 promotes a community where recruitment consultants and clients can collaborate, share knowledge and encourage best practice in a series of workshops and seminars. The programme aimed to develop a user-friendly guide for consultants and clients in Attraction, Selection and Onboarding; establish a network for continued innovation; and to achieve collective objectives around diversity and inclusion.
Outcome
Internally, workshops have been used to capture best practice and stories to share through blogs and ‘how to’ guidebooks. Harvey Nash have partnered with Evenbreak (a job board helping talented disabled candidates and inclusive employers to find each other) to widen their internal diversity; and implemented AI software company Textio to remove gender-biased language from their job descriptions. Whilst all employees had mandatory unconscious bias training, the application of this knowledge has best been achieved through embedding the learning in their daily practice.
At Harvey Nash, diversity and inclusion has moved from HR policy to daily conversation, with new ideas and activities constantly emerging. Externally, the organisation is optimally positioned to have a positive lasting effect with their clients by adopting fair, evidence-based recruitment and selection processes.