As diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring initiatives have become an increasing priority for organizations across the world, companies in India have been focused on creating opportunities for women in the workforce. According to a recent report from JobsForHer, the hiring of women in mid-management to senior-level roles in India nearly doubled between 2019 (22%) and 2020 (43%)—representing a positive step for India-based businesses.

Breaking Workplace Barriers by Promoting Opportunities for Women

But what are the advantages to gender diversity hiring strategies—and how are organizations finding ways to provide greater opportunities for women in the workforce? Here are some tips for your organization to foster a more inclusive and equitable workplace environment.

Prioritize diversity in your recruitment process

To make a substantial change in your approach to diversity recruiting, your organization must first take stock of its current processes. Do you have candidate scorecards for each open position? Have you utilized gender-inclusive language and neutral pronouns in your job descriptions? Are you currently posting open jobs to social media channels and diversity job boards? These options present meaningful opportunities to emphasize diversity within your recruiting searches.

Be selective of the overall qualifications listed for the position

Employment experts like Sheryl Sandberg have evaluated the ways in which men and women apply for job opportunities. Her findings showed that men apply for positions if they meet only 60% of the requirements—whereas women apply for open roles only if they meet all requirements. Sheryl advised companies to be selective of the requirements that they choose to list on the job description. By cutting out the excess bullet points and focusing on the responsibilities that are actually associated with the job, it is more than likely that you will see a rise in applications from women.

Remove names from candidate resumes

Looking for an easy way to evaluate candidates solely based on their experience and qualifications? When poring over resumes during the application review process, take off each candidate’s name. This strategy can effectively ensure that implicit gender biases are not impacting your hiring decisions—which can create more opportunities for women within your organization.

Utilize skill and behavioral-based assessment tools

Gaining access to additional sources of data during the recruiting process can help your organization to make a more informed hiring decision. That’s why assessments like Plum and the Predictive Index are incredibly helpful. Both tests can be taken by candidates and used to uncover interesting details about a candidate’s behavioral tendencies that can predict their workplace behavior. Moreover, companies can use skills testing tools like eSkill to evaluate candidates’ technical and job-based abilities.

Encourage and incentivize referrals

Studies show that word-of-mouth recruiting has proven to be an incredibly useful talent referral strategy. Companies can encourage women within their organization to spread the word about open positions to female friends, family members, and previous coworkers. This can be a simple—yet effective—means of increasing the number of women applicants for your open roles and fostering greater opportunities for females within the workplace.

Summary

In recent years, companies in India have shown a newfound commitment to creating opportunities for women within the workforce—and their efforts have already generated significant progress in gender diversity. Looking to the future, expect organizations to continue to promote diversity hiring initiatives to bring more women and minorities into the workforce. Not only will these objectives foster greater creativity and innovation, but they will ultimately lead to increased profitability and higher-performing teams.

Read Acara India’s case study to learn how we executed on our client’s gender diversity request to staff their entire suite of IT positions with women who had been removed from the workforce for at least six months.

Looking to reduce biases within your hiring process? Check out Acara India’s latest E-Book on Interview Tips for Team Leaders.