{"id":49620,"date":"2024-12-02T12:52:47","date_gmt":"2024-12-02T12:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/?p=49620"},"modified":"2026-01-22T10:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T10:51:16","slug":"diversity-hiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/diversity-hiring","title":{"rendered":"Diversity Hiring: How To Build An Inclusive Workplace in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We live in a beautiful world of some 1,500 ethnicities and over 7,000 languages spoken by people of different ages, abilities, and genders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet, a quick look at a Fortune 500 leadership page suggests only one particular type of person can succeed in the corporate world. Yep! White, middle-aged men have been unjustly favored in the hiring process for decades. It’s time to change that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, the FTSE Women Leaders Review has set a recommendation<\/a> that FTSE 350 companies have at least one woman in one of the four key roles by the end of 2025. The new EU Pay Transparency Directive<\/a> also requires companies with a gender pay gap of above 5% to take immediate action.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, many companies are taking voluntary steps to improve diversity hiring. Because they know the hard facts: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Companies that value diversity have a 6.8% higher stock price, 4X higher employee engagement rates, and 3.3 lower staff turnover<\/a>. <\/p>\nCulture Amp<\/a> <\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

If you, too, believe that bringing more voices to the table is better for business <\/strong>(and by proxy for the societies it operates in), here’s your primer on how to build a case and implement diversity hiring practices in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is diversity hiring?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hiring is the process of correcting conscious and unconscious bias<\/a> in the talent acquisition process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the most experienced recruiters might unconsciously privilege certain candidates based on their socioeconomic background, prior experience, or educational credentials. Diversity hiring neutralizes biases related to age, ethnicity, religion, disability, and gender in hiring decisions<\/strong>, giving equal opportunities to every candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDiversity hiring\u201d doesn\u2019t mean hiring someone because they tick a specific box,\u201d clarifies<\/a> Lauren Daly, Founder of Networkher UK. \u201cIt means giving every talented individual a fair shot at opportunities they may not have considered simply because the door hasn\u2019t felt open to them.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, many candidates felt left on the \u201cporch.\u201d Female candidates are less likely to apply to advanced, high-paid open roles because they\u2019re worried about not meeting all qualifications, according to Katherine B. Coffman<\/a>, an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. Including more precise requirements in the job description (a skills test passing threshold in the case of Coffman)<\/span> drove 29% more female applicants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Women, and disproportionally women of color, also face higher occupational segregation. According to UN data<\/a>, 62% of women work in the services industry, and only 4% of CEOs at Fortune 500 companies identify as female. Similarly, 63%<\/a> of LGBTQ+ people have dealt with some form of discrimination during their career, either being excluded from a promotion or treated with prejudice by colleagues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of diversity hiring is to ensure that companies hire people for the right skill sets, not \u2018convenient\u2019 or \u2018conventional\u2019 character attributes. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Toggl<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diversity vs. inclusion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Browse an HR blog or two, and you\u2019ll quickly see the words diversity and inclusion (DEI)<\/a> often go together. There\u2019s a reason for this, but the two terms don\u2019t actually mean the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hiring refers to the processes and tools we use when building a diverse workforce<\/a>. It\u2019s a strategic approach to the recruitment process, not an overarching theme for all areas of business organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inclusion is an ongoing task that extends beyond the goal of recruiting diverse candidates. Inclusive companies develop policies and processes that contribute to cultivating diverse teams. For example, they might schedule work events to celebrate different cultures or implement cultural competence training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, you can\u2019t practice diverse hiring and then neglect workplace inclusion<\/strong>. People who feel alienated, misunderstood, and otherwise \u201cpassed over\u201d in daily work will not be productive or stay with the company for long. 60%<\/a> of Canadian employees would quit their jobs for benefits that are more inclusive of their colleagues\u2019 diverse needs. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n \n \n \"Top \n Top tip:<\/span>\n <\/span>\n \n

To nurture an effective workforce, human resources professionals need to apply DEI tips<\/a> all across the workforce cycle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n

Diversity hiring vs. diversity hire<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another key distinction is between diversity hiring and diversity hires. Superficially, the two terms are almost identical, but they refer to different workplace concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hiring is a systematic process that applies unbiased candidate assessments<\/strong> to source candidates with the skills companies need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A diversity hire is an individual recruited to improve diversity metrics or tick HR boxes. They may have the required skills and suit the organizational culture, but without the right policies in place, a \u201cdiversity hire\u201d usually happens more by accident than design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hires also tend to face additional challenges in the workplace. Employees from different backgrounds might feel under increased pressure to deliver and feel more like a statistic than a human being \u2014 hardly a recipe for productivity and employee retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hiring helps leadership teams avoid this situation. A good diversity and inclusion hiring strategy means thinking beyond the quotas and focusing on systematic changes<\/strong> in talent acquisition, pay grading, succession planning, representation in management, and wider cultural transformations.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Benefits of building a diverse workforce<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Diversity hiring assumes major changes to your recruitment and selection process. Orchestrating change is tough, especially when you lack leadership buy-in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it\u2019s important to understand why<\/em> diversity and inclusion are critical parts of business success <\/strong>and communicate that data to others. Here are several statistics that we find particularly persuasive:<\/p>\n\n\n\n