There is a vast body of research that proves that hiring practices in general are unfair and biased. In the previous blog post, we took a deep dive into questions around how unconscious bias has a critical effect on our judgment, which can further lead to unconscious casteism, ageism, and sexism seeping into the decisions on who gets hired.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) is especially important for us as organizations working in the non-profit sector that function to improve the lives of marginalized communities and promote social change. As it stands, underrepresentation from marginalized and underprivileged communities is a common thread across India’s development sector. A majority of professionals in this sector come from homogenous, privileged backgrounds, and there tends to be an absence of the voices of the very communities they strive to serve.

For us at GBL, DEI is a foundational value in that diverse backgrounds are not just accepted but celebrated and actively encouraged at all levels of the organization and in all our efforts. We recognize that centering diverse voices is not only the right thing to do but also the good thing to do for the success of our endeavors. We believe that people not only with passion, knowledge, and skills but also with lived experiences are integral to meaningful social change. We strive to deliberately and intentionally center people from marginalized backgrounds in decision-making that will impact outcomes in their own communities.

Affirmative Action hiring to bridge the existing gap

As one of the first steps in our efforts to solve this problem at our organizational level, we rolled out an affirmative action policy for internships at GBL in collaboration with Bahujan Economists, a collective engaged in advocacy for representation of marginalized communities that provides support to students of marginalized communities in the field of Economics, with half the vacant positions at GBL reserved for candidates from marginalized castes in Summer 2021. Since then, we have had two internship cycles where the number of selected candidates from underrepresented castes was at least half of the total vacant positions. To minimize bias in our process, we decided not to screen CVs of applicants and instead sent a screening test to all applicants. We believe that CVs alone cannot determine the skills of a candidate. Furthermore, a well-stacked CV is often an indicator of a person’s socio-economic privilege; leading to candidates from marginalized communities missing out on opportunities. Therefore, to level the entry criteria to the internship program, we decided not to focus on CVs at all.

The recruitment process starts with a skill-based test for all applicants which is then followed by interviews that tested candidates on their subject knowledge. Offers are subsequently rolled out to candidates whose combined scores for data tests and interviews are above the cutoff for open and affirmative action categories.

Reduce bias and increase fairness

1. Standardize the process as much as possible: To ensure there is equity during the hiring process, thinking like a scientist is paramount — keeping as many variables consistent so that true differences among candidates stand out. Just like a teaching professor would make sure to give every student the same test. This would help reduce the impact of bias and increase the predictive powers, hence making the process equitable and effective.
2. Skill-based assessment: Make sure to include work demos, tests, skill-based assignment and behavioral interview questions. This will be a way of making sure that candidates’ knowledge, skills and behavior patterns are being put to test as opposed to potentially biased and inaccurate assumptions about their ability based on a person’s past experience or “gut” feeling about their fit.
3. Set clear metrics: It is not enough to standardize assessments. It is also of utmost importance to standardize how people’s responses should be evaluated. (Imagine doing the work of giving every student the same test, then grading it differently). Before asking questions or doing assessments, come up with examples of good answers or scores (i.e., what to look for) and red flags (i.e., black or white situations that signal the candidate is not a match; example: not collaborative or refusing to use inclusive pronouns and language). Two common options are checklists and good and bad examples.
4. Be intentional about outreach and recruiting strategy. It is important to apply a DEI lens to every step in the hiring process. Identify organizational needs — such as languages, relationships to different stakeholders and communities you aspire to serve. Then build your hiring process designed to fill those needs. Recruit explicitly to reach diverse audiences. Go beyond personal contact, word of mouth, and usual posting avenues. Have a more diverse database of universities and colleges you reach out to. Develop sustained relationships with diverse communities, associations and affinity-based networks to seek out talent for underrepresented groups.
5. Establish a diverse hiring committee and provide necessary training: Establish a hiring committee that is involved in handling all steps of the hiring process, including outreach, interviews, and selection. Ensure that the committee’s membership is diverse, for example, by gender, caste (if you have that information available), function, and level. The committee should follow a consistent process.
6. Determine your job criteria and update job descriptions to reduce bias and invite diversity. This can be done in 4 simple steps:

a. Decide on outcomes: Define what a successful employee in this role would be doing 3–12 months after they start.

b. Identify skills and knowledge: Based on the dream achievements, work backwards to figure out what skills and knowledge are needed. Pro tip: Test your criteria to reduce bias and invite diversity. Ask: are these criteria truly needed to succeed in the role (example: minimum experience required, education level, personality traits?)

c. If you’re not sure which skills are needed? Interview people at your organization and externally who excel in a similar role. Ask: what skills and knowledge are critical to your success? Interview people with diverse backgrounds and styles to identify criteria that are actually needed for the role.

d. Pay close attention to how you define qualifications and competencies and the use of tests and other evaluations for hiring. Is the language inclusive and designed to attract a diverse candidate pool?

e. Lastly, hold your hiring managers accountable for building the best teams — and not just the best candidates.

We haven’t been perfect in our DEI journey and still have a lot of work ahead of us. However, looking to the future requires acknowledging the progress we’ve made. Most importantly, appreciating those who have made this small win possible. The actions and efforts we have listed above are not a reflection of one individual’s or one team’s work at GBL; they are a reflection of a collective and awe-inspiring commitment from GBL’s team members, leaders, and external partners.

We have come a long way, and we are proud of where we are, but at the same time, we acknowledge that a lot of work lies ahead of us. We feel both humbled and honored to have the commitment and engagement of our entire team in this initiative and to partner with brilliant partners, such as the Bahujan Economists. In the coming few months, our focus will be on making sure that we continue to create sustainable hiring policies to ensure that we can continue on our DEI journey well into the future. We look forward to sharing more of this work with you and continuing on this journey together.

This blog is co-written by Choden Roche and Sima Julka with contributions from several employees at Good Business Lab.

If you would like to share any thoughts or have any questions, reach out to us at info@goodbusinesslab.org.