Case Study: Advising UK Financial Services Providers on ED&I Recruitment Opportunities

About The Client

Adecco work with various clients within UK financial services, providing consumers and businesses with a selection of financial products and services.

The Challenge

Adecco has worked with a range of clients within financial services for over ten years, providing recruitment services. Recently, we worked in partnership to promote Diversity and Inclusion in the recruitment process.

Recognising the strength of Adecco’s own ED&I commitments and the success of our longstanding partnership, we were asked to undertake a comprehensive analysis of current workforces and advise where changes could be made to the recruitment process to promote diversity.

Emphasis was placed on gathering feedback from both current candidates and existing workers and our ability to understand the data and recommend improvements accordingly.

Our Solution

Two ED&I questionnaires were created – one aimed at candidates currently applying for positions and one focused on existing contingent workers already placed into roles.

Analysing The Data

We were able to obtain responses from over 80% of participants. For one client, the surveys highlighted the following priorities:

A need to attract more women into roles. In a traditionally male-dominated environment, certain factors – such as the specific skills and experience requirements – were dissuading women from applying. A lack of tailored advertising also represented a missed opportunity to directly target women as part of the attraction campaign.

A need to reduce unconscious bias. Candidates who identified as neither male nor female were attracted to roles but were not being hired. There was also a recognisable disparity in the number of people from a white background applying for roles (33%) compared to the number being hired (50%). Application and hiring decisions were also split roughly 70% in favour of men, with 30% favouring women.

Recommendations

Adecco proposed an ED&I ‘roadmap’ in line with the client’s internal strategy to address the challenges identified. This focused on raising awareness, attracting diverse talent, and promoting inclusion.

To attract more women into roles, we suggested:

• Utilising job boards specifically designed to appeal to ‘Women in Tech’.
• Providing specialist training and refresher sessions to ensure adverts remained as inclusive as possible and raising awareness of gendered language.
• Including a statement on all adverts to encourage candidates who did not meet all the skills criteria to apply anyway. This was primarily to help inspire female candidates – but also candidates from minority ethnic groups – with transferable skills to apply to professions traditionally dominated by white male applicants with more direct experience.

To mitigate unintended bias in the selection process, we recommended:

• Producing a guide for the client’s hiring managers, with suggestions and tips on how to make interviews as inclusive as possible.
• Educating teams on unconscious bias and what to be aware of.
• Making sure the hiring process remained relevant for the job role by removing unnecessary elements that could discourage candidates.
• Providing advice to hiring managers on what a suitable selection process would look like.

We also advised the client on the value of an effective onboarding process and regular comms to promote their ED&I successes. Our proposals included:

• Promoting allyship within job adverts and creating a buddy system for new starters.
• Conducting social media campaigns to promote how the client supports diverse groups.
• Publishing stories highlighting representation and how candidates have been supported across the hiring journey, including those returning to the workforce from early retirement or parenthood.

Outcomes

Our client agreed to implement selected actions, and Adecco agreed to conduct new surveys every six months to monitor outcomes and recommend further improvements.

“We’re excited to share our expertise with clients, helping other employers develop inclusive recruitment and working practices through targeted projects and training programmes. We’ve seen firsthand the positive outcomes of a progressive, equitable approach and look forward to collaborating to create positive change – from maximising multicultural workforces to championing neurodiverse talent.”

– Niki Turner Harding, Senior Vice President & Country Head at Adecco UK & Ireland.

To learn more about Adecco’s commitment to ED&I, please download our brochure.

Key Results

• Feedback responses gained from over 80% of participants.
• Numerous inclusive hiring practises adopted based on recommendations.

Improve Your Approach to Inclusive Recruitment with Adecco

With inclusion constantly evolving, so is our approach to recruitment. We work with clients to review progress, exchange ideas, and advise on improvements to create a sustainable and lifelong impact.

Contact us today to ensure your ED&I initiatives remain transformative, not temporary.