Slalom – Finalist 2023, Best for flexible recruitment
Slalom puts flexible working front and centre of the recruitment process, as a way to celebrate individuality and attract the best talent that represents diverse communities with which they work.
Flexible by design
Recruitment at Slalom is underpinned by the belief that every candidate is an individual and that flexibility is central to supporting difference and having a happy, engaged team. As such, roles are assessed for flexibility prior to recruitment. Hiring managers are trained to find flexibility in every role and must justify any role that isn’t deemed flexible. They have taken a fresh approach to job adverts and now explicitly talk about their values, including flexibility regardless of circumstances, and outline the flexibility available.
Fair and inclusive
There is an awareness that recruiting from all walks of life helps bring in the best, most diverse talent with a richness of thought that can address the full range of client challenges. There is also a determination to plug into previously untapped talent due to barriers around flex. An awareness of the impact of masculine-coded language on deterring women applying for jobs has resulted in all adverts being checked using a linguistic gender decoder. Whilst full details on flexible working policies do not feature on job adverts, the talent acquisition team will address flexibility needs during the first screening of the recruitment process and ensure the hiring manager is aware so that accommodations can be made if necessary. A dialogue around flexibility is initiated by the interview panel to address any needs. Conscious effort is made through using market intel and insight tools to influence hiring decisions in order to meet and exceed the demographics of communities.
Training
The Talent Acquisition team has been trained in inclusive recruiting standards, which is used as a referral tool when guiding hiring managers in recruiting their teams. The course covers topics such as mitigating unconscious bias, navigating microaggressions in recruitment and inclusive feedback and debriefs, ensuring inclusivity whilst hiring the best.
Measure of success
The updated approach to flexible recruitment has seen a four-point increase in female representation in a team made up of 17 different ethnicities with over 45 languages spoken. Partnerships with Salesforce SuperMums, Code First Girls and Women in Data to enable a pathway for underrepresented groups into the industry has generated seven female employees. The commitment to hiring with diversity in mind has led to 82% of roles hired having a diverse candidate and diverse interview panels.
