Our Inclusive Hiring Policy
How we make our process fair and inclusive
1. We standardise job descriptions and review all listings before they’re posted.
We want to attract people from as wide a pool as possible to our open roles, so our job description template is written to be as inclusive and accessible as possible. Job listings always include a clear description of the advertised role, its responsibilities and any necessary skills. We include a salary or salary range whenever we can, and we only list qualifications when they are realistically required for the role.
All listings are reviewed by our DEIBA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity, Belonging and Accessibility) Team for their language, design and format before they’re posted, to make sure they are accessible, inclusive, accurate and truthful.
2. We’ve designed our application process with inclusivity in mind.
We avoid overly formal, technical or corporate language in our job descriptions to make them friendly and accessible to all. We keep communication with all candidates consistent and unbiased, and we give clear information about timings and expectations. We’ll use a candidate’s preferred method of contact wherever we can, whether that’s phone calls, video calls or email.
3. We share our job listings widely to attract a diverse pool of talent.
We recognise that a diverse company is a better company, and we want our listings to have the best chance of being seen by marginalised and underrepresented individuals. With this in mind, we publicise our listings on a range of broad and specific job listing sites. We use recruitment agencies that uphold their own diversity and inclusion principles.
4. We remove bias from our shortlisting process.
Our company follows an anonymised hiring process, unless the applications for a role cannot be anonymised fairly. This means that wherever an application does not require the submission of additional materials (e.g. a portfolio), each candidate’s name, gender, date of birth, hobbies, educational institutes, and other unnecessary information is redacted from their CV and application letter before the hiring manager sees them. This eliminates bias when hiring managers are building their candidate shortlists.
5. We make reasonable adjustments wherever we can.
We understand that candidates have different needs, and we’re happy to make whatever changes we can so that everyone can interview at their best. We encourage candidates to tell us about any adjustments that might help them throughout the hiring process. Asking for changes or adjustments will not impact a hiring manager’s consideration of a candidate.
Adjustments we can make might include:
- Meeting a candidate downstairs or outside the building before an interview
- Conducting an interview outside the office, e.g. in a café
- Giving candidates written material that will be referenced in the interview beforehand, and offering it in various formats, e.g. large print
- Conducting an interview with a candidate’s support worker, care worker or assistant present
- Enabling the use of assistive technology in interview tasks
- Reimbursing public transport costs for an in-person interview if a candidate might otherwise struggle to attend due to cost.
6. We train our staff in inclusive hiring and interviewing practices.
All our hiring managers are trained in Disability Confident Recruitment to ensure we follow fair and inclusive processes. All interviews use the same questions, tasks and scoring.
We believe we’re doing our best to be a fair and inclusive employer. If you’ve seen a job listing from us that doesn’t meet the principles of this policy, please do let us know. If you know of any job listing sites that would help us reach a wider range of candidates, or if you’d like to ask anything else about our inclusive hiring policy, please write to our DEIBA Team at deiba@sawdays.co.uk.
