Majority of Asian professionals believe data is key to attracting diverse talent: employers yet to match expectations

The majority of employers across Asia capture the workforce diversity data of those they select and hire, and the majority of employees across Asia believe that the usage of workforce feedback for understanding demographic engagement is a positive thing. However, only half of them are confident that such data is being effectively used to inform their candidate attraction strategy, reveals the latest Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) report by leading recruitment experts Hays.

The findings of the 2019/2020 version of this annual report are based on survey responses from close to 2000 working professionals based in China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia. 87 per cent of respondents were born in Asia, 54 per cent were female, and 39 per cent held managerial positions. The survey covered personal experiences of the respondents with D&I in their workplaces, as well as their perceptions of its practice within and impact on their organisations.

Data driven talent attraction on the rise; but more participation from employers needed

Employers across Asia are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of applying D&I practices to their talent attraction strategies, with 64 per cent of respondents agreeing their organisation was proactive in its efforts to source diverse candidates. To do so, most companies currently ask existing employees for referrals (61 per cent) and analyse job application data to understand which advertising channels produce a diverse mix of applicants (34 per cent). Employees are also increasingly recognising this necessity, with 82 per cent believing these efforts were a positive thing.

In fact, the use of data is becoming an important tool in Asia’s battle against D&I related problems. 67 per cent of employers capture the workforce diversity data of those they select and hire, and 74 per cent of employees believe that the usage of workforce feedback for understanding demographic engagement is a positive thing. However, only 50 per cent are confident that such data is being effectively used to inform their candidate attraction strategy, with those in Japan (22 per cent) being least confident.

Applying D&I practices to talent attraction at a high but targets still need improvement

Although the use of data is on the rise, setting D&I targets is an area that could still use improvement. 71 per cent of employees believe that the setting of diversity recruitment targets for senior managers and line managers has a positive impact on the attraction of new and more diverse talent; yet only 57 per cent of companies have targets at all, with just 48 per cent setting them specifically for management.

However, individual indicators of D&I practices still remain overwhelmingly positive, with 83 per cent of respondents believing that ‘making sure the language used to describe vacancies and organisations is unbiased’ is a positive step, and 78 per cent of organisations saying they practiced this. Similarly, 80 per cent believed that profiling their organisation’s commitment to D&I in their recruitment materials was a positive thing, with 67 per cent of organisations agreeing that they already practiced this.

In China: Closing the gender gap with D&I practices

A total of 86 per cent of respondents in China agreed that the language their companies used to describe vacancies, organisation and culture were unbiased (up from 70 per cent last year). This statistic may be reflective of a positive move by the Chinese government who banned employers from asking potential female employees questions on their marital status or intentions to have children in the future.

However, 35 per cent of respondents in China still felt that to better reflect today’s society, their organisations should attract, select and retain more women, and 25 per cent felt their gender lowered their chances of being selected for a job. But there is still progress towards closing the gender gap in other areas, with 82 per cent of those we surveyed regarded flexible working practices – considered key in returning more mothers to the workforce – as a positive action in attracting more diverse talent. 67 per cent also agreed that their organisation already offered this option to some extent.

48 per cent of those who responded to our survey are confident, with an additional 12 per cent being extremely confident, that the diversity data sought and captured by their organisation is effectively used to inform candidate attraction strategy – the highest percentage in Asia. Furthermore, 41 per cent (also the highest in the region), stated that their organisation is proactive in its efforts to source diverse candidates through the analysis of job application data.

Simon Lance, Managing Director at Hays Greater China commented, “Despite the impressive steps that companies have taken over the past year to mitigate concerns over their D&I levels, it is clear there is still some way to go in terms of bettering perception and implementation. However, with the rising use of data to identify the right channels and methodology to attract a diverse mix of applicants, for example, we can expect to see yet more improvement in the year to come.”

To learn more about the 2019/2020 Hays Asia Diversity & Inclusion report, please click here.