Personal data, especially sensitive data, has become a major talking point across all aspects of our digital lives.

As individuals and internet users, we’re more aware than ever of how our data is collected, processed and stored. For businesses, this growing awareness often brings uncertainty — especially around staying compliant while managing the data of users, customers, employees and job applicants.

In recruitment, some jurisdictions require the collection of diversity data for mandatory reporting. For example, US EEO regulations mandate this for certain employers. Even where it’s not required, many companies choose to collect diversity data voluntarily to support their diversity and inclusion efforts, track progress and demonstrate a genuine commitment.

However, asking about personal characteristics such as age, ethnicity, disability, gender or sexual orientation can be culturally sensitive and legally risky. In many regions, it is either discouraged or outright prohibited, as it can lead to discriminatory practices and negatively impact applicants.

So how can organisations encourage diversity self-reporting in a way that is culturally appropriate, respectful and legally sound? It starts with using secure, compliant systems — like a recruitment CRM or applicant tracking system — that give you full visibility over how candidate data is collected and managed, while allowing for personalisation and process efficiency.

Read on for practical tips to help you stay compliant, aware of local regulations and sensitive to the cultural context you’re hiring in.

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Building psychological safety

Everything related to job vacancies and the hiring process speaks volumes about a company’s work environment and culture.

Candidate experience, talent attraction strategies and employee retention are all interconnected. Inclusive wording in a job description and application process design should aim at making sure that potential applicants won’t feel discriminated, alienated, marginalised or penalised in any way for honestly presenting themselves the way they are.

Adjectives and expressions like ‘young’, ‘green’, ‘fresh college graduate’, ‘dynamic’, ‘good-looking’, ‘rockstar’, ‘ninja’ and aggressive wording in general may discourage some potential applicants.

A vacancy text checker tool will help identify any unconsciously biased language. Also, don’t forget to share your commitment to D&I, including a statement where you openly welcome applications from a diverse pool of candidates.

To further reassure candidates that sharing sensitive information with a discriminatory potential won’t have repercussions, a visually distinct, clear separation between the actual job application form and the diversity data self-reporting form will help.

Clarity and transparency

Each data collection point should be introduced with a clear and easily understandable statement of the purpose of said collection, and how the data will be processed and used in absolute compliance with the relevant privacy regulations.

Even better, you could show how your company values inclusiveness by sharing your D&I scores and reports, and how your processes aim at ensuring equality and fairness.

Involvement

Positive initiatives like the ones aiming at increasing D&I have a great, tangible impact, and individuals are happy to contribute to their success and feel part of a good change.

Every company that strives to improve its processes and makes its objectives unambiguous and transparent will more easily see an increase in participation.

Asking for help and showing sincere appreciation will naturally increase engagement.

Additionally, properly phrasing not only the questions but also the answers in your self-reporting form is more important than you may think: always offer as many relevant and inclusive options as possible in the answer list, and, for example, substitute the disheartening catch-all ‘other’ with a less marginalising ‘not listed’.

Voluntary basis

When not requested by the law, it should be clearly stated that sharing this type of sensitive personal data that will be used to proactively improve internal D&I processes is entirely voluntary, and neither the information shared nor the refusal to share will result in any kind of disadvantage to the candidate.

For every question, the option to respond with ‘I’d prefer not to answer’ should always be included.

D&I as a hallmark

Actual D&I is not just a facade and needs to have solid foundations. A strongly diverse and inclusive culture will radiate from any initiative a company undertakes and wherever its presence is.

Nowadays, workforce composition, employee happiness and reputation constitute accessible information and contribute to a company’s global image just like annual revenue. A robust D&I posture will lead to a more positive perception of the company and play an important part in building trust.

Applicant diversity self-reporting is a valuable tool to assess if a company is able to attract a diverse talent pool and which channels contribute to it, as well as a way to identify which categories of applicants may feel discouraged and give up on submitting their applications.

The results of this evaluation will help not only pinpoint bottlenecks and create more inclusive processes but also find more qualified candidates and increase employee retention.

We like to host guest blogs from our expert integration partners so you’ll find that this blog was originally published by Diversely here.