(what you’ll learn from Paolo Gaudino’s TedxTalk)

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Ted talks. At Optimal, we love them! If you’ve been living under a rock, these less-than-eighteen-minute snapshots into the minds of those who make waves are a cultural phenomenon from expert speakers on education, business, science, tech and creativity. Covering a wide range of topics from mental health to platforming trans voices to AI - if you’re taking a quick ten-minute break, there’s nothing like a Ted talk to keep you company.

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They’re also essential for DE&I, as we can only understand another’s experience in the world by hearing it directly from them. This week, one specific Ted Talk caught our attention. 

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Measuring Inclusion: DEI without the backlash by Paolo Gaudiano provides a candid look at some of the problems with typical DEI approaches. It’s a hard-hitting, stark look at how we can improve our DE&I practices. So, for this week’s blog, here’s what you’ll learn from Paolo’s TED talk.

Inclusion Is What We Do - Diversity Is What We Get

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There is a considerable backlash against DE&I, and that is a big problem:

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• A phenomenon exists that Paolo calls the diversity disconnect - for the past five decades, people have been focusing on the D in DE&I without defining the E and the I.
• This is because we don’t have any tools to measure inclusion. In every other facet of business, we consider assets - and we diversify these assets to make more money.
• Because we lack the tools to measure diversity, it can be easy to criticise.

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The focus on diversity tends to lead to accusations of reverse discrimination:

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• If we look at the numbers. A diversity office says they will increase the number of people of colour by 5% and the number of women by 10% in three years, eliminating 15% of white men. Looking at it this way, you can see how some white men might be offended.
• However, there are better arguments than this if looking to measure diversity. It only looks at entry level and ignores retention.

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We need to look at the executive level to measure diversity:

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• Looking at diversity in entry-level hiring, you’ll see around 40% are white men.
• By the time you get to the executive level, the number of white men has increased by more than 30% - the number of women and people of colour has decreased by more than 30%
• It’s clear that entry level is not the problem - it’s the retention.

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We have to stop treating the symptoms and start treating the problem:

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• You wouldn’t fix the heat in a house by holding a match under the thermostat when the windows, roof and door were broken - so why are we looking at entry level?
• The problem is at the executive level, so we must address DE&I here.

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We don’t notice when we’re being included, but we do see when we’re being excluded:

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• For example, you don’t know when you’re healthy, but you do notice when you are sick.
• If we expand this, when you are sick, you’re more likely to know about your disease, its symptoms, and how to treat it.
• If we apply this to the workplace, it is clear we need to speak to those who are marginalised, allowing them to be honest without the fear of repercussions to see how we can improve inclusion - how are the most included, often at the executive level, going to know what to change!

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We must redefine the commonly known definitions of Inclusion and Equity.

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Inclusion is what we do:

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• If you are not focusing on inclusion, your staff will quickly get bored and leave the business, depriving you of an asset.
• Performance and morale in the team will decrease - resulting in less-than-desirable work. Because of this, the team won’t be given the best tasks and thus begins a vicious cycle of demotivation.
• To avoid this, we must ensure everyone feels included in their own way all the time - this will look different for everyone.

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Equity is what we want:

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• When people are demotivated and performing below their peak, they’ll produce below-average work.
• It can also make people feel like they don’t belong, quickly turning your employee into a job hunter.

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The numbers:

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• We know that it costs about one year's salary to replace an employee.
• If the retention of men in your organisation is 90%, but the retention of women is only 8%, and you’re paying them an average of $100,000 a year, that’s ten million dollars out of the window.
• The same is true of any diverse group, people of colour, people with disabilities, and LGBTQI+ employees.
• Even if DE&I is not at the top of your list, this avoidable loss of money shows you exactly why investing in DE&I properly is paramount. Invest in making a business more DE&I compliant, and you’ll make more money. Perfect!

How Optimal helps

Our primary mission with our cutting-edge AI is to defend DE&I and champion equality, so all job ads are open and inclusive to the broadest range of potential applicants possible, providing you with up to 24% net new candidates viewing and applying for your vacant roles.

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Pop your Job Description or Advert through our SaaS platform (software as a service), and it’ll assess and remove anything that falls under The Equality Act.

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However, we also take this one step further, constantly refining our technology. It respects the DE&I and removes phrases, words, or concepts that might scare off a specific type of person from applying. For example, most female applicants will be put off by the term ‘Driven’. Optimal replace this word with an alternative like ‘generous’, ‘favourable’ or ‘compelling’ - not frightening female applicants yet still conveying the message. It’s easy to make these small changes. Still, they’re essential in opening the doors to attract and retain the perfect potential person.

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Whilst inclusion is fundamental, this is only one element in optimising your Job Ads for DE&I. Structure, coherence and length are also primary elements that need to be measured and considered in your final optimised Job Ad.

About Get Optimal

Work with us at Optimal, and your response rate for open positions will soar by a minimum of 24%. Let our AI display the most readable parts of your Job Ad and save the precious time you would have spent combing through old or plagiarised job ads to ensure you’re conveying the correct image in the new world of attracting suitable and diverse candidates. No longer will applicants be put off by the vacancy or how it’s been advertised. Optimise once and post in multiple places - your new Job Ad is in a downloadable, editable form to drop in to whichever job board or multi-poster you like!

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We are also integrated with Bullhorn and Salesforce. We ensure your Job ad is Diversity and inclusion-compliant, meaning you’ll be the top choice commercially and win business over other, less enlightened competitors.‍

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Ready to join forces? Why not book your demo today and get started with Get-Optimal?