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 Malaysia: An optimistic outlook for attracting diverse talent
50 per cent of survey respondents in Malaysia said their organisation would benefit from attracting, selecting and retaining more individuals from a variety of ethnic backgrounds – the highest number in Asia to say so. Organisations seem to be hearing this demand, with the report showing positive indicators of D&I practices in attracting diverse talent.

67 per cent of respondents in Malaysia agreed the language their organisation used to describe vacancies, organisation and culture was unbiased, with an additional 15 percent strongly agreeing. Other positive practices included the company website/careers site effectively and accurately representing employees’ lived experience in the organisation (55 per cent) and company recruitment material having imagery and branding that reflected a diverse workforce (54 per cent).

Tom Osborne, Managing Director at Hays Malaysia commented, “Despite the impressive steps that Malaysian companies have taken over the past year to mitigate concerns over their D&I levels, there is still some way to go in terms of proactiveness. 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 more improvement in the year to come.”

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

Last updated on October 21st, 2019