Grasping the importance and value of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workforce characterizes cutting-edge organizational governance. There is a growing awareness that deeply embedded unconscious bias both harms persons of marginalized communities and hampers companies from activating the full potential of their employees. Diversity initiatives prompted by progressive social change and government mandate have given even late-adopters an impetus to confront and exploit this challenge. Intersectionality is one powerful conceptual tool that identifies and unpacks the significance of the converging strands of experience that constitute our human signature. On the one hand, it can help companies understand the specific barriers employees have needed to overcome and the social harms they may have endured. On the other, it can help recruiters select best candidates based on the strength of their unique perspectives, talents, and aptitudes. Meshing the goals of human resource productivity with those of social justice is not just desirable, it has become a prerequisite for any profit-driven firm that seeks a social license to operate and wants to build a better world. (Garr & Jackson, 2019) Tackling individual and systemic bias is good for society and good for business.
One technology that use intersectionality to achieve this is Joonko. Joonko aggregates runner-up candidates who didn’t receive high-level job offers but who did satisfy all of a role’s diversity priorities. Joonko’s AI matches candidates to companies who have made their own diversity priorities available and who are actively recruiting. Companies then have a list of potential candidates who have been “pre-qualified” for their specific diversity requirements. This saves the time of both job seekers and recruiters.
Reference
Garr, S. S., & Jackson, C. (2019). Diversity & inclusion technology: The rise of a transformative market. Technical report, RedThread Research.