Asia’s hiring managers believe inclusive recruitment beneficial, but knowledge gaps are a challenge

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In addition, respondents cited limited candidate pools is a challenge companies faced when recruiting diverse management candidates.

A majority of (89%) hiring managers in Asia believe inclusive recruitment benefits everyone, similar to the sentiment shared by non-hiring managers (88%).

While acknowledging the importance of it, there were gaps in knowledge, for which processes could be utilised to improve inclusivity in hiring.

This was among the key findings from Hays' latest report titled Building Inclusive Hiring Practices: A Blueprint for Action, which surveyed 966 working professionals and hiring managers across China, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand in July 2024.

Less than half (49%) of all survey respondents felt their company initiatives were effective towards recruiting management positions from diverse talent pools, with 58% citing limited candidate pools as a challenge.

When asked about how they felt their companies currently stood at diversity, equity and inclusivity (DE&I) initiatives, half of non-managers whose ethnicities were under-represented in their organisation expressed feeling like they faced limited career advancement opportunities due to their personal diversity factors.

Nearly half (45%) were dissatisfied with the diversity of their management teams resulting from internal promotions, while 87% felt it was important for recruitment processes to be inclusive of their needs.

For those who are caregivers, working professionals identified as carers for an older person (18%) were only slightly lower than those identifying as child carers (24%). However, efforts to support caregivers for the elderly are not highly visible in most companies, or are applied on a case-by-case basis.

Additionally, more than one-third (36%) of caregivers felt they faced barriers to career advancement, and were more likely to leave a place of employment for options that offer more flexibility.

Segmented by gender, men and women placed similar levels of importance regarding DE&I measures, with minor variance. Men were 5% more likely to feel like they faced barriers to career advancement, while 6% more women felt recruitment processes needed to be inclusive to their needs.

The report suggested organisations can consider establishing and leveraging on employee resource groups (ERGs) to foster internal inclusivity and assist with identifying promising individuals from within to develop.

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