17.12.2021
from
No Rottländer
The decision on the distribution of the ministries has been made. For the first time in the history of Germany, the Federal Cabinet under the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz will consist of women and men in equal parts. But what about companies in Germany? To what extent do they ensure that men and women apply equally when recruiting new employees? The StepStone online job platform has set itself the task of ensuring more equal opportunities on the job market. In a representative study of 3,500 people, StepStone looked at how fairly companies in Germany recruit new employees. The result: Almost every second company says that there are more men among the applicants than women. When it comes to leadership positions, even more companies observe it. “As long as that is the case, we are far from a fair labor market and from closing the gender pay gap,” says labor market expert Dr. Tobias Zimmermann. “Even if the inequality in our society has structural reasons that cannot be changed with a snap of the finger: Employers can and should do more to really address everyone who is suitable for the respective job. In view of the development of the labor market, this is urgently necessary economically. ”
Drastic staff shortage: companies have to address everyone
A look at the vacancies on StepStone.de shows: The demand for personnel is huge. The number of new jobs was recently around 90 percent higher than in the previous year. And also in the StepStone study, 82 percent state that it is currently very challenging to find employees. But often the difficulty lies in addressing the right applicants. Although more than every second company has set itself the goal of wanting to employ the same number of men and women, very few (23 percent) have so far been actively working on it. “This is a wasted opportunity. We are in times of downright unemployment. Companies can no longer afford to miss applicants who would actually be ideally suited for a job, “says Zimmermann and adds:” We see a huge gap here: While many employers have the clear goal of seeing diverse teams many have a lot of catching up to do to set the course during recruiting. Diverse teams are demonstrably more capable of innovation. “
Including language and benefits in job advertisements can help
But how do companies manage to address all people in the recruiting process equally from the start? Above all, applicants would like information on flexible working hours and models (91 percent and 89 percent), information on salaries or benefits such as childcare (83 percent each). But wording in the job advertisement also helps to address everyone equally. Because there are expressions that subconsciously address more men than women – and vice versa. However, almost 60 percent of HR managers are not even aware of this. “We at StepStone want more equality in the job market. For this reason, we at StepStone developed the Genderbias decoder. He identifies whether job advertisements have a male or female bias and suggests alternative formulations so that everyone feels equally addressed, ”says Zimmermann. For example, for the phrase ‘We are looking for an ambitious and high-performing team member’, the tool automatically makes the alternative suggestion: ‘We are looking for a committed and talented team member’.
Via the StepStone Genderbias decoder
Studies show that women feel less addressed by job advertisements with typically masculine formulations and apply for these jobs less often. With the StepStone Gender Bias Decoder, employers can check their text for gender bias free of charge and use alternatives to make their job advertisement more successful. Click here to go directly to the StepStone Genderbias decoder: https://www.stepstone.de/genderbias-decoder
About the study “Gender equitable recruiting”
What role do unconscious prejudices play in recruiting? What is the gender ratio of the applicants? To what extent do HR managers use measures to achieve more equality in recruiting? What role does gender-neutral language play in job advertisements? The StepStone Research Team surveyed a total of 3,500 people between July and August, including around 500 people who are responsible for recruiting. The study is representative of the working population.
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