A project exploring the recruitment experiences of people with disability led to a trial that significantly increased disability awareness training. Here are the lessons that might help other organisations seeking to enhance diversity and inclusion initiatives.

The following post summarises my team’s recent report.

Summary

• We partnered with a government organisation to test the impact of different email communications that encouraged staff to complete disability inclusion training
• Emails that make training easy and attractive are more likely to increase training completion. This includes emphasising the professional skills gained through the training, and the benefits that might flow onto our team members.

Background

I previously managed research on the career barriers and opportunities faced by people with disability in the public service. (Click on the summary below)

Recruitment and retention methods.

Our project sought to increase recruitment and retention of people with disability in the public sector. This encompasses a broad, cross-section of frontline service workers and policy staff.

I reviewed existing international studies that document the cognitive biases and systemic discrimination impacting people with disabilities. I also reviewed programs that have been successful in increasing the recruitment, promotion, and retention of people with disability.

My team conducted an evaluation of information systems used to recruit, promote and manage staff, as well as a customer journey map of each step in recruitment. We found that many recruitment systems do not align, meaning that vital information is lost along the way. For example, adjustments requested during a job interview are captured in a different database than the administrative system used to manage staff data, so adjustment requests need to be made over and over at different stages of employment.

My team carried out individual interviews with public service staff with disability, both online and face-to-face, as well as focus groups with managers and human resource experts.

Our research shows that public servants have low awareness about the definition of disability. Few people understand how prevalent it is (21% of Australians have a disability). There is a lack of awareness about training and resources to support the recruitment and retention of staff with disability.

Read our fieldwork results on recruitment and retention.

Our partner agency wanted to increase disability awareness and inclusion through training.

What We Did

Our fieldwork and desktop research informed our randomised control trial, which sought to increase the number of staff completing disability awareness training.

Disability training is voluntary. Staff have to be motivated to search through the organisation’s online learning portal to find relevant training. Only 2% of staff have completed the training.

How We Did It

To improve these outcomes, we tested two behaviourally informed emails against a ‘business as usual email.’

• Business as usual: we designed a simplified email, sent from a senior executive, that encourages staff to complete the training. The text describes what the training involves and how long it takes (20 minutes). The email makes it easy to access the training by including a direct link (call to action)
• Self-interest (ego-centric bias): this email includes the same text describing the training and the same call to action, but it starts by describing the skills gained by completing the disability training (‘communication skills to further your career’). The email ends with an endorsement to prioritise training (‘Your manager and I support you to prioritise this training in vital career skills’)
• Pro-social: this email includes the same text on the training and call to action, but it starts with a definition of disability that defies common assumptions. (‘Did you know that one in five people have a disability?’) The email shows the prevalence of disability and the benefit to team members. (‘You may have a disability yourself, or you may work with someone with a disability’). The email ends by leveraging the power of social networks, which often motivate people to take new actions. (‘Help everyone in your team to thrive by prioritising this training’)

What We Found

The emails were tested on almost 8,600 public servants. (I left the project at the testing phase, to focus on other projects.)

Results show that the two behaviourally informed emails were significantly more effective in getting staff to start training. However, all three emails still led to more people completing the training within two weeks.

Our trial increased completion from 2% of all staff, to 22% of staff completing the training.

Read our report.

How Social Science Helped

• Behavioural science methods improved systems and processes: we systematically reviewed data and information systems, as well as recruitment and training experiences. We used these insights to design a simplified and targeted approach to training
• Making training completion easy: we improved the process for assigning training, so staff didn’t have to go searching for training (changing the default)
• Making the email more attractive: prior to our trial, emails about the training were excessively long (information overload) and contained multiple links (too many calls to action)
• Making completion social (messenger effect): Our emails provided approval from executives and managers to prioritise diversity training
• Making completion timely: we timed our trial to coincide with performance reviews, where the use of the online learning portal was higher than usual.
• Appealing to self-interest: Making clear the career benefits of diversity training to everyone’s day-to-day work
• Activating pro-social sentiment: Showing how diversity initiatives helps our colleagues.