Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist
What is the Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist?
The Women Friendly Recruiter checklist is a tool to support you to be an inclusive employer and demonstrate that you have considered the needs of women during the recruitment process. The Women Friendly Recruiter initiative is open to any organisation or business in Leeds and is packed full of benefits including increasing the number of applicants and maximising the pool of skilled candidates. It also demonstrates you are an inclusive, supportive and compassionate employer, actively encouraging women and others to join your business. Not only this, but you will be fostering a positive workplace and a healthy, happy work/life balance, thus increasing staff productivity.
The Women Friendly Recruiter Checklist is a practical tool that can be used to help employers, organisations and businesses to create and develop women friendly practices, benefits and opportunities through their recruitment and employment processes. It is a working document to be used and added to over time, when your organisation offers more benefits and policies to encourage and support prospective employees.
It has three standards that employers can work towards and achieve, demonstrating that they are women friendly recruiters.
The standards are Bronze, Silver and Gold.
Logos will be uploaded on either the Bronze, Silver or Gold Sections of the WFL Website to celebrate success and will be a live link their Women Friendly Leeds designated recruiter space/page.
We are interested so what do we do?
If you want to work towards being a Women Friendly Recruiter – Download the tool kit in the link below.
Also let us know who you are, your organisation and your website address by clicking the email link here.
By doing this we can monitor your progress online via your website and award you with the appropriate standard once it has been evidenced publicly.
Download Tool Kit & Guidance
Click on the links below to download the tool kit and guidance.
“This is unbelievably important and would make such a difference to my family life and wellbeing.”
“I’d see an organisation that said these things as being more caring and ethical. I’d be drawn to one that did, rather than one that didn’t”
What are the benefits of being a WFL Recruiter
Being and working towards a WFL recruiter will bring many benefits to every employer, but the most important one is recognition that women are supported in your workplace, where their needs are being met, you have women friendly policies and recruitment practices enabling them to thrive in the workplace.
By signing up to be a WFL Recruiter, prospective employees will have an increased confidence in your business or organisation as they will clearly see what you offer at a Bronze, Silver and Gold standard.
The Standards
These have been designed to encourage employers to fully consider and develop, women friendly recruitment practices, policies and procedures demonstrating that they have considered the needs of women in their workplace.
WFL Recruiters are asked to evidence their commitment in being women friendly by having a designated space on their website clearly promoting, evidencing and available for download where applicable each of the Standards listed requirements towards the Bronze, Silver and Gold Standards.
Bronze Standard:
A low-level commitment for even the smallest employers to evidence they are a women friendly recruiter.
In your designated Women Friendly recruiter webspace employers are to show the following pledge:
Bronze Pledge
“We are committed to becoming a visible Women Friendly Recruiter, will work towards achieving as a minimum the Bronze Standard, so women can make informed choices about our organisation and we will work towards achieving the Silver Standard.”
What evidence is required:
- A designated women friendly recruitment space on your website promoting women’s opportunities
- All Women Friendly Employee policies your organisation offers.
- Any Women Friendly benefits your organisation offers.
Silver Standard:
A medium-level commitment for smaller organisations to aspire towards and for more well-established businesses and organisations to have as a minimum offer demonstrating their commitment in supporting women into and being employed with them.
In your designated Women Friendly recruiter webspace employers are to show the following pledge:
Silver Pledge
“We are committed to enhancing our offer and will build on Bronze foundations and have as a minimum a designated Women’s Workplace Champion and have at least ten women friendly benefits on our website”
What evidence is required:
- A designated women friendly recruitment space on your website promoting women’s opportunities
- All Women Friendly Employee policies your organisation offers.
- A minimum of Ten Women Friendly Employee benefits your organisation offers.
- Have a named Women’s Workplace Champion and their role publicised.
- Recognition and open-mindedness of how transferrable skills in recruitment processes as a public statement.
Gold Standard:
A high-level standard designed for all employers to work towards as a minimum offer.
In your designated Women Friendly recruiter webspace employers are to show the following pledge:
Gold Pledge
“We have enhanced our Silver status to include having a women’s workplace network; have at least 15 Employee benefits; all our policies and recruitment processes and resources are publicly available to download.
We Peer mentor *named* organisation to help them work towards achieving a Women Friendly Leeds Recruiter status.”
What evidence is required:
- A designated women friendly recruitment space on your website promoting women’s opportunities
- All Women Friendly Employee policies your organisation.
- A minimum of 15 Women Friendly Employee benefits your organisation offers.
- A Women’s Workplace Network with Terms of Reference available.
- Have a named Women’s Workplace Champion, with their role publicised.
- Recognition and open-mindedness of how transferrable skills in recruitment processes as a public statement.
- Recruitment processes, resources and how to apply are available – regardless if there are no current opportunities available.
Struggling for ideas?
Women also have suggested the following Women Friendly Hints and Tips for employers to consider:
Flexible Working
Practices include flexi-time, working from home or hybrid working, part-time roles or job -shares and compressed work weeks.
Flexible working can increase productivity, promote a healthy work-life balance, improve job satisfaction and attract top talent from a range of diversities and ages.
Women’s Workplace Champion
Appointing a women’s workplace champion or developing a women’s network offers
gender focused advice and support for employees, and can increase female
employees’ confidence and help them to reach their full potential. These schemes also demonstrate commitment as an inclusive employer.
The Workplace Champion should have the confidence and be in a position to
effectively challenge their own employers’ internal functions to become women
friendly recruiters and to take forward proposals from colleagues with the same
confidence.
Career History
Encouraging candidates to recognise and demonstrate the positive aspects of gaps in career histories and non-work experiences on their application forms can attract a
wider range of applicants who have the skills you need and promotes a healthy
work/life balance.
Have better return to work inductions after long period of absence due to maternity,
paternity, caring breaks, sabbaticals or career breaks.
Personal Experiences
Explicitly encourage non-working/soft-skills experiences to be included on CV’s
or application forms. Recognising these skills as transferable and relevant can
attract talent.
Recruiting managers to concentrate on potential and to be more open-minded about these skills and how they were developed and to include a statement that these will be considered in recruitment processes.
How about giving examples of how people can match their skills and experience
required?
Women Friendly Benefits and Policies
Encourage women to join and stay with your organisation by adopting robust
Maternity, dependents, carers leave policies and policies that recognise menopause and other women’s issues. Promote these on websites and provide them in advance and have a zero-tolerance gender discrimination policy during the application process.
How about being inclusive and having a paternity policy, or even a policy for
safer travel at night?
Job Share
Advertising for job shares can attract more candidates and job shares have been shown to improve productivity, flexibility and job satisfaction.
Why not share recruitment policies and procedures so women understand the application process more and provide them with application templates available to download.