While diversity was already woven into Takeda’s values and corporate culture, the global biopharmaceutical company is accelerating efforts towards a more diverse, equitable and inclusive DE&I organization. After partnering with IBM, Takeda expanded its multidisciplinary and diverse talent acquisition team to rethink the recruiting process and expand the pool of qualified candidates. Through a focused and consistent approach to incorporating DE&I at all stages of recruitment, Takeda’s goal is to enhance the diversity of its workforce to better reflect the needs of the patients it serves.
The Takeda and IBM team began by providing a structured interview process to improve the talent selection process by creating a consistent, fair, and objective interview process that was sustainable. Starting with the organization’s approach to attracting talent, the team evaluated Takeda’s talent acquisition process from application to acceptance. As part of this methodology, the team carefully assessed how to prepare the interview team to effectively interview and obtain candidate feedback.
Dominique Brewer, U.S. diversity, equity and inclusion leader, USBU and GPLS at Takeda, says one of the most common and long-standing misconceptions about recruiting is the lack of talent in the supply pipeline. Under this assumption, the recruitment process focused on hiring the strongest talent that best fit the available candidate options, without recognizing the need to challenge this way of thinking and diagnose the root cause of the talent supply problem. However, open to the possibility that the talent pool would be much larger if it was expanded to include a more diverse set of candidates, Takeda challenged these misconceptions and began making strategic changes to its recruiting approach.
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According to Brewer, people often have an unconscious tendency to hire employees within their immediate network because it is believed to reduce risk. However, Brewer argues that hiring only people from your network of contacts reduces the pool of qualified candidates rather than increasing it.
“Recruiting solely from your network actually creates more risk because you miss out on opportunities to be innovative due to different interview constructs, experiences, knowledge and assessment methods,” says Brewer. “The challenge in changing the way organizations think about recruiting is finding ways to offer a more holistic perspective rather than just focusing on small areas of opportunity.”
The examination and restructuring of the organization’s recruitment and employment processes took 18 months. Following the completion of the project, Takeda implemented five changes and initiatives:
- Competency-based interview guide – Takeda has created a structured process that aligns with the company’s values and incorporates inclusive behaviors throughout the interview process.
- Including job descriptions – Takeda has begun evaluating job descriptions to ensure the recruitment process begins with inclusive and optimized job descriptions.
- Diverse, multi-functional interview panels – Takeda has created employee interview panels, which are used both for conducting job interviews and summarizing candidates. These panels include underrepresented groups as well as employees from other departments.
- Diversity referral programs – Instead of recommending candidates simply in the hope that their referral will improve their chances, hiring managers are informed about the referral and these candidates are taken more seriously. Takeda promotes the referral program throughout its diverse network of employee resource groups.
- Blind resume reviews – Takeda has removed identifying features from CVs to minimize unconscious bias and ensure a fairer process at the outset.
“Starting recruiting was just the first step for Takeda,” Brewer says. Brewer says the key to success is empowering broader employee ownership to support diversity, which ultimately strengthens the organization by creating greater opportunities for all and encouraging all employees to bring their whole selves, with all their unique talents, to Takeda.
Through awareness, collaboration and strategic initiatives, Takeda has transformed its recruiting function to more fully integrate diversity, equity and inclusion in its practices. By putting awareness, support and change at the forefront of the talent acquisition process, Takeda has set the stage for a truly inclusive organization.
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