Equality and Opportunities Part One: Understanding Diversity
As a national leader in healthcare recruitment and staffing, Epic Specialty Staffing stands proudly behind our mission to connect healthcare talent with opportunity. A big part of that is our dedication to diversity, equality, and inclusion as a driving philosophy behind our practices.
We spoke with Mr. Rayshon Knight, an Executive Recruiter on our Executive Search team, to talk about what diversity and inclusion mean for organizations, and why understanding them is critical to their success. Prior to his time with us at Epic Specialty Staffing, Mr. Knight developed, led, and directed at other boutique search firms as the leader of their healthcare and diversity practices.
Diversity as Perspective
What most people understand is that “diversity” often refers to the nondiscrimination and equal opportunities given to women, people of color, and underrepresented groups of individuals based on their sexual orientation, religion, and other minorities.
However, one popular misconception that even most well-meaning individuals have is that diversity and inclusion are one and the same thing.
“That’s not the case at all,” explains Mr. Knight. “What diversity means is perspective.”
“Imagine that everyone at a company went to Harvard. Surely, of the greatest schools out there. But then, where’s the diversity of thought? Where’s the diversity of wealth? Age? Where’s the diversity of perspective? How can you develop your business when you’ll ultimately end up with a homogenous product?” asks Mr. Knight.
Perspective can be based on a lot of different things. Where you were born, what school you went to, how you were raised, and all these things come together to form an interpretive lens by which individuals view their surroundings.
In this way, diversity of perspectives is one of the strongest and most powerful tools that organizations can have in their toolkit. To create solutions, develop ideas, and bring unique perspectives into achieving various organizational objectives.
The Inclusion Principle
Just because an organization may have a diverse group of people on their board or their team, does not mean that inclusion is inherent.
“Inclusion goes deeper than that,” explains Mr. Knight. “Inclusion means people included, to giving them a chance.”
Think of the Rooney Rule – an NFL policy that requires league teams to interview ethnic-minority candidates for positions opening up.
“A lot of players got their chance here, but I’ve never seen a woman get that job,” says Mr. Knight.
Connecting Diverse Healthcare Talent with Opportunity and Equality
At Epic Specialty Staffing, diversity and inclusion are always at the heart of what we do and how we do it. Our team will always strive to provide our clients with a diverse and inclusive slate of candidates who fit both the technical and cultural aptitudes to make an impact and bring organizations success. We put our best forward in delivering competent, qualified talent with a focus on inclusion.
Check back later this month when we publish part two of the Equality and Opportunities, focusing on understanding what inclusion means, and how corporations can implement inclusion as a part of their vision for growth.