78% of autistic people in the UK and 55% in the Netherlands are unemployed, yet can be 140% more productive than neurotypical employees. This is what Ludmila Praslova calls the autistic unemployment paradox. What does neurodiversity mean today, how does it relate to the autistic community and cognitive diversity and why is it important to consider in the workplace and in hiring? Ludmila Praslova, Ph.D and Charlotte explore the definitions of neurodiversity and neurodivergent, the reality of neurodivergent and autistic people on the labour market and at work, the benefits to neurodiverse teams in organisations and inclusive practices when hiring neurodivergent candidates. This is just the start of a much larger conversation about neurodiversity inclusion in hiring and Ludmila Praslova has published many articles on the topic.

Charlotte Melkert, https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-melkert-07987b81/
Ludmila Praslova, Professor of Industrial Organisational Psychology at Vanguard University and Hardvard Business Review Contributor, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ludmila-praslova/

Do you have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact our Community and Event Manager at: [email protected].

For this episode, Charlotte invited Leonie Grandpierre, Equalture's Head of Science back to cover Social Desirability. Social desirability is the effect of adjusting our behaviour to what we think is more socially acceptable in order to avoid negative judgement. Behaving in socially desirable ways can apply to adhering to political correctness, to how we act on social media, and to hiring situations. Charlotte and Leonie discuss how and why social desirability differs between individuals, if social desirability is a conscious or unconscious process, when it arises most in the hiring process, what effect it has on personality tests, how social desirability impacts high stakes situations versus low stakes situations, why even validated personality tests are sensitive to social desirability, job interviews and social desirability, how game-based assessments can limit social desirability and what strategies there are to minimize social desirability in recruitment.

Unfortunately, we experienced some issues with audio on this episode, and hope that the content can make up for the lack in quality.

References

Differences between high and low stake situations:

Do you have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact our Community and Event Manager at: [email protected].

In this episode Charlotte talks to organisational psychologist, leadership coach and professor for leadership and negotiation at the University of Amsterdam, Brooke Gazdag about the I in DE&I.

Brooke has dedicated much of her research efforts to diversity, equity and inclusion and regularly weaves the topic into her courses. With her colleagues, she has been developing a framework for inclusion in the pursuit of defining the concept as well as making it tangible. Her perspective on inclusion is rooted in everyday advocacy and builds on the pillars of 'internal awareness' and 'belongingness'.

Charlotte and Brooke talk about the definition of inclusion, internal awareness and its two components - consistent awareness and signalling-, the difference between proactive and reactive inclusive behaviour, the concept of belongingness, why belongingness is closely related to feeling appreciated, the connection between inclusion and accountability, how to foster internal awareness in your organisation, why DE&I should or shouldn't be taught in school, developing a universal definition of inclusion, making mistakes and how to think about inclusion like a scientist.

Continue the conversation with Charlotte and Brooke on LinkedIn:

Do you have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact our Community and Event Manager at: [email protected]

In this episode, Charlotte talks to Pauline Komp, HR assistant at Oterra, about diversity beyond demographics. Pauline is currently finishing up her MSc in Diversity and Change Management at Copenhagen Business School and is part of the People and Culture team at Oterra, who recently became a customer of Equalture.

Diversity has become a prominent topic for organisations, but many companies still focus solely on demographic diversity, such as age, gender, and ethnicity/nationality. Yet, diversity is so much more than what is on your passport.

Pauline and Charlotte talk about the primary and secondary characteristics of diversity, why companies still focus predominantly on demographics, the risks of basing diversity efforts on demographics, how to make diversity tangible for organisations, Oterra's approach to diversity, why education is key, the fear of the unknown stifling progress, what comes first - hiring more diverse employees or making the organisation diversity-ready? - , and how to get started with organisational diversity beyond demographics.

Continue the conversation with Charlotte and Pauline on LinkedIn:

A spot of context:

D&I - Diversity & Inclusion

DE&I - Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

The Dimensions of Diversity: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Diversity-Wheel-as-used-at-Johns-Hopkins-University-12_fig1_320178286

Do you have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact our Community and Event Manager at: [email protected]

In this episode Charlotte talks to DE&I consultant, Ella McCann-Tomlin about diversity, equity and inclusion in the boardroom. Prior to starting her own consultancy, where she now works with companies who want to do more and do better with their DE&I strategy, Ella spent almost a decade in commercial leadership roles. In these positions, she did a lot of HR work, shaping the hiring process and the career progression of her teams, always aiming at making DE&I a priority in the company.

In Ella’s experience, almost all companies have now felt the pressure of setting up a DE&I strategy, but she sees a big difference between those who really understand and care, and those who know they should care.

There are no easy answers in working towards inclusion, and there is no neutral. But where to start?

Ella and Charlotte talk about whether DE&I should always be approached top-down, where to start your DE&I efforts, why it is so hard to measure inclusion, how you can still get insights, what an ideal vantage point for a boardroom would be when tackling DE&I questions, and why equity is important.

Continue the conversation with Charlotte and Ella on LinkedIn:

Charlotte Melkert, host https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-melkert-07987b81/

Ella McCann-Tomlin, DE&I consultant https://www.linkedin.com/in/ella-mccann-tomlin-044aa053/

A spot of context: Brazilian businesswoman opens executive training programme only for Black applicants: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/world/americas/luiza-trajano-brazil-magalu-racism.htm

In this episode, Charlotte is joined by her twin sister and co-founder, Fleur, in honour of Pride Month. On the one hand, Pride Month is an important occasion, since it celebrates the LGBTQIA+ community and highlights the still-ongoing discrimination. On the other hand, the need for it raises questions. Why do we still have to raise awareness around queer inclusion and stand up against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, identity and gender? 

Fleur herself is part of the community. She is gay and is also very open about it, so Charlotte figured she would be the perfect guest for this episode. The two of them cover how Equalture celebrated Pride Month last year and why that lead to a lasting change in the company. They also share their approach to LGBTQIA+ inclusion in their company and what advice they have for other companies. (Spoiler Alert: changing the logo for one month is not it!)

A spot of history: The origins of Pride Month are rooted in the Stonewall Riots; a spontaneous series of protests by members of the gay community in response to police raids of Stonewall Inn in New York in on June 28th, 1969. Experts consider the Stonewall Riots as the onset of the fight for LGBT rights in the US.

Please share your own experience, expertise or opinion by connecting with us on LinkedIn:

Charlotte Melkert, host https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-melkert-07987b81/

Fleur Melkert, guest and co-founder https://www.linkedin.com/in/fleurmelkert/

[Disclaimer: We do not claim to be experts on LGBTQIA+ inclusion or Equalture to be the role model to follow. We are instead aiming to share our experience and learned lessons, as well as raise awareness .]

In this episode, we talk with Equalture's very own Head of Customer Success, Jesper, who also has a master's degree in Sports & Performance Psychology, about Contrast Effect:  What is this, and how does this bias impact whether we perceive a candidate as good or bad.

Have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact us at: [email protected]

In this episode, we welcome Equalture's very own neuroscientist, Leonie Grandpierre, and dive deeper into the concept of cognitive bias. What are cognitive biases, how do they arise, and why we as humans can't function without biases. But of course, most importantly, how does it affect hiring?

Have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact us at: [email protected]

In this episode, we talk with Neuroscientist and DEI & culture expert Dr. Marcia Goddard about In-Group bias. Why do we have in-group bias, why is it inherently linked to the evolution of human beings but most importantly, how does it affect hiring and what can we do about it?

Have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact us at: [email protected]

In this episode, we talk with Organizational Psychologist Mari Järvinen about Confirmation Bias and how this bias impacts the way we conduct interviews and value assessments.

Confirmation Bias is one of the most prevalent biases when it comes to the hiring process. It describes the process of casting quick judgement on the basis of a first impression and instead of objectively inquiring about the person, we start looking for information that confirms our initial assessment. 

Mari answers all those questions and shares candidly about her experience with her client's confirmation bias.

Have questions for our speakers or would like to contribute to the podcast? Please contact us at: [email protected]