VIDEO: Diversity and inclusion in travel is about more than recruitment - is your organization ready?

Important conversations are taking place in the travel industry around diversity and inclusion and very often they are centered on recruitment.

While it’s crucial to have a recruitment pipeline, a further, perhaps missed element, is understanding whether diverse talent will want to work for your organization.

Ideally, the two go hand-in-hand - an organization that has nurtured a diverse and inclusive culture is probably hiring diverse talent.

But, that may not be true the other way round - is an organization that has made the decision to actively seek diverse talent ready for them?

This was just one of the themes during a session last week on How Intentional, Diverse Hiring Can Make Travel Better Positioned For The Future at the Phocuswright Conference.

Keri Gavin, partner, Hanold Associates, says: “Are you building a pipeline so they want to stay once they are there?”

She adds that it is through building initiatives such as mentorship and sponsorship programs that companies can build that pipeline and make themselves attractive to diverse talent.

Gavin was joined on the panel by Jamie-Lee Abtar (executive director for BAME Women in Travel CIC) and Devi Virdi (head of diversity and inclusion for Women in Hospitality and Travel-Tech).

The session, which was moderated by Denella Ri'chard, global sales and marketing executive and an independent consultant, also discussed simple steps for companies to take when seeking wider talent.