BIG 4 Grocer: Helping A BIG 4 Grocer Brand To Open Its Doors To Diverse Talent

In 2021, a big 4 UK grocer commissioned Green Park to carry out an end-to-end recruitment review. It revealed problems in the recruitment process, particularly when it came to recruiting diverse talent. To fix the issue, Green Park delivered their innovative, two-pronged solution called Diverse Talent Solutions: introducing diverse candidates, while training the grocer’s hiring managers and recruitment teams so future talent acquisition would be more successful.

End-to-end recruitment review identified issues in the organisations recruitment process

• Two-pronged approach saw hiring managers trained in better recruitment behaviours whilst introducing the business to multiple diverse talent pools
• Leading to multiple diverse hires and an overall upskilled recruitment workforce better positioned to deliver diverse talent attraction strategies

 The Challenge

 With over 600 superstores and 800 convenience stores, this is one of country’s best-loved supermarkets. However, it was struggling to recruit diverse candidates in certain areas, such as its Food Commercial Trading team. In 2021, the retailer asked Green Park to carry out an end-to-end recruitment review, analysing processes and speaking to key stakeholders. At the same time, Green Park followed a live recruitment journey to really understand where the problems lay. As part of this exercise, we used ‘mystery candidates’ to review and report on the recruitment process. They found that although the recruitment journey was balanced, few diverse candidates were successful. After digesting the findings, the organisation took ownership of the problem by commissioning Green Park to carry out Diverse Talent Mapping for three key roles. The plan? To create Diverse Talent Pool’s and connect them with the client.

The Project

 The first step was to review levels of diverse talent available externally for the three roles using Green Park’s Diverse Talent Mapping solution. This enabled us to calculate the percentage of diverse talent in the sector generally and compare it with the percentage currently at the organisation. The retailer then asked Green Park to approach the most promising diverse candidates with a view to networking with them. For this part of the project, our DICE Consultancy partnered with Green Park’s Retail & Consumer Practice, pooling their expertise. This work led to multiple placements and boosted representation within one of the most homogenous teams through providing the business with qualified talent pools who were carefully engaged and introduced into the business.

Meanwhile, Green Park addressed issues in the recruitment process by training recruitment managers, covering subjects such as cultural barriers. All in all, the project comprised four stages:

• Identification and mapping of diverse talent
• Engaging and networking with talent pools
• Refining, training and internal assessment
• Introduction of talent into the business

The Results

Through this novel approach, Green Park made sure the door to the retailer was open to all, both now and in the future. DICE consultants aligned talent with opportunities and crucially, changed recruiting behaviour. The clients recruitment managers now have a better understanding of why diverse appointments are important and how the selection process can be improved. Meanwhile, by thinking innovatively and building bridges with the right communities, Green Park has opened a pipeline for our client to diverse potential talent.  

Take the next step: find out more about the work of Green Park’s DICE Consultancy.