Opening Doors: Driving Inclusive Recruitment

Opening Doors is Business in the Community’s (BITC) flagship inclusive recruitment campaign. Open to all employers, and free to join, we have an ambition to make 2 million jobs more accessible to diverse talent by supporting employers to make changes to the way that they recruit.

Join the Opening Doors Campaign

70+ employers have committed to the Opening Doors campaign.

1.1M jobs are now more inclusive as a result of Opening Doors.

600 actions hav been committed to by the employers involved in the campaign.

Five Keys to Inclusive Recruitment

BITC has created a simple framework to guide businesses through their inclusive recruitment journey. It identifies 25 actions grouped into the 5 keys to inclusive recruitment. Businesses are asked to identify at least three actions that they will implement during the campaign.

Find out more about the five keys

The business benefits of inclusive recruitment

– Attract talent: Nearly three-quarters of jobseekers report that a diverse workforce is an important factor when evaluating companies and job offers¹.

– Fill vacancies: 51% of private sector employers report having hard-to-fill vacancies².

– Improve business performance: diverse companies earn 2.5 times higher cash flow per employee, and inclusive teams are more productive by over 35%³.

Why become an Opening Doors employer?

When you sign up to Opening Doors, you get access to a range of benefits, including:

– Support to achieve your inclusive recruitment ambitions: the BITC campaign team and your Relationship Manager can signpost you to relevant content, events and advisory support to help you implement your commitments.

– Peer support: Attend biannual peer learning forums, which focus on topical inclusive recruitment issues. You will also have access to a closed LinkedIn group where you can ask questions and share information with your peers between the forums.

– Celebration of your success: Use BITC platforms including our content, events, and social media channels to get recognition for the impact you have made through the campaign.

The barriers facing diverse talent

55% of employers would not hire someone with a conviction.

35% of employers wouldn't hire a refugee.

58% say being homeless would have a negative impact on prospective employment application.

Resources

Opening Doors Employers

View the current list of employers who have already committed to the Opening Doors campaign.

View the list

Reducing Intersectional Bias

Jobseeker insights power this toolkit to find employer actions that will have impact to support people from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

View the toolkit

Recruitment Factsheet

This factsheet considers how anonymous recruitment can help businesses eliminate unconscious bias during the hiring process.

View the factsheet

Opening Doors member spotlight

Each month we celebrate the impact that an Opening Doors employer has had through the campaign. View all case studies here.

Ban the Box Campaign

Ban the Box calls on all UK employers to give people with criminal convictions a fair chance to compete for jobs by removing the tick box from application forms that ask about criminal convictions. The campaign now covers more than one million jobs, thanks to a growing movement of employers.

Find out more about Ban the Box

Register your interest by completing the below form

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Next steps

Within two working days of submitting this form you will receive a short questionnaire asking you to identify the actions you will take as part of the campaign. Please add openingdoors@bitc.org.uk to your safe senders' list.

Thank you, look out for your questionnaire coming soon

Frequently Asked Questions

Click here to view our full list of FAQ’s.

What is the Opening Doors campaign?

The Business in the Community inclusive recruitment Opening doors campaign identifies five keys to unlocking employment to ensure that jobs are accessible to all.

What are employers being asked to do?

BITC is asking businesses to participate in the campaign by identifying at least three specific actions to take forward over the next three years and share the progress with BITC.

The actions should be selected from the list that underpins the five principles, developed in consultation with a broad range of charities that support the disadvantaged groups targeted by this campaign.

Learn more about the five keys to inclusive recruitment

Is there a cost to signing up to be an Opening Doors employer?

There is no cost to becoming an Opening Doors Employer, and the campaign is open to all employers – Business in the Community members and non-members.

References

¹Talent Diversity & Workplace Inclusion in 2024 | Talent Insight Group

² Labour Market Outlook: Winter 2023/24 (cipd.org)

³ DEI in the workplace: Unveiling employees’ attitudes in Great Britain (yougov.com)

⁴ More employers open to hiring people with convictions, but prejudice still rife | Working Chance

⁵ BITC and YouGov, 2020

⁶ Four out of 10 employers admit they would likely seek to terminate an employee’s contract if they were homeless | Crisis | Together we will end homelessness