HM Prison Services
Challenge
When the Home Office set it a national target for workforce diversity at 7% for people from a minority ethnic background, Her Majesty's Prison Service came to TMP Worldwide to devise a strategy to raise the existing level from just 3.5%. In particular, there was an overriding objective to recruit 500 Prison Officers, whose diversity would reflect that of the prison population of London's prisons.
Solution
Our first step was to examine the major issues in more detail. We had previously commissioned research to determine Londoners' perceptions of HMPS in general, and the role of the Prison Officer in particular. Now we extended our investigations. Brainstorming sessions were carried out with both the Prison Service and the TMP Diversity Team. In addition, members of our creative and account management teams visited a number of establishments and spoke to both prisoners and Prison Officers. Using the information we uncovered, initial creative concepts were designed and tested with a focus group from the target audience. The work was fine-tuned to incorporate the group's feedback and the resultant campaign was based on the theme that 'all sorts of Londoners make great prison officers'.
Tactics
A media schedule was devised to reach the widest possible audience, a significant element of the strategy being to take the message to a passive audience, primarily via the internet. Although including press media, the mix extended to diversity lifestyle websites and radio stations with a high penetration of the target groups, together with a poster campaign on London Underground trains and buses, with routes selected to include Newham, Brent and Harrow -all areas known to have large ethnic minority communities. Since minimal information could be included in the advertising, this was supported by a dedicated website - http://www.londonerscandoit.co.uk - providing more information about the jobs and the requirements, together with an online application facility.
Results
The online application and screening process - managed by TMP Response Management - had several key advantages. In addition to speeding up the recruitment process, it reduced the need for an expensive application pack, which had historically delivered low returns. The dedicated response management team had been fully briefed to handle calls from minority ethnic candidates, enabling them to answer and clarify specific questions and concerns relating to this audience. All of which combined to ensure a positive candidate experience at every stage. From over 6,000 initial enquiries generated by the campaign, 47% were from ethnic minority groups. Of the returned application forms, 52% or 1,358 were from this target audience.