Whether you like to admit it or not, we all have our own bias which can shape our recruitment decisions.
Bias is a problem for your business because it can mean you miss out on some fantastic talent, lead to a less diverse workforce and put you at risk of unlawful discrimination claims.
How can employers get in trouble?
Under the Equality Act, employers cannot discriminate, either directly or indirectly, on the basis of any of the ‘protected characteristics'. These protected characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
This covers the recruitment process, so includes when drafting job adverts, sifting through CVs, the interview process itself and selecting your next employee.
Job adverts
When you draft job adverts, you need to take care when using gender-specific terms and refrain from using phrases such as ‘recent graduate’ or ‘mature’ unless they are actual requirements for the job role. Otherwise you leave yourself at risk of claims of sex or age discrimination.
If you need help ensuring your job adverts comply with the law, contact the British Sandwich Association Advisory Service who give you the guidance you need.
Sifting through CVs
Direct discrimination covers ‘discrimination by perception’. This occurs when where a person is treated less favourably because other people believe they have a protected characteristic, but in reality they do not.
For example, you pick up a CV and read the person’s name. You reject a white female applicant because you think she is Black because of her African-sounding name.
In certain cases, you may take positive action to encourage applications to your organisation from people with certain characteristics because they are under-represented or at a disadvantage in the workplace or at certain job levels. For instance, you may offer a guaranteed interview scheme to disabled applicants who meet the job role’s requirements.
Interview process
It’s useful to ask the same set of questions to all candidates to probe into their education, experience, skills set, knowledge, etc. This makes the process as fair as possible.
You should not lose sight of the end goal of an interview, which is to assess an applicant’s suitability for the role. Focus and explore areas set out in the job description; person specification and application form and avoid any questions that are simply not relevant to the job’s requirements.
It’s also important to refrain from asking any questions that imply you discriminate against people based on the protected characteristics such as their age, disability, marital status, race, religion or sex. Avoid question such as:
- Are you married?
- Are you thinking about having children in the future?
- Where were you born?
- Do you have any disabilities?
- How old are you?
If they provide information without you asking, you should not allow the information to influence your decision.
Top tips
Here are the British Sandwich Association & Food to Go Advisory Service’s top tips to avoid discrimination during the recruitment process:
- Provide regular training. Make sure that all staff involved in the recruitment and interview process are trained so they understand not only the importance of the Equality Act 2010, but are able to identify their own biases and take steps to minimise them influencing their decisions.
- Get multiple people involved. It may not always be possible in smaller businesses, but try and have more than one person sifting through applications and selecting candidates for interviews.
- Apply a fair scoring system. It’s beneficial to have a clear and objective scoring system, where candidates are scored according to the criteria set out in the job and person specifications. You need to decide how marks will be allocated for each requirement. For example, ‘essential’ criteria will receive higher marks than ‘desirable’ ones. Make sure that you score each applicant in the same way.
- Take your time when making decisions. A bad hire can be very costly, so make sure that you take time to see whether the person ticks all the boxes and can fit in your business.
To discuss this further, seek legal advice by contacting the British Sandwich & Food to Go Association Advisory Service on 0845 226 8393 or