Discrimination payouts could rise unless employers change recruitment practices, says survey

Citation

(2003), "Discrimination payouts could rise unless employers change recruitment practices, says survey", Career Development International, Vol. 8 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cdi.2003.13708dab.003

Discrimination payouts could rise unless employers change recruitment practices, says survey

Discrimination payouts could rise unless employers change recruitment practices, says survey

UK organizations could be leaving themselves open to discrimination payouts of millions of pounds from job seekers, according to figures on the job market published by the Work Foundation.

Even though sex-discrimination payouts have recently passed the £2 million mark, the foundation found that one third of responding organizations were failing to monitor the diversity of external job applicants – a simple but important procedure that can spotlight areas of discrimination, and save recruiters millions in tribunal claims.

The survey of almost 500 employers shows that they are also failing to monitor the diversity of internal applicants. Around 38 per cent do not monitor at all, and 28 per cent do not know if their organization monitors internal job applicants for race, sex and age.

According to UK employment law, it is illegal for employers to discriminate against applicants on the basis of sex, disability or race. It will soon become illegal to discriminate on the grounds of age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. It is the employer's responsibility to make sure the law is not being broken. Monitoring is recommended as a way of identifying possible bias.

The report also highlights the tendency among many organizations to encourage word-of-mouth job applicants. Just over a quarter (27 per cent) of respondents say they have a policy of encouraging employees to recommend friends and just under a quarter (22 per cent) do the same with family members.

Advisory bodies warn that although this may be economical, it is likely to lead to a much smaller pool of suitable applicants and does not normally satisfy equal-opportunities requirements because it tends to perpetuate any imbalance in the workforce. The Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission both warn against word-of-mouth recruitment where the workforce is predominantly one sex or racial group.

Despite skill shortages, few organizations target less-obvious labour pools. A third of firms target women returners, but very few firms aim for applicants from among the over 50s, the long-term unemployed, ex-offenders, people with long-term health problems, people who have had mental-health problems and refugees.

Theo Blackwell, policy specialist at the Work Foundation, said: "Business opportunities as well as the requirements of employment law are pushing diversity up the ladder of workplace issues. More practically, companies should also recognize the benefits of widening their choice of job applicants, and the business opportunities that recruiting from the widest-possible pool of talent can bring."

Key survey findings include:

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  The local press is the favourite way of attracting external applicants. Around 85 per cent advertise in the local press, 75 per cent use recruitment agencies, 68 per cent use the national press, 63 per cent job centres, 56 per cent the trade press and 55 per cent the Internet. Radio, community letters and community groups are the least popular, at 11 per cent, 10 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

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  Some 41 per cent of organizations advertise all vacancies internally first.

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  Almost half (47 per cent) of the organizations accepting word-of-mouth recommendations do not monitor for race, sex or age.

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  Organizations are more likely to monitor for race and sex than they are for age.

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  Around 34 per cent of companies target women-returners, 23 per cent target job-sharers, 18 per cent mature, recently qualified graduates, 17 per cent target the over-50s. Few encourage applications from ex-offenders (5 per cent), people with long-term health problems (4 per cent) or refugees (3 per cent).

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  Few job advertisements give information about the employer's ethical stance. Only 24 per cent of companies include this.

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  Applicants are fairly likely to have their appearance and body language assessed. Around 40 per cent of companies ask interviewers to assess appearance and 32 per cent ask interviewers to assess nerves.

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  Psychometric testing remains popular with 54 per cent of organizations.