Discrimination: How to avoid it in the recruitment process

Discrimination has been known to be an issue in the recruitment process. It is something that most recruiters will come across, and maybe even do, in their careers. They may not mean to discriminate; they are just trying to give the client what it is that they want. So how can we navigate the path of discrimination in recruitment?

Before we start talking about how we navigate this issue, we need to understand what discrimination is in recruitment. Discrimination is the unfair and unequal treatment of an individual because of a protected characteristic. In the recruitment world, this occurs when an employer selects a candidate for any reason other than their qualifications and experience. The most common form of discrimination you will come across in the recruitment and selection process is direct discrimination. Direct discrimination is when someone is treated worse than another person due to a specific trait. These traits are called ‘Protected Characteristics’. These protected characteristics are:

·        Age

·        Disability

·        Gender

·        Marriage and Civil Partnership

·        Pregnancy and maternity

·        Race

·        Religion or belief

·        Sex

·        Sexual orientation

You may have come across this when talking to a client and qualifying the role. They may have mentioned that they preferably want a female, they don’t want anyone over the age of 50, or maybe, they say that they don’t want anyone that isn’t from the UK. I would be surprised if you, as a recruiter, have never come across anything like this. It is something that happened a lot when I was recruiting and has happened to the recruiters I have coached. It is important that you familiarise yourself with the Equality Act 2010. If you have an understanding of this, then you will be able to deal with these issues and protect yourself from any potential wrongdoing.

So what do you do when a client discriminates when qualifying the role? Well, you have 2 options. The first option is to accept it and carry on. You don’t call them out on it and you try to find candidates that fit with their specifications and run the risk of being sued. Yep, that’s right, you could face legal action. You are not the person who hired them, or the person who requested only a certain protected characteristic, but you were the one who went along with it and stopped the client from having access to these candidates. So, therefore, you were involved in the discrimination and could face legal action.

The other option, and the one I would recommend, is to use the Educate, Evaluate and Variegate model.

·        Educate

Educate the Client about the Equality Act 2010 and make them aware of the risk they run by ignoring it. Are they aware of the penalty that they could face if legal action is taken? Why is it that they want to discriminate against all of the other protected characteristics? Is there a genuine reason behind it that means that they can, or is it just a bias that they have?

·        Evaluate

Once you have educated your client and discussed any reasons that they may want to discriminate, you can move to the evaluation part of the model. This part is all about you evaluating the client. Do you want to be associated with them? Do they operate the way you want your clients to operate? Are their morals aligned with yours? If they haven’t changed their mind and are still insisting that they want to discriminate, then by you working that role, you are showing the industry that you are aligned with them as you are happy to represent them. You need to consider your own reputation here. What are the implications of you working with them or not having them as a client?

·        Variegate

If you decide that you are going to work with them, then you will need to cover yourself from legal action. To do this, you will need to make the client aware that you will be sending over candidates that are capable of doing the job. You won’t just send over candidates with the 1 or 2 protected characteristics as you have an obligation to present any candidate that is able to do the role. By doing this, you are covering yourself from legal action. If the client gets taken to court, then there will be an investigation into the process and you will be able to provide evidence that you presented a variety of different demographics for the role. Even if you didn’t because certain industries are very heavy in one demographic, you will be able to show that you approached a variety of candidates, but they weren’t suitable for a specific reason, not because of one of the protected characteristics.

Exemptions

There are certain times when a client can specify certain protected characteristics. For example, if they are working on a military project, generally they need to be British for security reasons. So, in this case, you can deselect any candidates that are not British nationals. It may even be that it’s a job where you will be interacting with vulnerable women. In this instance, the client is well within their right to only want female candidates.

Positive Discrimination

Another thing that you need to consider here is positive discrimination. This is quite common, and a lot of people think that it's legal. This is not the case. No matter if it's for a good reason, it is still discrimination.

In engineering, for example, there are little to no women in the industry. So, clients will often ask for female candidates. If you manage to find one and get their CV sent over, they will get an interview. They may even get the job. This all sounds great, but if there is a male candidate who is a better fit for the role, who is more experienced and qualified, then they should get the job and have grounds for taking legal action.

It is often used to right the wrongs of previous generations and societal problems that have created a disproportionate amount of one demographic in certain roles and industries. However, even though, at its core, it’s a good idea, it is still putting other people at a disadvantage.  As a recruiter, you need to be aware of the legality around this and make sure that you are aware of what it is that the client has asked of you, and what you can do to act appropriately.

Positive Action

What you can do though, is a thing called positive action. Positive action is where you help underrepresented demographics to apply for positions. After that, they are on their own and they need to showcase why they are right for the role. This isn’t discrimination as you aren’t putting anyone at a disadvantage, you are just levelling the playing field. An example of this would be if the application process was all online, you as a recruiter, could go to an area that was underprivileged and didn’t have access to computers or the internet, and set up an application station for them. You would provide a computer and Internet so that they could apply for the role. Once they have applied, you could help organise any interviews and communications for them, but you wouldn’t treat them any more favourably than the other candidates.

So next time you get a client asking for a specific protected characteristic, take the second option and Educate, Evaluate and Variegate your way through the process.