Inclusive Employment in Practise
Want an inclusive policy for
employing the best resource for your company that’s out there? Perhaps it’s
time to take a fresh look at your recruiting practises? Throw out the HR rule
book. Start a fresh.
What are you really looking for? A resource to your organisation that has the capacity to complete the task at hand efficiently and economically for a fair remunerative package.
They must have a set of skills and knowledge base for them to do the job or the capacity to take on that training? Is there anything else? Go ahead write it down....
Now has anything youve written down so far included knowing their name, colour, race, education, Sex, religion, sexual orientation, their disability, where they live, what school they went to, how old they are, or what they’ve done in the past ( if I’ve missed any i.e. pregnancy that’s because I’ve already thought of it under a different heading). If it’s relevant to the job then it’ll be in the list you’ve made, if not and why should it be? As its unless in very few circumstances illegal due to the Equality Act or in more real terms unnecessary. By restricting your thinking consciously or more worryingly subconsciously you may actually be limiting you or your organisation from getting the best candidate for the job.
To date the information we gather in the application process leads us to either a real bias or even a hidden bias usually based on our preconceptions which in the most are questionable at the least. There have been many examples or experiments which show that a foreign sounding name is less likely to get you an interview. Just think about schools or areas that are associated with good and bad, don’t tell me that seeing a good school or good social postcode doesn’t give you a biased picture of a person? Similarly spelling and grammar mistakes will also signal you out subconsciously as potentially someone with a lower standard of education when in fact it may be down to a learning disability like dyslexia.
In my mind to get the best employee a clean sheet approach should be used. If you’re asking candidates say for the purposes of a reasonable adjustment on the grounds of disability. Then in my view you’re already looking at a bias. To get the best candidate look at whether they can do the job and will fit in with your company ethos. If you think that you have to make reasonable adjustments then you’re already thinking your company may be restricting some of the candidates anyway. You shouldn’t have to make reasonable adjustments, you as an inclusive company who thinks ahead wanting the best candidate will have already thought of all the necessary issues. However to give the benefit of the doubt and as no too disabilities are the same it is still polite and considerate to ask.
There is much evidence to show that for certain roles needing creativity, people with learning disabilities can be much better performers.
So what is the best approach? I would say using the above questions what they need to do and what skills you need that’s all you ask. Forget all the rest give each applicant a number and interview on the basis of them having the skills and knowledge to do be able to do the actual job. Otherwise whether you like it or not you will end up employing or giving people interviews based on a bias.
As I read somewhere when a presidential candidate once took on a member of the opposition party as he’s second in command. When asked about it he replied, I don’t base what a man can do on my standards but their own.
Oh and what about the diversity data questionnaire. I know so many local and national, public and private organisations who ask for this data all the time. Yet I have seen virtually no one use the data, in the way its intended, which though valuable. If you’re not going to use the data to improve anything. Do you really need to collect it at all?
What are you really looking for? A resource to your organisation that has the capacity to complete the task at hand efficiently and economically for a fair remunerative package.
They must have a set of skills and knowledge base for them to do the job or the capacity to take on that training? Is there anything else? Go ahead write it down....
Now has anything youve written down so far included knowing their name, colour, race, education, Sex, religion, sexual orientation, their disability, where they live, what school they went to, how old they are, or what they’ve done in the past ( if I’ve missed any i.e. pregnancy that’s because I’ve already thought of it under a different heading). If it’s relevant to the job then it’ll be in the list you’ve made, if not and why should it be? As its unless in very few circumstances illegal due to the Equality Act or in more real terms unnecessary. By restricting your thinking consciously or more worryingly subconsciously you may actually be limiting you or your organisation from getting the best candidate for the job.
To date the information we gather in the application process leads us to either a real bias or even a hidden bias usually based on our preconceptions which in the most are questionable at the least. There have been many examples or experiments which show that a foreign sounding name is less likely to get you an interview. Just think about schools or areas that are associated with good and bad, don’t tell me that seeing a good school or good social postcode doesn’t give you a biased picture of a person? Similarly spelling and grammar mistakes will also signal you out subconsciously as potentially someone with a lower standard of education when in fact it may be down to a learning disability like dyslexia.
In my mind to get the best employee a clean sheet approach should be used. If you’re asking candidates say for the purposes of a reasonable adjustment on the grounds of disability. Then in my view you’re already looking at a bias. To get the best candidate look at whether they can do the job and will fit in with your company ethos. If you think that you have to make reasonable adjustments then you’re already thinking your company may be restricting some of the candidates anyway. You shouldn’t have to make reasonable adjustments, you as an inclusive company who thinks ahead wanting the best candidate will have already thought of all the necessary issues. However to give the benefit of the doubt and as no too disabilities are the same it is still polite and considerate to ask.
There is much evidence to show that for certain roles needing creativity, people with learning disabilities can be much better performers.
So what is the best approach? I would say using the above questions what they need to do and what skills you need that’s all you ask. Forget all the rest give each applicant a number and interview on the basis of them having the skills and knowledge to do be able to do the actual job. Otherwise whether you like it or not you will end up employing or giving people interviews based on a bias.
As I read somewhere when a presidential candidate once took on a member of the opposition party as he’s second in command. When asked about it he replied, I don’t base what a man can do on my standards but their own.
Oh and what about the diversity data questionnaire. I know so many local and national, public and private organisations who ask for this data all the time. Yet I have seen virtually no one use the data, in the way its intended, which though valuable. If you’re not going to use the data to improve anything. Do you really need to collect it at all?
Last thing, when doing the
interview and any assessments, make them relevant to the job? Too often I’ve
seen organisations recruiting for a desk job and then asking people to do a
presentation, if it’s not relevant to the job then don’t ask or put the
candidate through that scenario. It’s a waste of everyone’s time and does not
help. Any questions that are asked should be related to delving in to whether
the person has the skills or fits in to the ethos of the recruiting
organisation.
As always I am happy to be
convinced otherwise and it’s good to be challenged. If anyone can think of
circumstances where it is necessary to have a bias apart from the legal ones
i.e. medical treatment or care related please let me know.
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