REC Urges Review of Employer Recruitment Policies
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5.3.2010 The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) are urging employers to re-assess their recruitment processes to make sure they are not inadvertently preventing certain people from applying for vacancies. The REC’s director of external relations, Tom Hadley, issued the warning following two incidents where Jobcentre plus staff had wrongly advised employers on what they were, and were not, legally able to advertise for, which caused some confusion. Firstly, a Norfolk jobcentre had declined to place an advert for “reliable workers” fearing that it would be discriminatory against unreliable workers! The mistake was however soon rectified. And secondly the owner of a Newcastle hairdressing salon was told that she ought not to advertise for a “junior stylist” because the phrase could be perceived as ageist and aimed purely at young people. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have contradicted this advice stating that the word “junior” was acceptable when referable to experience rather than age, a view with which we would agree. "What it can do is turn some employers off the whole diversity and equality agenda. It makes it seem like its all PC nonsense, a tick-box approach. The bigger agenda is how we review how we recruit, and are we indirectly putting barriers up?" Nonetheless, as a result of an upsurge in serial claimants, who scour the job boards for allegedly discriminatory advertisements (some of whom we as a firm have had experience of), employers/agencies would be well advised to evaluate the wording of their job ads. Phrases that indicate employers are searching for a person within a certain age group or people with a certain 'outlook' can be problematic. As an example, an advert requiring candidates who are 'dynamic and energetic' could be construed as discriminatory with regard to age or disability.
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