Importance Of Fair Recruitment And Selection Practices In HR

Benefits of not relying on personal data in screening and selection

Question:

Post No. 1

The advantages of removal of personal details

• The decision not to screen and shortlist job candidates based on personal information collected through the application form minimizes any avenue for erroneous presumptions or perceptions.

• It aids HR managers focus on selection based mostly on the job criteria or person specifications such that only adequate candidates are shortlisted in the end. Such criteria can be based on the six-factor formula including skills and competencies, personality and physical features, experience, qualifications, and development potential (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010); these are relevant and measurable factors that can be used to further streamline applicants regardless of sex, race or national origin.  

Disadvantage of removing personal details

• Capturing a person’s biodata such as age, sex, gender, marital status, disability, race or national origin provides applicants with an equal opportunity for and fairness in employment (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). It improves the image of the organization to the candidates especially in terms of compliance with government regulations and laws as well as international labor and human rights bodies. Discriminations are prohibited and equality is practiced. For example, the Civil Acts law and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) code of conduct prohibit sex discrimination in payment of wages to jobs that require equal skill and effort of men and women working under the same conditions in the same establishment (Tiemo and Arubayi, 2012).

• It enables the effective and efficient handling of applicants after reports have been generated using such information from their biodata in order to enhance the recruitment and selection system monitoring (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). Trends can be identified and areas for further investigation pointed out. For example the preference of the female sexes to apply for a call center position than for a place in welding is a common trend; type of disability can be investigated in order to streamline the shortlisting process.

• Such information also help facilitate the shortlisting process, structures the interview as well as provide an idea about recruitment costs with the aim of cost-effectiveness (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010).

My stand

The use of biodata and other personal details as part of information collection during screening and shortlisting dates back in time. The application form is the first contact between the organization and the applicant and errors resulting from the information filled in can further lead to disproportionate effects (Robertson and Smith, 2001). Most recently, there have been calls to eliminate irrelevant aspects in the application form that do not relate directly with one’s ability to carry out the advertised job position (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010). Information such as gender, religion, ethnic group, sexuality, political opinion or marital status have been identified as barriers to the provision of equal opportunity and are perceived as divisive and creating rooms for bias, favoritism or nepotism during screening and selection. This is a predominant issue during recruitment and selection in Nigeria especially in areas of gender equality – women make up about 60 percent of the population but only few are offered senior managerial positions especially in the public sector (Tiemo and Arubayi, 2012). I therefore, proffer that HR managers pay close attention to the information filled in and that screening should be centered mostly on the job specifications and only personal details relating to the job position should be designed into the application form in order to recruit the best hands and eliminate areas that can give rise to bias.
 
Post No.2

Avoiding Employment Discrimination during Recruitment & Selection

Discrimination against race, gender, origin, tribe, color, etc. is not only illegal but also illogical, morally untenable and cannot work in the current globalized environment where the focus should be on attracting the best talent.

Organizations with unbiased approach to diversity that focus on good candidates for the job based on merit are seen as reputable organizations to work for and are able to engage the commitment of the best talent needed to sustain their businesses.

Many countries have come up with legislation or laws that protect people in employment from discrimination on the basis of gender, marriage, rage, religious and other beliefs, extra.  Discrimination can either be direct and/or indirect as well as prejudice in terms of association or perception (Equality Act 2010).

With direct discrimination, preferential treatment is accorded to a group of people on basis of protected characteristics that include race, sexual orientation, religion, age, gender, disability, extra.  The disadvantaged group mainly includes women who work, racial, religious and ethnic minorities, people with physical or mental disabilities, young or old groups, extra.

Indirect discrimination on the other hand occurs when there are conditions that make it hard for disadvantaged group to compete equally with others.  A good example would be working long hours which would not favor married women with children.

Prejudice comes when there are inflexible and irrational attitudes usually coming from family or friendship associations especially in situation where some groups feel that certain category of people are inferior.

For discrimination to be removed, organizations need to take active measures where there is a process to identify discrimination barriers and remove them and with proper mechanism for monitoring and reporting incidents of discrimination.

Case for removing personal information related to protected characteristics in the initial process of recruitment

Organizations while recruiting should not only be seen to comply with discrimination laws but should always portray an image of mutual respect and trust that form a strong foundation for establishing a psychological contract with the people they are targeting (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010).

It should therefore be clear that candidates will be assessed on their ability and suitability and any message or indication to the contrary should be avoided as .

Such information could be interpreted wrongly by government watch dogs to imply that the organization is not complying with relevant discrimination laws or

Those involved in the evaluation and shortlisting process may get the opportunity to exercise personal prejudices, biases, perceptions and other unnecessary assumption that may disadvantage the vulnerable groups (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010).

The right talent may fear to respond to the advertisement thinking that there is employement discrimination in the organization

Case against removing personal information related to protected characteristics in the initial process of recruitment

There are genuine circumstances that may support leaving personal information such as age, gender, extra but this must be supported by a proper justification and or backed up by law. For instance:

Such information can be maintained if it is captured for equal opportunities monitoring purposes and the objective is clear and the respondents will not be misled.

Bona Fide Occupation Qualification Defense (BDOQ)-under different laws like Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 in US, there are specific statutory circumstances or provisions one can use as a defense to discriminate against religion, sex, extra, but the justification for discrimination should be made very clear. Such justifications may include customer preference, intimate personal care like the case with patients where women prefer to be handled by fellow women and vise-versa.
In US police for instance, one cannot join the force when he/she is above 50 years. A religious institution cannot recruit top managers from other regions.

If there is justification for discrimination, personal information relating protected characteristic can be maintained in the recruitment documents but in all other incidences, employment discrimination is against the laws and should be discouraged at all times.
 
Post No. 3

Introduction

One of the most invaluable departments of an organization is the Human Resource Department and more so today than ever. This department is responsible for numerous functions of a business, especially those revolving around the staff and how they are linked to other resources and overall strategic plan. One of the key functions of this department is the selection and recruitment of employees. This is accomplished through hiring directly and/ or subcontracting some of the work or personnel. Whichever method is used, there is always a procedure to be followed and this normally includes examining the job specifications, publicizing, selecting and recruiting (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010:91, 159-178). During this process, candidates are asked to provide information about themselves that best explains to the potential employer why the candidate in question is best suited for the job. Some of this information is personal and the following discussion will highlight the writer’s opinion regarding this point.

Negative impacts of discrimination in hiring

Pros for Retaining

One’s personal background could be considered relevant in situations where the employer absolutely needs this information for planning purposes. For instance, where employee profiles are created and issues such as age, health are addressed in order to plan for retirement and insurance packages (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010:95). Alternatively, such information is also considered useful when an employer is looking for specific applicants, an example being female nannies within a particular age group, from a specific ethnic group simply because the potential clients requested for such specifications. Or better still if a survey is being conducted during the selection period such as the example discussed in the case study. Likewise, such information is useful in cases where the employer is creating personal files, should one be hired (pp.175-178, 192).

Positives of Removing

Despite the above advantages, I strongly believe that if a business is to survive in such a competitive environment, candidate personal information is the least of its worries during selection and recruitment. Organizations should focus on details such as one’s skills, qualifications, competencies, expertise, integrity, confidence, creativity and not necessarily how old one is or which race/ religion they belong to (Kumar, 2010). As long as one is well qualified and deserves the position being interviewed for, one should rightfully earn it. Most organizations give probation durations, if the new recruit is slacking and does not show any potential to perform, then he or she should be let go during or after this period.

Secondly, this information should be eliminated so as to give equal opportunity to all applicants. In Munoz and Munoz’s report (1999), they cite situations where personal information clouded the recruiters’ judgment. Case in point is where some recruiters favored same gender applicants over the opposite gender.  This is absolutely wrong because it negatively reflects on the organization and its employees’ integrity plus they probably missed out on other well qualified applicants, to which they will never know because not everyone was given a fair chance.

The other reason why personal information should be left out in today’s selection and recruitment process is the advancement in technology. Almost everything is currently operated through some form of technology. Businesses have had to cope with this burst of advancement or risk losing out. In the same sense, organizations should then consider their current position, the technology level they have or will need and recruit candidates that best serve the intended purpose based on such findings. The technology field is filled with all age groups, ethnicity, gender, religions. Organizations simply have to go for the best irrespective of one’s personal status. What should matter the most in this case is the technology know-how and any additional desirable competencies (Pilbeam and Corbridge, 2010:97).

The decision, not to screen and shortlist job hopefuls concentrate around individual information assembled into the application structure and minimizes any road for mistaken presumptions or perceptions. It helps HR executives focus on the determination constructed for the most part as for the occupation criteria or individual decisions such that merely attractive hopefuls are shortlisted finally. Such criteria can be concentrated around the aptitudes and capacities, personality and physical contrivances, experience, abilities, and headway potential. I see that it improves the picture of the relationship between the candidates particularly in respect to pleasantness with government regulations and laws also worldwide work and human rights bodies.

Enrollment procedure is a fundamental process in the foundation where talented workforce gets gained for the profit of the firm. Separation in contracting is a bad habit that does not permit the best competitors to get utilized. It happens crosswise over race, ethnic, and sex and physical handicaps and is blocks in divisive and making spaces for slant, predisposition or nepotism in the midst of screening and determination. Affiliations while selecting should not simply be seen to consent to detachment laws yet should reliably portray a picture of regular appreciation and trust that structure a robust foundation for securing a mental contract with the people they are centering.

HR segment is in charge of various capacities of business, particularly those spinning around the staff and how they are connected to different assets and generally vital arrangement. Part of the office is the choice and enlistment of representatives. The focal points of holding are for individual arranging and valuable when a business is searching for particular candidates in the association. Organizations ought to understand the consistent changing environment and dependable intend to be in a position to adjust quickly to being adaptable. They must have a strategy set the best way of gathering this data since few candidates may discover being requested such data as interfering and redundant to the employment.

References

Leghari, J. M., Suleman, U., Leghari, I. B., & Aslam, S. (2014). Role of HRM Practices in

Performance of Organization and Employee Retention. European Journal of Business and Management, 6(31), 219-223.

Schmitt, N. (2014, July). How staffing functions communicate to

Organization members and the public. In Meeting the Challenges of Human Resource Management: A Communications Perspective: A Communication Perspective (p. 88). Routledge.

Woods, S., Zibarras, L., & Hinton, D. (2014). Recruitment and selection.