Hiring People Fairly
Fair recruitment is based on the principle that candidates are judged on their ability to do the job rather than influenced by factors such as an applicant’s gender, religion, ethnicity, or any other quality unrelated to their skills and expertise. As the Founder of Rock Learning and the Co-Founder of the ‘Count me In’ DEIB Conference, I have developed a deep understanding of the topic and how small businesses can implement inclusive hiring practices.
Candidates are Protected from Discrimination
In Gibraltar, it is essential for businesses to ensure that their hiring process is free from bias and inclusive of all applicants. Local candidates are protected from discrimination specifically through the Equal Opportunities Act (2006) which lists a range of “protected characteristics” including those previously mentioned as well as pregnancy/maternity, gender reassignment, age and disability.
It is worth noting that job applicants are protected against discrimination throughout the employment lifecycle, including from the time vacancies are advertised all the way through the recruitment process to employment, termination and beyond to include references.
In addition to fair recruitment being a legal obligation, there are many benefits to having a diverse workforce. Recently, Forbes Magazine noted, “Embracing diversity fosters innovation and creativity within an organisation. For smaller businesses with fewer employees, adding diversity makes a more significant short-term impact than it often can at larger organisations that already have large, non-diverse populations. Diversity and inclusion work also has proven business results, with strong correlations to higher employee satisfaction, retention and productivity. Small businesses have the ability to build and sustain inclusive cultures more swiftly and feel these benefits more quickly.”
How To Minimise Bias
We all have unconscious biases, the most common of which is affinity (or “like me”) bias. This means we are more likely to offer a job or promotion to someone who we can relate to because we share something in common. Maybe we went to school together, or we’re from the same religious group or we’re both members of the LGBTQ+ community. If we are consistently hiring people “like us” then we will lack diversity of thought amongst our teams which will eventually impact business performance, creativity and employee satisfaction. We can’t rid ourselves of these biases but we can learn to manage them better and ensure a fairer recruitment process by taking the following steps:
1. Job Advertisements:
When advertising a job, you cannot ask for or exclude anyone with a certain protected characteristic otherwise it could be discriminatory.
Examples of words and phrases in a job advert that could be discriminatory include:
‘recent graduate’ or ‘highly experienced’ – these can discriminate against age and you must be able to prove you have a good reason for any job requirement in your advert
‘barmaid’ or ‘handyman’ – because they include gender-specific words that can discriminate against people’s sex and gender reassignment. You should make clear that people of any gender can apply, and use gender-neutral language like ‘bar staff’.*
clothing requirements, for example wearing a hairnet in a kitchen could discriminate against someone who for religious reasons covers their head in other ways. The employer could agree for the employee to use their usual hair covering
You could also specifically use more inclusive language. For example, you might say that applications from qualified candidates with disabilities are welcome.
It’s also a good idea to advertise a job vacancy in at least 2 different places (as well as at the ETB) to reach a wide range of people from different backgrounds.
2. Blind Recruitment:
It is increasingly common practice for recruiters to remove personal information (e.g. name, age, gender) from CVs during the initial selection stages to focus on skills and qualifications and avoid bias. During this stage, you should select candidates for an interview that best match the person specification and job description. One way of doing this is by having a scoring system whereby the candidate gets one point for each attribute they match on the job description. You could then decide to only interview candidates matching 10+ of the 15 requirements.
TOP TIP: Avoid using information from someone’s personal social media profile to decide whether you interview or hire them.
3. Structured Interviews:
To ensure fair interviews for all applicants, it is best to use the same set of interview questions for everyone and ensure the questions themselves do not discriminate. I have sat in interviews in Gibraltar, often in smaller businesses, where questions around marital status, children and childcare arrangements are still asked. These are the types of questions that could lead you into an unwanted Employment Tribunal case and should be avoided at all costs.
4. Diverse Hiring Panels:
To reduce the risk of discriminating it is recommended to have at least 2 people conducting the interviews. For small businesses this may not always be possible, but you could consider bringing in a consultant to support this process. Diverse hiring panels ensure different perspectives during the recruitment process.
When inviting candidates for an interview you should check whether they have any accessibility requirements. For example, a sign language interpreter, or extra time if they are required to complete a written test.
TOP TIP: Keep records of your hiring decisions and why you felt certain candidates were unsuitable.
5. Training for Unconscious Bias:
Finally, business owners and hiring managers can undergo training to understand and mitigate their own biases. Local courses are available such as Rock Learning’s Managing Diversity in the Workplace course or the Hiring Manager course.
Gibraltar is a unique place and presents a prime opportunity for local businesses to benefit from the multinational workforce, leveraging the diverse local talent pool to drive greater productivity and creativity.
Fair recruitment can start you on your journey to long-term inclusion. By fostering an inclusive workplace culture which includes initiatives such as mentorship programmes, employee resource groups, or regular diversity reviews your small business will be well prepared to embrace the wealth of opportunity created by diverse teams.
*There are certain circumstances under the Law where you might be able to ask for a specific protected characteristic, such as advertising for a female care worker at a women’s refuge where personal care is required.
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