Bias

What’s In a Name?

by
M-SUR/Shutterstock

The law is clear. Both federally and provincially, human rights legislation prevents discrimination for purposes of employment on the basis of prohibited grounds. The prohibited grounds, as defined within each piece of legislation, include (and are not limited to) race, religion, colour, place of origin, and national or ethnic origin.

What is also clear is the gap between the standard as expressed by the legislative requirements and the level of performance exhibited by many Canadian organizations. Unfortunately, the poor performance of these organizations confirms that ongoing discrimination based on ethnicity or race continues to exist in hiring processes and practices.

Certainly, we would like to think that most Canadian companies do not have overt discriminatory practices. The issues of unconscious bias or cultural perceptions, however, continue to get in the way of sound performance throughout the recruitment process. It does not matter if the discrimination is overt or unintended. The end result is that qualified and capable individuals may not be selected, primarily because of their ethnic origins. A candidate’s ethnic origins may be identified, quite easily, by their name.

In order to address this particular performance gap, the federal government has implemented a process of ‘name-blind’ recruitment as a pilot project.

Click here to read the article.

As noted in the article, the federal government initiated the process of name-blind recruitment based on statistical analysis from a data-based employment research project. According to the article, the research provides significant evidence that persons with Asian-sounding names have fewer opportunities to participate in the recruitment process than counterparts with Anglo names.

In this case, the data speaks for itself.

In addition to addressing the unconscious bias issue, the federal government’s move to using neutral recruitment practices shows us how data-based decision making can be implemented in order to improve organizational performance. Changing the recruitment practice is not something that should be done on intuition. It should be done with a fact-based perspective, using data-driven evidence that can be implemented and monitored to evaluate ongoing performance.

It is time to close the gap.

Discussion Questions:

  1. As the recruitment specialist for your organization, how would you convince your current employer to adopt the practice of name-blind recruitment?
  2. As a candidate, how comfortable would you be if you knew your resume was being reviewed without your name on it?
  3. Do you have experience or evidence of a candidate being excluded for a position on the basis of unintended/intended bias? What would you do differently now that you have awareness of issues linked to potential bias?

 

Diversity Matters

by

 

Group of diverse people putting their hands together in the center of the photo.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock

In Canada, Human Rights legislation, both provincial and federal, promotes and ensures that the social fabric of a particular workplace is reflective of its external cultural environment. The law is clear in stating that discrimination against individuals is prohibited for purposes of employment. The consequences of non-compliance with the law are also quite clear. They come in the form of monetary fines, negative media coverage and social shaming, and frequently lead to costly business losses and diversions such as public apologies and reconstructive public relations campaigns.

Human Rights law tells us what not to do. It does not tell us what we can do to ensure that our recruitment practices encourage and support workplace diversity. In some jurisdictions, employment equity targets may continue to be in place with varying degrees of success. How can we progress beyond compliance with the law and equity targets that come from a restrictive perspective and move into a positive, pro-active commitment that builds much-needed workplace diversity?

According to a recent Fast Company article, ensuring a commitment to diversity in the workplace can be achieved with three fairly simple, but significant, steps.

Click here to read the article.

As we note in this article, the promotion and implementation of workplace diversity must move along a continuum, beginning with the recruitment process, working through an inclusive culture and ensuring that change is driven from the top.

Changing the recruitment process does not mean that we need to eliminate job-related requirements. Instead, we can create opportunities for candidates to participate in specific recruitment practices, such as skills based testing, using neutral, non-identifiable elements for the purpose of skills evaluation. We can also create opportunities for ourselves, as the human resources professionals managing the recruitment process, by participating in bias training to reduce the risks related to potential discrimination.

When we are able to lead by implementing specific changes to  recruitment practices, Human Resources will be able to lead the need to ensure that diversity matters in all corporate practices.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What are the benefits of having ‘blind’ skills-based testing done prior to face-to-face or in-person interviews?
  2. How can an organization increase its diversity profile through pro-active recruitment strategies?
  3. In your opinion, what part of the recruitment process has the highest risk of personal bias and what part has the least risk of personal bias?

Benefits of Blind Auditions

by

Does objectivity really take the sting out of rejection?

Source: ofoto/Shutterstock
Source: ofoto/Shutterstock

Bias.  We all have it.  It appears either as implicit or explicit; conscious or unconscious.  It is always with us as part of our own perception of the world.

It is, also, one of the biggest obstacles that keeps getting in the way of effective hiring processes.  How we impose our personal biases on others may have an incredibly powerful impact on candidates throughout the job selection process.

The following podcast from CBC’s “The Spark” , discusses a few different methodologies to reduce the impact of bias during the applicant screening and interview assessment stages.

Click Here to Listen to the Podcast.

GapJumpers is a technology based resource that allows for ‘performance auditions’ which may open the door to a different approach for candidate screening.  It is, in essence a ‘blind’ audition.  The statistics cited in the first interview seem to speak for themselves when the use of blind auditions improved the diversity of demographics in a particular selection process.  In the second interview, Ian Cook explores the issue of bias in recruitment processes from multiple aspects including the actual sourcing of candidates from diverse constituencies.

All of these tips and techniques seem to be critical in order to reduce the risk of bias in selection processes.  Why?

It is interesting to note that this clip begins with a very powerful emotional memory, described by the host, about getting the good news confirming her new job.  On the other side, she refers to the emotional reaction that each one of us may have all felt when we were rejected for a particular position.

We are so diligent in the field of Human Resources about neutralizing and objectifying processes in order to minimize our implicit biases and unconscious perceptions.  We want to make the processes fair and accessible.  As we make processes more bias-free, neutral, and objective are we striving to reduce the emotional, subjective, feeling elements linked to making the ‘right’ hiring decisions?

This may be what we want to achieve from a process perspective.  However, in the end, does any objective process really take the emotional sting out of rejection?

We cannot forget that rejection, no matter how it is delivered, it always hurts.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How would you perform in a ‘blind’ job audition if you were not able to present yourself in person?
  2. According to Ian Cook (second interview), there are fewer examples of ‘reverse discrimination’ in Canada than in the United States. From your experience, what evidence supports this statement?
  3. What is reputational effect? Why is this important in any recruitment process?
  4. Promoting a diversity referral process seems to be similar to networking. What are the specific benefits that a diversity referral process would provide?
  5. As an HR professional, how will you respond to individuals want to make ‘networking’ connections with you?
  6. Do you remember your first job offer? What was your reaction?
  7. Do you remember being rejected for a job? What was your reaction?

How to Find and Hire Great Employees

by

Floating in the Sea of Recruitment- The 7 C’s:

Allan Hill, in his article in Forbes Magazine, states:

“Over the course of my career, I’ve hired hundreds of people. Some were exceptional employees who were major contributors to our success. Others didn’t work out. In most cases, when an employee left or was terminated, I was the problem. Those dismissed were good people. I just did not know how to properly hire new employees.”

This is a very enlightened statement. How many HR practitioners would take this position of personal accountability?

It’s easy to find blame with someone or something else in any hiring process. HR Practitioners can always blame the hiring system, the candidate, or the external available pool of candidates. Our challenge is to take accountability for the processes that we create, monitor, and implement.

Allan Hill’s article can help you by using the s 7 C’s of hiring.

Click here to read the article.

Take a few moments to review the article and the 7 C’s. As you think about recruitment; what process you would use to evaluate the 7Cs: resume screening, testing, interview, role play, case studies, and environmental scans?

 

Hiring Competency

How will I evaluate or measure?
1 Competent
2 Capable
3 Compatible
4 Commitment
5 Character
6 Culture
7 Compensation

 

 

In order to make the recruitment process valid, reliable, and ultimately successful it takes insight, processes, and rigour on the part of the HR Practitioner. Is it time for you to raise your professional game?

 

Discussion Questions:

  1. Pick 3 of the 7C’s of hiring, how would you suggest these get incorporated into the recruitment process?
  2. How can building a comprehensive recruitment and selection process help to bring accountability to hiring new employees?