NEW: Things that employers focus on that are discriminatory 

Memory Nguwi 

Across the globe, there is a fight against discrimination and unconscious bias in the workplace.

There is enough scientific evidence to show that prospective employees face discrimination based on age, race, tribe, gender, school attended, marital status, home address (a possible proxy for the race) and hobbies.

Research has consistently shown that all the above factors have no significant relationship with the prospective candidate’s ability to do the job. The big question now is why are employers using these factors to disadvantage job seekers?

Here are the reasons why the following factors should not be taken into consideration when hiring employees.

1. Age– I am sure you have seen employers who, on their adverts, indicate that they require candidates above a certain age or within a specific age range. Besides this being discriminatory, there is no scientific evidence to show a significant relationship between age and job performance.  Research so far has demonstrated zero correlation between an employee’s age and their job performance. Employers insist on knowing your age before they interview you because they want to discriminate against you. It does not necessarily follow that employers should not get the age of their prospective employees.  You can ask the job candidate this question: “Please confirm that you are above the age of 16 and below the retirement of 65 (for example)? We are asking you this question purely to check that we are not interviewing a minor or a person due for retirement?” The other time you can indicate age range is when you are hiring trainees, such as apprenticeship candidates or graduate trainees. Anything outside this would be considered discriminatory. Zimbabwean employers are still lagging when correcting this anomaly, where they consider age when they are hiring.
2. Marital status– There is no correlation between marital status and job performance. Most employers, especially in Zimbabwe, prefer married employees under the pretext that they are more stable and mature. The reality is that this is all discrimination as there is no scientific evidence to show that marital status has a relationship with job performance. This is a very bad practice that will affect the employer’s ability to get the best person for the job. There is no need for prospective candidates to put their marital status on their CVs, as it should have no bearing on the prospects of being hired for a job. Once you have selected and identified the best candidate and are about to offer them a job, you can ask them about their marital status to allocate any benefits that may consider the number of children.
3. Gender– There is no relationship between gender and job performance. This should not be a factor when hiring employees. Others have argued that they want to include phrases like “women are encouraged to apply” and “female environment” to encourage female applicants to apply. This is not necessary when the advert is crafted in a way that is gender neutral. Gender-neutral adverts will encourage female candidates to apply if they are your target, and that should allow you to reach your diversity goals. Trying to reach your diversity goals through discrimination is bad for your employer brand.
4. Race – I have seen CVs are written under the race section “black African, White, Asian”.  Race has nothing to do with the ability of the applicant to do the job. Therefore employers must not use race as a factor in shortlisting candidates for any role.
5. Home Address– The problem with showing a home address on the CV is that it is often used to proxy status and race. As you would be aware, if one candidate puts Borrowdale Brook as their home address and another puts Epworth, chances are the Borrowdale Brook candidate would be shortlisted ahead of Epworth even if they hold the same qualifications.
6. School(s) Attended– There is a possibility that employers can discriminate against prospective job candidates based on schools attended. In Zimbabwe, we have heard these sentiments expressed on the quality of graduates. We also hear that some employers will not hire graduates from certain universities. The decision is not based on any scientific evidence but on prejudice.
7. Hobbies– The danger with listing hobbies on the CV is that it may end up revealing other dimensions that could be used in discrimination, such as race, tribe, age and whether a candidate has children or not. So far, there is no scientific evidence to show any correlation between hobbies and job performance.

As outlined above, there is no need for any employer to use any of the above factors to make hiring decisions. These factors have been used to discriminate against prospective job candidates. Using any of these factors in hiring disadvantages the employer because they will not hire on merit.

To counter these negative practices, there has now been a push for blind hiring. In blind hiring, all the personal details (those indicated above) are not shown on the candidate’s CV. This includes the name of the candidate. The Korean Times (2017) reports that the government has resolved that all state entities will no longer be required to request job applicants to provide information such as family background, photo, school attended, gender, age, etc. In my view, this is the right way to go, especially in state entities where there are likely to be high levels of corruption in the recruitment processes.

 

*Memory Nguwi is an Occupational Psychologist, Data Scientist, Speaker, & Managing Consultant- Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd, a management and human resources consulting firm. https://www.thehumancapitalhub.com  email: [email protected]  or visit our website at www.ipcconsultants.com