The recruitment process is a great opportunity to develop your business and upgrade the skills and experience in your workforce. However it’s also an area full of hindering employment laws and discrimination claims.
So it’s essential to be aware of the following key points if you want to recruit fairly and by the book.
Don’t be too specific
The job and candidate specification should only contain necessary information. To achieve this it’s a good idea to have the company’s equality and diversity policy to hand. And be sure to word any job adverts using general language to speak to as wide an audience as possible. For example, avoid suggesting you’re looking for a certain age or gender.
Prepare the interviewer
It sounds obvious but the interviewer should be fully aware of what they can and can’t ask. A lot of compensation claims come about because of discrimination against applicants’ age, marital status, disabilities, etc.
Health is a slightly different matter. In some cases questions about health are relevant early on, in some they should be saved until candidates have been shortlisted or provisionally offered the role. And obviously in some cases a job offer would be subject to a medical exam.
If you’re unsure about this area talk to a trained professional in business law.
Data Protection
All personal and sensitive data should be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act and data protection principles. For example, unsuccessful applicants’ personal data should be kept for a maximum of six months and then permanently disposed of.
Social Media
It’s becoming more and more common for employers to use social media to review applicants prior to an interview. While this is a good way to assess a candidate’s suitability for a role, it inevitably leads to the researcher obtaining information about ‘protected characteristics’, such as relationship status or disability. To ensure social media research is handled properly, it should be subject to the Data Protection Act and applicants should be informed that this kind of research may take place.
References
If an applicant receives a negative or unsatisfactory reference which leads to a job offer being withdrawn, make sure the withdrawal is for the right reasons. Employers are obliged to share references with candidates if they request them. So be sure the reason a negative reference affects the employment offer doesn’t fall under discrimination.
Immigration
Checking a candidate’s entitlement to work in the UK should be done for the purpose of avoiding discrimination claims, not to check their immigration status. This can be a tricky area so it’s a good idea to take a look at The Border Agency’s online list of acceptable documents. In recent years the fines for employing illegal immigrants have doubled so this is an essential practice.
Recruitment rules and regulations can be a complicated matter so it’s important to speak to an expert if there are any grey areas. Get in touch with Johnson Legal today by sending an email or calling 0131 622 9222.