Are Your Hiring Practices Guilty of Accidental Discrimination?

Workplace discrimination has always been a hot subject. Yet, in today’s progressive society, employers need to be more conscious than ever in how they hire. By focusing your attention on equality and integrity during your hiring process, you can eliminate accidental discrimination. This will ensure you’re hiring the best candidate for every position. 

Avoid accidentally leaving certain demographics out of the loop. Don’t deprive your company of valuable candidates that could contribute to your company’s bottom line. Read the three major red flags that your hiring practices are discriminatory below. 

You Use Discriminatory Language

Check your job listings, website, and career pages for any discriminatory or preferential language usage. For example, using “he” when referring to a general individual instead of “their.” Also, be careful of using words that usually apply to a specific gender. For example, The Hire Talent says the adjective “dominant” may make the posting seem like it favors male applicants. 

Language preferences can be seen as narrowing down candidates based on race or ethnic group. Avoid writing your entire job post in a different language or peppering in words in another dialect.

Remove every restrictive term from your job description and ensure that everyone in your office, especially human resources and hiring managers, are well-versed and only use non-discriminatory language. Gender-specific job titles, stereotypical descriptions of men or women, and any references to skin color, ethic background, religion, gender identity, or sexuality should be omitted.

Hiring Decisions Are Made on “Gut Feelings”

According to Perception Institute, relying on a gut feeling could result in implicit biases leading to discrimination. Many companies pride themselves on hiring candidates based on connection rather than credentials, but personal connection is subjective. Most of the time, this means people are only being hired based on the opinion of hiring staff or the manager. To avoid implicit bias and discrimination in the hiring process, you should employ a variety of screening measures that ensure applicants are being judged fairly based off their competency, educational background, and commitment to the position.

Your Workplace Lacks Diversity

Take a look at your current employee population; are they all from the same ethnic background, or is there a major discrepancy between gender in various positions? If you only hire women to work in support positions and men for high-level roles, you could be at risk of discriminatory hiring practices. 

Go through your current list of resumes and see what type of candidates are applying to your company. If you find there is also limited diversity among applicants, this could strongly indicate discriminatory phrasing in your job listings. 

Take a closer look at who is hiring and make sure that your staff completes cultural sensitivity and discrimination training. Sometimes, just learning about the impact of subconscious bias can make people more aware and less likely to discriminate.

Still have questions on the best way to avoid a lawsuit on discriminatory hiring practices? Speak to the experienced attorneys at Lum Law Group today!