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13/01/2009: Why using Miller McKenzie can save you a Discrimination Case
As the credit crunch bites and people are made redundant, all of a sudden you find yourself, ironically, with an increasing workload and busier than ever before. Reports need writing, new marketing plans need developing, dormant accounts need contacting, new leads followed up on and now you’ve been given another new area due to a redundancy.
So how exactly do you find the time to do some recruitment to fill the void left by people jumping ship due to worries about redundancy?
You quickly write an advert, post it in the first place you can think of, and then two weeks later you get a small pile of low quality CVs. Picking the best of a bad bunch, you decide to only interview a couple of the candidates because you’re so busy. Then you hastily choose the better of the two, the younger candidate; because they have more potential, and assuming he/she accepts, you have ended up with a square peg in your round hole. However that’s fine as you’re sure you’ll be able to “train them up” in no time.
Sound familiar?
Congratulations, you’ve just made a massive mistake.
The older candidate believes that they are more than fully qualified to do the role, and hasn’t had their expectations managed so doesn’t understand the intricacies of the role. All they can see is that the team they saw working in the office didn’t have a single person over the age of 25 and, as they're 40, thinks that the reason they weren’t offered the job was because of their age.
Additionally, as you scheduled the interviews next to each other to minimise the impact on your busy schedule, and didn’t allow enough time, the younger candidate was waiting outside as the older candidate walked out. His suspicions about your ageist recruitment policy appears to be confirmed when he hears the other candidate was offered the job and promptly contacts a solicitor to open a case of Age Discrimination.
Multiple errors
In your haste you’ve made multiple errors which compounded into a major headache. Obviously this scenario sounds far fetched, indeed improbable, but it is easy for seemingly insignificant details to manifest themselves in far more worrying ways. All it takes for a discrimination claim to be brought to court is the victim perceiving their age, disability, religion, sexual preference, pregnancy, race, nationality or sex to have been a factor.
The Law
The entire process of recruitment is subject to various anti-discrimination laws, from the job advert to the interview process and onwards to the final decision. Additionally it is worth noting that Employers are liable for any discrimination carried out by their employees in the course of their employment. If you have delegated the recruitment to someone and they discriminate; you will be equally responsible. A successful claim carries no limit to the compensation that can be awarded.
How Miller McKenzie can help.
Since 1995 our many years of recruitment experience handling the entire recruitment process has furnished Miller McKenzie consultants with in-depth knowledge of the many pit-falls associated with recruiting. Additionally as we will be handling the whole process; we will be responsible for adherence to the laws of the land.
In addition Miller McKenzie will write the advert to ensure maximum response and avoid all discrimination.
A dedicated consultant will then select and contact the best candidates based on criteria you have provided; so there can be no claims of positive discrimination (the pro-active selection of someone based on their age, sex, race etc. to “even up the numbers”). Firms who are found to positively discriminate; by using quotas for example, are equally liable to discrimination claims.
Miller McKenzie will then prepare the candidates for interview and manage their expectations. Following this your consultant will contact you to prepare you for the candidates that are due to be seen and arrange a suitable timetable for the meetings. This essential part of the process is often overlooked by lesser consultancies; the client should be fully briefed on the candidates before they arrive. For example, did you know that in some cultures it is inappropriate look superiors in the eye and shows a lack of respect? Another more obvious example is to expect certain items of clothing and greetings (a kiss on the cheek or a hug can make a reserved Englishman uncomfortable but are normal greetings in some countries).
After the interviews your consultant will impartially discuss your opinion of how the candidates performed and manage the acceptance/rejection process.
This is how to vastly improve your chances of finding and hiring the very best candidate out there. Call us now on 01522 731371.
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