Point of "Equal Opportunities"

TheChosenOne

Hi everyone,

Currently applying for a few jobs to big companies, and almost all applications have an "equal opportunities" section. They ask questions such as your sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity... I mean shouldn't everyone be considered equal, and hired just because of their suitability for the job, and not sex, sexual orientation and ethnicity? If these things don't matter, what's the point of asking them? Do they have some quota of "diversity" to be filled in, example, some proportion of people must be black, asian, gay or trans? I have no problem filling them in truthfully, and I acknowledge that there is a "prefer not to disclose" section, but still?

Mrs OBumble

Are you in the North (where there are reporting requirements on religion at least) or the Republic?

TheChosenOne

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Are you in the North (where there are reporting requirements on religion at least) or the Republic?

I'm in the Republic, but applying to jobs in the UK and Ireland. And this is just a general question out of interest.

seamus

TheChosenOne wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Currently applying for a few jobs to big companies, and almost all applications have an "equal opportunities" section. They ask questions such as your sex, sexual orientation, ethnicity... I mean shouldn't everyone be considered equal, and hired just because of their suitability for the job, and not sex, sexual orientation and ethnicity? If these things don't matter, what's the point of asking them? Do they have some quota of "diversity" to be filled in, example, some proportion of people must be black, asian, gay or trans? I have no problem filling them in truthfully, and I acknowledge that there is a "prefer not to disclose" section, but still?

It's really an internal thing for the company's HR. That section probably has small print detailing what the data is being collected for and who will have access to it.

The aim is not fill "quotas", but rather to detect any potential areas where one type of candidate is being preferred over another.

This is especially a problem in big companies where HR only do basic sign-off checks, all of the interviewing and vetting is done by people inside that department. So by collecting this data they can recognise when, for example, 60% of all applicants for a certain type of job are women, but one department seems to hire 75% young white men for that particular role. In that case, it becomes apparent that a bias has formed in that department (unintentionally or otherwise) which may need to be addressed.

Ultimately it's an arse-covering exercise. The company don't really care about diversity, but if you do have one manager whose hiring decisions are clearly biased, then you have a big lawsuit waiting to happen.

TheChosenOne

seamus wrote: »

It's really an internal thing for the company's HR. That section probably has small print detailing what the data is being collected for and who will have access to it.

The aim is not fill "quotas", but rather to detect any potential areas where one type of candidate is being preferred over another.

This is especially a problem in big companies where HR only do basic sign-off checks, all of the interviewing and vetting is done by people inside that department. So by collecting this data they can recognise when, for example, 60% of all applicants for a certain type of job are women, but one department seems to hire 75% young white men for that particular role. In that case, it becomes apparent that a bias has formed in that department (unintentionally or otherwise) which may need to be addressed.

Ultimately it's an arse-covering exercise. The company don't really care about diversity, but if you do have one manager whose hiring decisions are clearly biased, then you have a big lawsuit waiting to happen.

Oh right, it makes perfect sense now. Hopefully they use it in the way you said it! Thanks.

Manach

AFAIR for US Multi-Nationals there are requirements to show that they hire from a diverse field of candidates or else they will lose the opportunity to bid for Federal contracts. Presumibly the same HR policies carry onto overseas sites.