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Recruiting season is starting at my Company and we had a recruiting season kickoff meeting. Our HR Director proceeded to inform us that we could not make hiring decisions based on race or ethnicity. In fact, she said we couldn't even ask casual conversation starters like "so, where are you from?" because this might be seen as trying to gather information about ethnicity. This seemed a little odd because knowledge of someone's race/ethnicity/birthplace is a lot different from discriminating based on it. Based on the logic that you shouldn't even obtain information about ethnicity, she should also have asked us to close our eyes during the interview so that we don't see their skin color and close our ears so we don't hear their accent. Anyways, HR isn't my specialty, so I was just willing to roll with the don't ask anything remotely related to race, place or birth, ect.
It wasn't five minutes later our HR Director told us that our Company has a "focus on diversity" and that we should make an extra effort to reach out to non white candidates.
At this point I almost lost it. In my opinion, she is telling us it is not ok to casually gather information about a candidates background (that is not intended to discriminate) but it is ok show blatant favoritism to candidates because of their skin tone.
So basically, your HR Director has very poor communication skills.
What they're really trying to get across is that the companies wants to hire more minorities (likely to meet an EEOC/affirmative action quota) without actually letting the applicants know that you're hiring them because of their race/ethnicity by asking them race/ethnicity-related questions, to avoid discrimination lawsuits.
Either way, I wouldn't want to work for this type of company knowing this crap was going on (as a minority myself). It's not technically illegal, but it is a poor business practice.
It wasn't five minutes later our HR Director told us that our Company has a "focus on diversity" and that we should make an extra effort to reach out to non white candidates.
This essentially means increasing the applicant pool by creating opportunities for diverse candidates to apply. Does not necessarily mean that you need to specifically hire "non-white" applicants. Two very distinct meanings. I have worked very closely with HR (not in HR) in the past and from what I can tell, your HR Director is talking about creating more opportunities to bring in diverse demography as applicants; hiring might still continue on merit.
So basically, your HR Director has very poor communication skills.
What they're really trying to get across is that the companies wants to hire more minorities (likely to meet an EEOC/affirmative action quota) without actually letting the applicants know that you're hiring them because of their race/ethnicity by asking them race/ethnicity-related questions, to avoid discrimination lawsuits.
Either way, I wouldn't want to work for this type of company knowing this crap was going on (as a minority myself). It's not technically illegal, but it is a poor business practice.
Recruiting season is starting at my Company and we had a recruiting season kickoff meeting. Our HR Director proceeded to inform us that we could not make hiring decisions based on race or ethnicity. In fact, she said we couldn't even ask casual conversation starters like "so, where are you from?" because this might be seen as trying to gather information about ethnicity. This seemed a little odd because knowledge of someone's race/ethnicity/birthplace is a lot different from discriminating based on it. Based on the logic that you shouldn't even obtain information about ethnicity, she should also have asked us to close our eyes during the interview so that we don't see their skin color and close our ears so we don't hear their accent. Anyways, HR isn't my specialty, so I was just willing to roll with the don't ask anything remotely related to race, place or birth, ect.
It wasn't five minutes later our HR Director told us that our Company has a "focus on diversity" and that we should make an extra effort to reach out to non white candidates.
At this point I almost lost it. In my opinion, she is telling us it is not ok to casually gather information about a candidates background (that is not intended to discriminate) but it is ok show blatant favoritism to candidates because of their skin tone.
Is a "focus on diversity" legal?
The focus on diversity is not only legal, but promoted by the various local and fed gov agencies that are involved in this stuff.
Your HR director was simply spouting out the typical lingo line to satisfy any inquiries by outside entities regarding the company's promotion of diversity. This little spouting off will be logged, and if/when anyone ever gets interviewed, they will of course say "yes, our company promotes diversity because of blah blah blah".
It is perfectly allowed to ask where someone is from, just cannot discriminate on the basis of it. A smart company will just avoid the question and those like it completely, asking such questions just gives more ammo to someone when they file a complaint about not getting hired or something.
But yea, it is all BS, as if non-white candidates somehow are incapable of selecting companies to apply to, and need their hand held like they are three years old.
The government doesn't impose quotas by law, that's correct.
But employers can disguise them as "goals" within the organization.
A goal is not a quota, a company cannot discriminate base on achieving a goal. A company can still be hit with a discrimination finding if they discriminated against other groups in pursuit of a goal for a specific group.
But, the BS thing about goals is they are only set for non-whites and women, whites and males do not get goals, the gov does not mandate any company to set goals for whites and males. Yea, that is gov sponsored discrimination.
A goal is not a quota, a company cannot discriminate base on achieving a goal. A company can still be hit with a discrimination finding if they discriminated against other groups in pursuit of a goal for a specific group.
Right, so instead of making a rigid, unavoidable requirement that a certain number of minorities must be hired, the hiring of so many minorities is simply masked as an "ideal objective" to reach a "estimated target" so it can be shown a "good faith" effort has been made in diversifying the company's workforce.
So even though I see the difference between a goal and a quota from a legal/business standpoint, the big picture of it is all semantics to me. Ultimately, the company is trying to bring more minorities on board to appease the courts and help them in their defense if anyone ever does try to sue them for discrimination.
This essentially means increasing the applicant pool by creating opportunities for diverse candidates to apply. Does not necessarily mean that you need to specifically hire "non-white" applicants. Two very distinct meanings. I have worked very closely with HR (not in HR) in the past and from what I can tell, your HR Director is talking about creating more opportunities to bring in diverse demography as applicants; hiring might still continue on merit.
It almost sounds like that would be implying that some positions are better suited for certain demographics, which surely can't be what OP's HR department or you mean to say right?
Maybe by "opportunities" you mean things like recruiting at job fairs in a diverse selection of locales or something like that, and not the position itself?
It almost sounds like that would be implying that some positions are better suited for certain demographics, which surely can't be what OP's HR department or you mean to say right?
Maybe by "opportunities" you mean things like recruiting at job fairs in a diverse selection of locales or something like that, and not the position itself?
It would be very difficult to target specific locations for certain positions. The approach needs to be broad and inclusive for all positions. Yes, job fairs in diverse locations and colleges that promotes diversity are a few options. They could also try advertising open positions at community centers and unemployment agencies which will targets broad audience than just posting the postion on the company's website.
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