UK Government Demands Change On Recruitment Racism

Discrimination in the labour market remains a serious issue in UK employment law, but this is a situation that many employers have admirably began to challenge. It is part of a new government scheme that will no longer require students to put their names on applications, thereby preventing certain cultural and social assumptions about their personality getting attached to their name(s).

Under this new approach endorsed by the Tory government, employers will not be allowed to see the applicant’s name until they have shortlisted them for an interview. The scheme, often referred to as a “name blind” policy, is planned to be used throughout UK employment, particularly for helping graduates entering the workplace for the first time.

Employers supporting this approach are responsible for the employment of around 1.8m people in the UK workforce, across both the public and private sectors. As some of the biggest organisations in Britain, these names include the Conservative party, the BBC, the NHS and the Civil Service, along with big name privatised companies such as Teach First, HSBC, KPMG and Virgin Money.

There is considerable evidence to support the use of name blind applications. Vikki Boliver, senior lecturer in sociology at Durham University, recently conducted an investigation into several prominent UK universities on behalf of the Russell Group and found that just 36% of ethnic applicants received university places compared to 55% of white applicants during the years 2010-12. Bolivier feels that the changes “may help some” but is “definitely not a solution” to some of the “biases” recruiters exhibit.

Employer preference for employees with white names is not exclusive to the UK, as a recent French study revealed that applicants with foreign-sounding names are less likely to receive a response from an employer compared to those who have a name of Western origin.

Beginning of change

Concern over applicant name preferences began when a 2009 government report concluded that UK employers have a tendency to arrange interviews with candidates with western white sounding names, even when multiple applicants from different backgrounds provide applications of the same quality and experience.

David Cameron has also recently announced that UK university admissions service, UCAS, will now be required to carry out “name-blind” applications beginning in 2017. Although UCAS are stated that their own research has found no documented case of ethnic bias present in their application process.

At a recent speech in Manchester the PM explained his view that names often play the dominant role in candidate interview processes: “You send out your CV far and wide but you get rejection after rejection — what’s wrong?” “It’s not the qualifications or the previous experience. It’s just two words at the top: first name, surname.

Providing a more comprehensive approach to tackling discrimination at work is part of a recent Conservative effort to show a more caring side to Tory race attitudes, which have been criticised recently by those who feel the government crackdown on Islamic extremism has unfairly targeted some Muslims.

Further changes

There is reason to believe that the adoption of name blind policy for race could extend to obscuring gender too as recent government emphasis on the gender pay gap supports this. Large companies now have to release details on the average bonuses they pay to both male and female employees, challenging the UK’s average 9% gap that exists between gender earnings for employees aged over 40. The gap for younger employees appears to be closing.