Hiring a ‘good fit’ for your team could be discriminatory

Allowing subjectivity to creep into recruiting decisions risks being challenged as discriminatory. Employers need to be able to demonstrate that hiring decisions have been made fairly, based on criteria applied to all applicants.

James & Saine v London & Quadrant Housing Trust

In the case of James & Saine v London & Quadrant Housing Trust an employer advertised three vacancies for leadership positions.

There were six internal candidates, three were white and three were black or mixed race. The employer offered jobs to two of the white candidates. None of the black or mixed race applicants were appointed. The employer then decided to re-advertise the third vacancy externally, despite having decided that the remaining internal candidates ‘were not, not appointable’.

Two internal candidates who had been overlooked, claimed that the decision not to appoint them was direct race discrimination. The tribunal agreed. The employer’s hiring team had based its decision on who to appoint on a subjective view of who would ‘fit in’, rather than objectively considering qualifications and suitability for the job. The tribunal stated, “basing recruitment decisions on subjective views, or gut feelings, increases the risk of stereotypes and unconscious bias coming into play”.

The oversight was a costly one for the employer, who ended up paying out £95,000 in compensation to the employees who brought the case.

This case reminds HR teams that recruitment processes must be free from discrimination and minimise the risk of unconscious bias. Recruitment and interview processes should be reviewed to make sure that they stand up to scrutiny and are based on an objective assessment of suitability.