Equality in employment

[wordsmith]

This is just a little note because I'm halfway through filling out a job application form for HSBC. The reason I'm posting? The hilarity of the "We don't care... But tell us anyway!".

Firstly, in the box marked "Paste your CV here", the site goes to the trouble of telling me "Please ensure that you remove any dates/years/age from your submission" in order to remove the possibility of age discrimination in the selection process. "That makes sense", I think to myself, "after all, by doing this they can't be called biased. They don't know who they're calling, so they call the best (as opposed to women, ethnic "minorities" and older people before young white males).

Then I click on the "next" button, and I'm greeted by this:

Spoiler

"Diversity is central to HSBC and we are committed to equality of opportunity in employment, irrespective of the section of the community from which our workforce is drawn. HSBC is the world?s local bank and we believe the world is a rich and diverse place, full of interesting people and cultures who should be treated with respect and from whom we have a lot to learn. We seek to employ a workforce which reflects the diverse community at large and value the contribution of each individual, regardless of sex, age, marital status, disabilities, sexuality, race, colour, religion, ethnic or national origin. All applications will be treated on their merits.


In order that we may monitor the effectiveness of our equal opportunities policy, we would be grateful if you could provide the information requested below which is never used in the selection process for any job. This will be held solely for monitoring purposes.

Gender
Ethnic Group
If you have selected any 'Other' category, please specify

Do you consider yourself to have a disability?
If yes, which of the following descriptions best describes your disability?
If 'Other', please specify

Age Range

Sexual Orientation
If 'Other', please specify
Belief
If 'Other', please specify"

The TL;DR of that is "We're really diverse, so we don't care who you are physically, we believe in equality, so if you're the best person for the job, you'll get it. To make sure we uphold this equality, please tell us your age, race, sexual preference, level of disability and religion. Thanks "

The point of this post is to ask the community what they think of this? Is it right to say that "We have a diverse workplace", then make sure you employ the "right" people to make sure that this "diversity" continues to exist?

 

[NeutralDrow]

The point of this post is to ask the community what they think of this?

"Hooray for irony!"

 

[Bofus Teefus]

It seems like the survey is only for monitoring. The data is likely not seen by people evaluating your app, but is used to see if they are, say, only hiring young white guys at a particular location. The wording could use a makeover, though. How about this.

We don't care whether you black, white, blue or purple- if you gots the goods, we hirin', Dogg!

 

[Rascarin]

To be honest, I think that NOT asking these questions does just as much for diversity. If they don't know the information prior to hiring you, there is no way they can be accused of bias.

 

[TwistedEllipses]

Ahhh...the irony.

Business the world over like to be non-discriminating just as long as they can use it to promote themselves...still it's infinitely better than the box-ticking paradoxical practice of 'positive discrimination'...and if it encourages business not to discriminate I do see it doing any harm. You even got some entertainment from it!

 

[chronobreak]

Usually you do not have to answer these questions... are you sure there was no option to just skip it?

 

[ArcWinter]

Rebuttal to The Volume's Rude Comment! - Statistics apply to everyone but you, they mean nothing.

They seriously have this? Skip it, and if they ask you to fill it out say it violates your personal beliefs and that they are racist. Then become a hermit if they refuse you the job.

If people are stupid and won't leave you alone, live in a cave! Nobody else wants to be there!

 

[Therumancer]

Actually it's not just for statistical purposes, affirmitive action still exists despite needing to be stopped. Also whether people want to accept it or not, certain kinds of people do not work well in specific positions.

Nothing to do with management/supervision, but let's say your dealing with a guy who for religious reasons can't cut facial hair. Your not going to put him in public food service, or typically in any kind of public uniformed position where you want everyone to be universally shaved with short hair, etc... (the whole point of being "uniform").

Now yes, there ARE issues some people have raised through the years as to whether or not having a uniformed work staff is "fair" or counts as a form of discrimination. I personally think it's fine, but that opens up whole other channels of discussion.

But think of it this way, let's say you've got a business with public and private areas. Some dude applies for the job with that kind of facial hair issue. He's applying to do janitorial/custodial work (nothing dramatic). You might choose whether to hire him or not depending on whether you need someone to work "back of the house" because you don't want
him out front with the uniformed janitors working the public areas.

If you run a business where you provide free food for the employees, you might not hire a Jewish person because you won't be able to provide the benefit by obtaining kosher food just for that one employee.

There are a lot of things behind it, some of which are more contreversial than others.


>>>----Therumancer--->