Recruitment doesn’t start with realizing the need to have talent on the team and end up with having an employee. Within the process, many factors affect the recruitment, such as candidate experience, time-to-hire, and legal framework.
With every factor holding a certain purpose, complying with the legal framework holds the most significant amongst all. With the complex legal landscape surrounding recruitment, it is highly recommended for HR to stay up to date about legal compliance to avoid any costly mistakes.
Due to non-compliance with the laws, the companies not only bear the monetary cost, but it also tends to do reputational damage to your company.
Well, maintaining legal consideration in recruitment is unavoidable and not complying with them can cost you dearly. To avoid such hazard in your recruitment, we’ve compiled what you must know about legal framework during the hiring process.
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How non-compliance with legal framework can be a threat?
When a survey conducted by Deloitte stated that “Around 61 percent of survey respondents felt that there was a lack of internal controls and compliance processes to proactively manage and mitigate the risk of non-compliance.”, the need to have a stable recruitment process complying with laws became a requisite.
Law compliance is a necessity. In any case it can’t be ignored or put aside even for a while. Irrespective of the size of the company or the industry it belongs to, every organization is compelled to comply with a proper and pre-defined legal framework.
The recruitment process, being an essential part, should be the first one to take care of laws and regulations. Therefore, it becomes the duty of you as a recruiter to manage and maintain the hiring process while adhering to the lawsuits.
A non-compliance with laws and regulations during the recruitment process can cost you fines and penalties, increase government scrutiny, shatter your employer brand and what not.
Strategies to avoid discriminatory risks during the process.
Hiring laws not only protect the recruitment rights for the candidates, but it also mitigates the discriminatory practices worldwide faced by the applicants belonging to various race, culture, color, gender, disability. Protecting the rights of every candidate who is willing to perform is the sole motto of legal framework in recruitment.
Here is how you can avoid making mistakes while complying to the employment laws and avoid hiring discrimination risks:
- Based on the protected characteristics:
Illegal discrimination in recruitment such as gender bias, inclusivity, race, religion, region, age and disability should not be practiced. Laws enforced by EEOC states that “it is illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.
It is also illegal to retaliate against a person because he or she complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit.”
- Neutral practices:
Practices considered normal during the recruitment process, such as asking for salary history, can be discriminatory for a candidate. Asking such questions can perpetuate the existing biasness in gender and racial pay gaps. Instead of emphasizing the pat salary structure, focus on the candidate skills and qualifications and compensate them with what they deserve.
There are several acts that protect the statutes of social security such as The Employee’s Compensation Act, 1923; The Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948; The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
- Job postings:
Use proper language to maintain inclusivity amongst the job seekers. Focus on qualifications needed for the job roles rather than justifying the details about “how the candidate should be”.
For example, at times employer may think that a job opening in marketing team would have justice only when a female candidate is hired for the role, which is a wrong perception. To avoid spreading this misconception about you, you can write “We welcome all the qualified market strategists…”
- Evaluation criteria:
During the selection process ensure that you structure the hiring process in a way that generates fair and justifiable outcomes for everyone joining the interview. For example, female candidates are often treated in a lenient way because they are thought as sensitive ones which in turn affect the opportunities to the male applicants. Create a generic criterion for every candidate irrespective of their gender, race, religion but qualification and skills.
- Manage background checks regulations:
Adhere to the legal guidelines framed by the organization while verifying the candidate’s background. Ensure that you follow all the essential steps to maintain obedience to the sovereignty of the law makers. The Information Technology Act governs the data collection and storage laws for employers. Employers must follow the rules such as obtaining written consent from the candidate, managing the data security.
Data privacy in the recruitment process is extremely non-negotiable since the data provided to the employer by the candidate holds sensitive information about them.
Make sure you get your hands on HR software like HROne that complies with laws, encrypted and also hosted on Microsoft Azure to keep your candidate and employee data secure.
Where to stay updated from?
Having all the updates about changes being made to the laws and regulations for the companies, especially regarding the recruitment process, is a must. It makes you a smart recruiter who moves ahead every time an update arises.
To stay updated on legal development you can rely on government or other authentic websites like Ministry of Labour and Employment . You can also attend workshops and training programs.
It is better for you to stay alert and updated for every scenario coming up than being a recruiter who wakes up once the damage is done. The recruitment landscape is constantly evolving and so are the legal frameworks associated with it. Employment law compliance is navigating with every change in trend.
Don’t hesitate to look up to someone for legal consultation. Learn and cultivate the culture of awareness in your company.