www.wiltshire.gov.uk
Equality Impact Assessment - Recruitment and Selection
1. What is being assessed?
Recruitment & Selection
a) Is this a policy or function?
Recruitment and Selection as a function
b) What is the name of the policy or function?
Five strands of the Recruitment and Selection Function are being assessed at this time and are also due to have separate equality impact assessments, it includes:
- The Managers Guide to Recruitment and Selection (awaiting updating – expected by end April 08)
- Recruitment and Selection Policy 2006 (inc. New Recruitment and Selection Protocols for One Council programme (revised Oct 07)
- Front end of the E-Recruitment website (launched 6th Oct 2006)
- Recruitment and Selection Training for Managers (reviewed on an ongoing basis as a result of legislation, case law, internal issues etc.)
- Electronic Recruitment Process
c) Is this a new or an existing policy or function?
Recruitment and Selection is an existing function, however there have been considerable changes to practise and procedure as a result of the launch of e-recruitment system and now as a result of the 1C4W decision.
2. a) What are the aims and objectives of the policy or function?
The policy and procedure is intended to help managers ensure they appoint the best person to fill their vacancies and to safe guard the interests of the County Council and its stakeholders. It is to ensure that all candidates/applicants in the recruitment and selection process are treated equally and that recruiting managers are aware of legal and regulatory obligations
2.b) How do they relate to the Department’s objectives in the Service Plan?
Valuing diversity is one of the HR strategies main aims. Investment in to monitoring and producing good quality and meaningful management information is key in the current HR Operations Service Plan 2007/08 which should help us to plan strategies to increase in the number of successful BME and disabled applicants in the organisation. In addition
- A mandatory diversity training module has been introduced into the Manage2Lead programme for managers and Diversity has been incorporated into current induction for all new staff.
- More robust exit interview management information and increased compliance with completion of exit interviews.
- The provision of a competitive benefit package, resulting from the pay Reform project in 2007 will aim to improve recruitment and retention.
2. c) Whose needs is the policy or function designed to meet?
The function is designed to meet the needs of the organisation - to ensure managers appoint the best person to every vacant post and to safeguard the interests of the County Council and its stakeholders.
The function of recruitment and selection is committed to ensure that job applicants and employees receive fair and equitable treatment and all processes remain open and transparent.
2. d) What are the current priorities of the policy or function?
The successful implementation and development of the E-Recruitment system is key to the streamlining and modernisation of processes, ensuring that recruitment and selection practice is consistent across the organisation. As a result of the decision for 1C4W the new Recruitment and Secondment protocols have been introduced to assist with the longer term issue of the effects of the amalgamation of the 5 authorities in terms of managing the potential of redundancy and its associated costs to the authority.
3. a) In what ways might this policy or service affect some groups of people differently?
There is currently restricted access to some job vacancies within the County Council as they must now be considered for internal only/secondment opportunities, therefore limiting the opportunities to recruit new employees.
When recruiting externally advertising may be seen as affecting some groups differently. There are significant cost implications to advertising and therefore adverts need to be specifically placed to reach the widest and most appropriate audience possible.
Vacancies are also made available on the WCC website, vacancy bulletin and at JobCentrePlus offices. Access to the website may be prohibitive for some groups but web access is available through all the county libraries and in all job centres.
3. b) Might some groups find it harder to access the service?
Access to the internet may affect some groups of people differently. The new e-recruitment system and website has been rigorously tested for accessibility and is still in its infancy. Any feedback received will be evaluated and amendments made. It must be noted that e-recruitment and online applications are not used exclusively and a manual process of requesting an application pack and completing an application form remains.
3. c) Do some groups have particular needs that are not well met by the current policy or service?
Potential applicants who may find it difficult to apply for a job and undertake the traditional selection processes may also include people whose first language is not English or those with a learning disability.
4.a) What evidence do you have for your judgement?
Following consultation with BME groups in May 06, it was noted that there was a low awareness of where to find vacancy adverts and how to apply for jobs.
4.b) Is there evidence of public concern (e.g. complaints)?
The Recruitment Team have not received any complaints from the public.
4.c) Have staff raised concerns?
There have been a couple of concerns raised through the Staff Disability Forum regarding an advert being released without the Disability Symbol included and the issue of the commitment from managers to interview disabled applicants who meet the person specification.
4. d) Is there local or national research to suggest that there could be a problem?
The Recruitment Team have not identified any information to suggest a problem with online recruitment
5. What information exists that the policy or function affects groups differently? (Consider all the six equality strands i.e. Race, Gender, Disability, Sexual Orientation, Religion/Belief, Age)
Management information presented to the Staffing Policy Committee in June 2007 indicates that the numbers of BME and disabled candidates and successful applicants are disproportionate. This is being investigated and a report back with finding is due to go back to Staffing Policy in January 2008
6.a) Who have you consulted with as part of your assessment?
The BME consultation showed that there was a low awareness of where to search for vacancies and how to apply for them. No other information direct from specific groups is available.
Consultation for the Disability Equality Scheme with users and staff raised issues re ensuring the Guaranteed Interview Scheme works in practice, ensuring person specifications do not overstate person specification requirements and disability awareness is raised with staff and managers.
Consultation for the Race Equality Scheme has raised key themes:
- How to find out about job vacancies and how to apply for them.
- Is Wiltshire serious or sincere about promoting racial equality?
- Concerns regarding the fairness of the Councils recruitment procedures.
Consultation with the Recruitment Team has also shown that there have not been any requests for assistance in completing application forms, requests for alternative formats or languages.
The consultation process for the County Council’s four actions plans will take place between December 2007 and February 2008 providing new feedback on issues and concerns which will then be taken into consideration.
6.b) Complaints on the grounds of discrimination or any other grounds?
There have been no complaints made directly with HR or the recruitment team on the grounds of discrimination. Equally, there have not been any formal complaints made through the Corporate Complaints Officer.
6. c) Concerns from staff?
The Staff Disability Forum have a concern that the DDA double tick commitment to guarantee an interview is not applied consistently across the organisation or that alternative formats of application forms are not readily available. There is no other direct evidence of staff concerns. The staff survey 2006 does not explicitly ask for feedback in the area of recruitment. The new 2007 staff survey will give general feedback of staff feelings and perceptions of diversity in the organisation.
6. d) Local or national research suggesting that there could be a problem?
No evidence has been found.
6. e) Additional groups who may be experiencing adverse or disproportionate impact? (Consider carers, low income earners, lone parents, ex-prisoners etc)
No evidence has been found.
6. f) List the groups (experts, interested groups, partner agencies etc) you have consulted with as part of the policy or function development.
Consultation for the introduction of the E-Recruitment system and subsequent updated policy, guidelines and training has included:
- Staffing Policy Committee
- Chief Officers and Assistant Directors
- Senior HR Management Team
- HR Managers and Advisors
- Trade Union officials and representatives.
- Staff Disability Forum
The E-recruitment system has been rigorously tested for accessibility and exceeds the government minimum standards. (minimum standard is A and the system has been rated AA)
Specific consultation with BME groups was undertaken in May 2006. Results of this have been published and circulated to all stakeholders.
7. If you have found that the policy or service might have an adverse impact on a particular group of people, can you justify this?
Some elements cannot be justified and will be required to be further investigated.
The adoption of the new recruitment and secondment protocols are justified at this time as the County Council along with the four district councils will be facing a very uncertain period of time in terms of workforce levels and the potential for there to be redundancy with associated cost implications if the amalgamation process is not handled in a well planned and efficient way.
a) If you have found evidence of adverse or disproportionate impact, how can these be removed or reduced?
Evidence from the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2006/07 indicated a significant drop in short listed disabled applicants and the success rate of appointed disabled applicants. This may be due to the old manual process of collecting data from application forms which will now be much more reliable with the e-recruitment system which requires equalities data to be completed in order to populate the application form. Action has been identified in a further update to the Staffing Policy Committee in January 2008 including further promotion of the commitments under the Double Tick symbol, further promotion of the Staff Disability Forum, better awareness of Access to Work and the range of disabilities that can now be considered under the DDA,
The comments made from staff, such as alternative format for forms readily available and the consistent application of the DDA guidelines have been noted and further action is being taken to ensure that these are corrected.
The Gender Equality Scheme highlights research again from the Annual Equality and Diversity Report 2006/07 which indicates the success rate of applicants appointed within the CC is consistently higher for women over the last four years. This has been identified to be further investigated in the Combined Equality Action Plan. In addition it shows that the proportion of females holding senior posts does not reflect the make up of the workforce. Again this has been identified in the Action Plan for further investigation
b) Will further research and/or consultation be required? If yes, what and when?
There needs to be ongoing consultation in this area and this needs to be planned taking into consideration Equality Schemes consultation, Staff Survey, evaluation of the Manage2Lead (Senior Managers) and Corporate Induction (new staff) training and through the Complaints procedure this will continue to remain a high priority.
8. How will you monitor the take-up or impact of the policy or service in future?
The newly created Workforce Analysis Team, in conjunction with the Recruitment Team will now provide monthly data comparing all recruitment and selection statistics in addition to continuing to report to the Staffing Policy Committee on an annual basis.
9. What actions do you plan to take as a result of this equality impact assessment? Please state any resource implications.
i) To further review the advertising protocol and consider using recruitment banners in a selection of journals representing all strands of diversity. There are budget implications here as there is no corporate budget to promote additional advertising. Money could be made available from the significant savings which have been made on recruitment stationary as a result of the introduction of the e-recruitment system.
ii) To further review the more traditional methods of selection and make alternatives more accessible, e.g. working interviews, job carving, and make this information available to managers to consider when reviewing allocation of work/vacancies.
iii) More timely management information to highlight potential areas of unfavourable treatment.
iv) Further investigations from Business Partners as defined in the revised Combined Equalities Action Plan.
10. What are the conclusions of this assessment regarding:
a) Compliance with all relevant equalities legislation?
b) Compliance with equalities Codes of Practice?
The recruitment and selection function is compliant with equalities legislation and codes of practice but will continue to monitor, review and improve the service.
11. What are your final recommendations i.e. areas requiring further action?
Additional and ongoing consultation will be necessary to ensure no specific groups are excluded from the recruitment and selection function.
12. There is a legal requirement to publish the outcomes of Equality Impact Assessments. Please outline how / where this will happen.
This EIA will be sent to the Equalities Team as part of their responsibility to publish completed EIA’s on the County Council’s website and actions will be confirmed in the appropriate Equality Schemes Action Plans.
13. Name of person completing form
Equality & Diversity Partner
Date assessment completed:
5th February 08
14. Senior manager approval
Assistant Director, Department of Resources
Date approved:
27 March 2008
Contact Details
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Equality & Diversity Team
Development Services
Wiltshire County Council
County Hall
Bythesea Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
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01225 713510
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