OK, let’s look at the facts: a job vacancy arises for a manager – the job description is quite clear, but the person specification hits muddy waters.
Can we really put in a person specification that says ‘cannot be foreign’? ‘Must be a man’? ‘Can be British, but we’re not sure if a British man has the competence to fulfil the role’? Then follow this up by letting the staff of this potential employee have a say in what the person should be like (although the latter is possibly the factor that most closely follows best practice).
What am I on about? The England football manager, of course.
It’s a good job that other large organisations don’t follow the practice that the Football Association (FA) followed leading up to the appointment of Steve McClaren as England coach.
In the HR profession, we would be out of a job if we did the things the FA did, not to mention the risk of ending up at an employment tribunal.
Can we really state what nationality a worker should be? It went without saying that the post would be filled by a man – no-one even bothers to question that.
The next thing us humble, non-FA HR professionals will have to deal with is the debate about time off during the World Cup.
Bring it on.
Michelle Francis
HR professional
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